The Biggest Controversies To Hit The 2024 Olympics So Far
The 2024 Paris Olympics have gotten off to a rainy start, but weather is only one of many worries organizers have had to deal with during a Games that seem to have become a lightning rod for controversy.
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00:00The 2024 Paris Olympics have gotten off to a rainy start, but weather is only one of
00:04the many worries organizers have had to deal with during a Games that seems to have become
00:08a lightning rod for controversy.
00:10The Olympics opening ceremony included a segment that had some viewers seen red. Dancers and
00:15drag queens performed a scene alongside a fashion runway. It was capped off by the appearance
00:19of actor and singer Philippe Catrin, who was painted in glittering blue paint for the role
00:23of Dionysus, a Greek god of fertility, wine, and pleasure.
00:26While art experts have pointed out that the scene was similar to paintings like Dutch
00:29painter Jan van Beylert's Feast of the Gods, some said the scene reminded them of Leonardo
00:34da Vinci's The Last Supper, which depicts Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles. Enraged
00:38viewers took to social media to say it mocked the Christian faith.
00:41Thomas Jolley, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, said in a media briefing,
00:45We wanted something that would unite people. We didn't want anything subversive.
00:53Jolley told news channel BFMTV that the scene was specifically meant to depict a, quote,
00:57big pagan celebration linked to the gods of Olympus, and thus the Olympics. Paris 2024
01:02spokesperson Anne de Kom eventually apologized and claimed there was no intention to offend.
01:07And clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.
01:16She added that the idea behind the performance was to celebrate community tolerance.
01:20The metal band Gojira performed the 19th-century French anthem, A Sa Ira, during the opening
01:24ceremony. It was a massive spectacle that included lots of fire, a beheaded Marie Antoinette,
01:29and of course, heavy riffs. Though many praised the production, Fox News pundits and other
01:33right-wing commentators decried the performance. Media figure Andrew Tate, who is set to go
01:38on trial in Romania on sex trafficking charges, wrote on Axe,
01:41Satanists control the West and they show you that they worship the devil. It's not a conspiracy
01:45theory. They literally show you. Are you blind?
01:49Reporter-frontman Joe Duplantier laughed off the accusations, though, pointing to France's
01:53history of separating government from religion during the French Revolution in the late 1700s.
01:57He told Rolling Stone,
01:58It's French history. It's French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine, and blood
02:02all over the place. It's romantic. It's normal. There's nothing satanic.
02:07In yet another case of organizers of the Paris Olympics clashing with religious groups, France
02:11has barred French athletes, but not those from other countries, from wearing the hijab
02:15or other religious headscarves at all levels of sport.
02:19Amélie Odera-Castera, the French sports minister, said in September 2023 that the rule is tied
02:23to the country's secularist political ideology, thus prohibiting religious displays in sports.
02:29Athletes both within and outside of France have opposed the decision. Australian boxer
02:33Tina Rahimi wrote on Instagram,
02:35Women have the right to choose how they want to dress, with or without a hijab. I choose
02:39to wear the hijab as a part of my religion and I'm proud to do so.
02:42It's so unfortunate for the athletes in France because, you know, it has nothing to do with
02:47your performance.
02:49Even so, the International Olympic Committee has supported France's decision, stating,
02:53"[Freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.]
02:57Groups including Amnesty International have condemned the IOC and asked it to withdraw
03:01its support to France's headscarf ban."
03:04Before the 2024 Olympic Games even got underway, Nike's official kits for U.S. women's track
03:08and field competitors were slammed as being too revealing. An image of the one-piece leotard
03:12with a high-cut bikini line circulated on social media in April 2024, alongside the
03:18male alternatives, during plenty of debate. The CBC wondered if it should be called a
03:21costume instead of a uniform.
03:23A lot of people were like, wait, is this a joke?
03:26On Instagram, retired U.S. track and field athlete Lauren Fleshman called it a, quote,
03:31costume born of patriarchal forces. Olympic champion pole vaulter Katie Moon, a Nike athlete,
03:36likewise called the outfit concerning, and said it warranted the response it received.
03:40However, she noted that it would not be the only option, and took aim at some of the critics,
03:44writing,
03:45If you think that on the most important days of our careers we're choosing what we wear
03:48to appease the men watching over what we're most comfortable and confident in, to execute
03:52to the best of our abilities, that's pretty offensive.
03:55Jamie Schultz, a kinesiology professor and author of Regulating Bodies, Elite Sport Policies,
04:00and Their Unintended Consequences, suggested that such designs are sexualized to draw viewers
04:04and generate more money. She told Women's Health,
04:07Once we accepted that women are going to be Olympic athletes, sports federations and brands
04:11wanted to try to make some money off of that, which is where the sexualization aspect comes
04:15in.
04:16Imani Halif of Algeria and Lin Yuting of Taiwan both failed gender eligibility tests
04:21for the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships, but were cleared to fight at the 2024 Paris
04:26Olympics. Lin is a two-time gold medalist at world championships. She won the bantamweight
04:30class in New Delhi in 2018 and the featherweight competition in Istanbul in 2022. Halif won
04:36a silver in the light welterweight division.
04:38The controversy over them competing in Paris appears to be mired in confusion and conflicting
04:43Umar Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association, told Russia's TASS agency
04:48at the time of the 2023 bans that DNA tests of the athletes revealed Y chromosomes, which
04:53are associated with males. Kremlev said,
04:55Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues
04:59into posing as women. Outlets, including Marka, called them male-born transgender boxers.
05:04NBC News suggests their genders assigned at birth are not known, writing,
05:07Halif and Lin have both always competed as women, and there's no indication that either
05:11identifies as transgender or intersex.
05:14The Associated Press characterized the clash between the IOC and IBA as fallout from a
05:18years-long dispute over leadership failures, finances, and integrity. In June 2023, the
05:23IOC withdrew its recognition of the IBA due to what it called a total lack of financial
05:27transparency, effectively barring the governing body from the Olympics.