The 33rd Summer Olympic Games came to an end in Paris the day before, marred by more than one high-profile scandal. Sport describes the most resonant non-sporting events in Paris over the past two and a half weeks.
Opening ceremony or gay parade? It all started with a show «that we deserved.» The opening ceremony of the Games in Paris was supposed to be unique, because for the first time the event was held not in a stadium, but right in the city, on the Seine River. The idea is great, but what about the implementation? Rain, problems with TV pictures, men in women's suits, a vulgar parody of «The Last Supper» and other chaotic, sometimes ridiculous performances with an obvious promotion of LGBT* values…
We will not torment you with terrible memories of that «obscurantism». Let us just note that it was not only fans and sports personalities from Russia who were horrified.
Two gold medals for beating womenPerhaps, if the scandalous boxers had performed poorly in Paris, the public would have quickly forgotten about them, just as it quickly forgot about the first transgender person in Olympic history, Laurel Hubbard (the New Zealand weightlifter «shone» three years ago at the Tokyo Games). However, Iman Khelif, representing Algeria, and Lin Yuting from Taiwan did not just go far — they won all their fights and became Olympic champions in the weight categories up to 66 and 57 kilograms, respectively.
Why is everyone so angry at the winners? In 2023, both were kicked out of the World Championships due to a failed gender test (having XY chromosomes and high testosterone) — now the «former men» are destroying the girls and becoming the best in Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is trying in every possible way to justify itself, and rivals, politicians and fans are in deep shock from how quickly the unpredictable world is going crazy.
Who is living well in Paris? The Olympic Village got it even before the start of the Games, but with the start of the competitions, the criticism did not decrease. The lack of air conditioning and strange «anti-sex beds», problems with food and an inconvenient location — these are just some of the complaints that the organizers received from visiting athletes.
However, many athletes (including our Daniil Medvedev) understood what they might encounter in the Olympic Village even before their arrival. Therefore, they acted pragmatically and chose to live separately. And the Olympic swimming champion from Italy, Thomas Ceccon, even preferred to sleep on the street.
Take a swim if you dareNo matter how hard the Parisian authorities tried to prove the suitability of the Parisian river for competitions (Mayor Anne Hidalgo even organized a demonstration swim), the condition of the Seine left much to be desired. Despite this, the triathlon competitions still took place and entailed serious consequences for the athletes who did not refuse to participate. Some had to fight E. coli, others had to treat stomach diseases. Which is not surprising, because the Seine was closed for swimming in 1923 due to the high content of pathogenic bacteria.
But the mayor of Paris refused to admit the obvious and called the information about the athletes' illness «fake».
What else we can’t help but mention:
- American gymnast Jordan Chiles first came in fifth in the floor exercise, and then, after a protest from the US team, third, which brought 18-year-old Ana-Maria Barbosa to tears. However, to the delight of the young Romanian, everything remained as it was initially. After all, the Americans were unable to meet the regulations and were late with their request to review the result… by four seconds!
- Three-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was not allowed into the stadium. The Jamaican athlete missed the 100m semi-final race because she arrived at the arena in her own transport, and not on the team bus.
- Kenyan Faith Kipyegon was stripped of her Olympic silver in the 5000m. The result was annulled because she grabbed her rival's arm.
- According to media reports, Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso was thrown out of the Olympic Village for sleeping outside its territory.
- A member of the Australian national field hockey team was arrested for trying to buy drugs in Paris.
- The Canadian women's soccer team was caught spying. The team was stripped of six points, and the head coach and two employees were disqualified for a year.
- Finally, let's talk about the ceremony of awarding the US team with the same gold that was taken away from Russia for winning the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. The domestic athletes, who were left with bronze after the investigation into Kamila Valieva's doping test, were not even invited to Paris.
* the organization is recognized as banned in the Russian Federation.
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