The Olympic Controversies Reviewed
Foreign Policy | By: Reilly Fitzgerald | August 30, 2024
Featured Photo: www.nbcnews.com
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The Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as noted in our previous Brief, had plenty of controversies as the games unfolded. The major storylines were dealing with France’s high degree of secularism that has taken form in their hijab ban for their national team athletes. The first “post-pandemic” Games were rife with Covid infections as the Games continued into the second and third weeks of competition. Gender politics played a significant role in women’s boxing with an Algerian boxer Imane Khelif winning gold.
Analysis
French society is known for its secularism. Perhaps infamously, France has instituted laws that forbid the public display of head-scarves and other items that are used quite regularly by Muslims. France banned their Olympic team Muslim athletes from wearing the hijab at the Olympic Games. Interestingly enough, this could be in violation of one of the main tenets of the Olympic Games, that is to respect religious practices around the world. Ironically enough, even with the treatment that Muslims have endured by the French government, and the ban on French athletes wearing the hijab. In the final medal ceremony of the games, for the Women’s Marathon, Dutch runner Sifan Hassan proudly stood atop the podium to receive the gold medal during the Closing Ceremonies.
Paris 2024 was the first true post-pandemic Olympic Games. Obviously, the virus is still being transmitted and will never be gone; however, many viewers were surprised to see athletes coming down with the illness. It should be noted that the Tour de France, which ended two weeks before the Olympics, was rife with Covid. At the Games, over 40 athletes, according to the TODAY Show, came down with Covid – including American Track Sprinter Noah Lyles. However, Lyles was able to recover and win gold in the 100m and bronze in the 200m.
Gender politics took hold regarding the eligibility of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. The International Boxing Association (with Russian links, according to NPR) claimed that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan both failed a “gender eligibility test.” in the last two years and as such, should not be eligible to compete in the women’s boxing tournament. However, Khelif went on to win gold; and defended herself by stating “I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I lived [as] a woman. I competed as a woman.”
Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles was the centerpiece in what was a heart-breaking moment for her after finishing fifth, initially, but receiving a bronze medal after her Team USA coaches appealed one aspect of the scoring on her floor routine. However, the promotion to third place for Chiles meant that she had displaced two Romanian athletes who had, initially, finished third and fourth. Romanian coaches appealed Team USA’s appeal, and stated that Chile’s coaches took four seconds longer than the one minute time limit for appeals to occur after scoring. The International Gymnastics Federation concurred, after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration of Sport determined that Team USA was late in their appeal. The bromze medal was then awarded to the Romanian gymnast and Chiles was awrded her original fifth place score.
On a lighter note, Paris 2024 was the start, and end PLEASSE EXPLAIN), of breakdancing (called break) as an Olympic event. Bizarrely, the gold medalist by Japanese competitor B-Girl, was overshadowed by a competitor whose routine scored a zero. Australian competitor Raygun, or Rachel Gunn, went viral after her routine. Raygun, an Australian academic, performed her routine which attempted to highlight its originality but in the end led to not scoring any points whatsoever. Raygun has since defended her routine choice, and the attention that it brought to the competition.
The Closing Ceremonies unveiled the next setting for the summer Olympics in Los Angeles for 2028. It featured Tom Cruise rappelling into the Closing Ceremonies to transport the Olympic flame to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is setting the bar-high for 2028 as they have announced a goal of having the Olympics go car-free. The total budget, so far, seems to be in the tens-of-billions of dollars. It is still unclear who will foot the bill, the US Government or tax-payers in California. It will be an interesting story to follow over the next four years!
Engagement Resources
- Los Angeles 2028 – https://la28.org/en.html
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