By Cara Ocobock
As I have said before, and will likely say again, I love the Olympics. I have always loved the Olympics even when they have enraged me and broken my heart. I love witnessing the culmination of years of training. I love the joy of victory, and the gut punch of defeat. I love seeing fans rally behind their country’s athletes, and I love the exposure of the host city’s culture and traditions. And, I won’t lie, I love the inevitable drama and controversy that comes with each Olympics. All of these contradictory loves have been fulfilled by the Paris Olympus and have provided an excellent study in contrasts that cut across politics, borders, and culture in a way that often only sports can do. Here are a few of my favorites.
1. Reality vs. Perception: The Opening Ceremonies
The organizers of the Paris Olympics delivered a strong opening ceremony that was unapologetically focused on freedom and inclusion. The French Revolution was prominently featured with multiple nods to Les Miserables and a surprise appearance of a beheaded Marie Antoinette – unabashedly deriding political elites with little care or concern for constituents.
However, the real star of the show and the real contrast was the recreation of The Feast of the Gods by 17th century Dutch artists Jan Harmensz van Biljert. The recreation featured drag queens and a mostly naked, blue-hued Dionysis served up on a platter. It was a bold display of love and inclusion while also honoring the Greek origins of the Olympic games themselves. Many Christian conservatives, however, did not see it that way. Instead, they interpreted it as a blasphemous desecration of The Last Supper painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Though the Paris Olympic organizers apologized, they were also unequivocal in stating that they were not depicting The Last Supper. The Olympics are a time when we get exposure to a place and culture that we might never be able to visit. The Paris Olympic opening ceremony provided a vision of the past, present, and future – one that celebrated history, art, cultural diversity, this current moment, and a world in which everyone has a seat at the table…any table. Christian conservatives rejected that vision.
2. Two Steph(v)ens and Nada: When who you are off “the field” matters and when it doesn’t
You likely had never heard of Stephen Nedoroscik before, and now his name and image are everywhere. Nedoroscik is on the US men’s gymnastics team for one reason and one reason only – to score and score big on the pommel horse. He is a self-proclaimed nerd with a degree in electrical engineering and sports thick, black rimmed glasses he removes when he performs. He pushed his team over the edge to win a bronze medal, ending a 16 year medal drought for US men’s gymnastics. He has been likened to Clark Kent on the sidelines transforming to superman when he approaches the pommel horse. Nedoroscik has become a darling of these Olympics for not only his performance, but representing “nerds” everywhere – not something that has been seen nor celebrated in Olympics past. The other darling is Nada Hafez, an Egyptian fencer who revealed after her first round victory that she was seven months pregnant. I cannot imagine a more bold and beautiful Olympic statement than performing at the highest athletic level at a time when people would say you should be your most fragile. Never underestimate nerds. Never underestimate women.
In sharp contrast to Nedoroscik and Hafez, people deserving of celebration, is Steven van de Velde – a convicted child rapist representing the Netherlands in beach volleyball. The legal intricacies of his case have been detailed elsewhere (here, for example), and I will not dive into the nuances. However, van de Velde highlights a massive problem in sports – turning a blind eye to athletes who have committed sexual and domestic violence crimes. This has been particularly problematic in the National Football League for which scores of players have been accused of domestic violence since 2014, but rarely suffer the legal consequences that non-professional football players would face with similar accusations and convictions. We give a pass to athletes we would never give to others. Despite truly horrific crimes we celebrate them, hold them up as role models, and allow them to represent our country. This is the dark side of sports where success outweighs basic humanity. I hope, though won’t hold my breath, that this contrast will spark greater conversation regarding the standard to which we hold our athletes and ourselves.
3. What Was and What Shall Be: Olympic Commentating
It didn’t take long for sexism to seep into the Paris Olympics, which are, by the way, the first Olympics where there is equal representation of women and men athletes. This example of sexism came from Bob Ballard, a veteran swimming commentator who quipped that the gold medal winning Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team was delayed in making their way to the podium because they were putting on makeup. Ballard was quickly removed from his commentating position and apologized. Such comments are sadly nothing new, oh so exhausting, and honestly, I don’t even want to talk more about it. I mention it only as a contrast to the pure delight that is Snoop Dogg at the Olympics.
Snoop is living his best damned life at the Olympics with his candid awe at the athletes’ abilities, participation in some of the sports, and his hilarious commentating. He is breathing life into what is typically stale or cringeworthy (see above) commentary at the Olympics, and I am here for it! NBC/Peacock should take note of this positive example and dedicate a streaming channel to Snoop’s Shenanigans for all future Olympics. He is the Olympic commentator we need, nay, the one we deserve.
I could continue this list to include changes in Olympic uniform options, sex testing, newly added sports, etc, but I was told to keep this short. The contrasts discussed here highlighted how we have moved the needle in a positive direction over the years, but things are most certainly not perfect. In the end, sports are very much a microcosm for society. They can reflect the good in the world while also putting into sharp focus what we need to change, and there is no grander stage for this than the Olympics.
Cara Ocobock is an associate professor and the Director of the Human Energetics Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame.