Let’s face, the Olympics are usually hit or miss. Sometimes they are so basic you feel like there’s more excitement at the elementary school field day. And then, there’s one that blows the others out of the water.
Even before the first event started, the Paris Olympics seemed like they were going to be memorable just for the opening ceremony alone. Christians and conservatives got upset over the Bacchanalia ceremony of the Greek god Dionysus. Some people saw it as a mockery of The Last Supper. As I commented in another post weeks ago, if you set the Olympics in Paris, you’re going to get a Paris-style show. Maybe as my cousin said that people didn’t like it because it wasn’t American enough. But that is Paris, Francis, not Paris, Texas.
Then, you have Turkish shooter Yusic Dikec who looked like he could easily be in the next John Wick movie if they ever have one. His poise as he stood aiming a handgun with his left hand in his pants pocket made him look like the guy Bill Odenkirk’s character in Nobody doesn’t want to mess with. Even Chuck Norris probably looks under the bed for him.
Then there was Dr. Rachel Gunn, or as you may know her, b-girl RayGun from Australia. Dressing like she should be a zookeeper and in her mid-30s, she looks more like she belongs in a 2000s Disney TV movie, where she plays the stoic suburban housewife who moved away from her wayward ways. But when her daughter gets sick and can’t compete in the regional breakdancing tournament, she steps up and goes out to dance to show the youngsters she’s still got it.
Gunn got no points but became a viral sensation during the initial sporting competition. But who knows if it will still be around in 2028?
But now, we got Simone Biles becoming the most decorated U.S. gymnast earning the most medals ever for an American. And she’s only 27. Another 27-year-old athlete, Gabby Thomas, won three gold medals in the 200 meter dash, 4 x 100 relay and 4 x 400 relay. And the U.S. became the first country to top 3,000 Olympic medals. This year, U.S. earned a total of 126 medals (40 in gold, 44 in silver and 42 in bronze).
Biles is tied with Vera Caslavska at 11 medals. She won three gold in Women’s Vault – Artistic Gymnastics, Women’s Artistic Team All-Around and Women’s Artistic Individual All-Around as well as a silver in Women’s Floor – Artistic Gymnastics. Here’s looking forward to 2028 and all she needs is one Bronze to set the record. How can you not get excited about that?
So, if people were criticizing the opening ceremony for not being too American, the U.S. beat China who earned 91 medals. And who’d thought Snoop Dogg would become a great ambassador for the U.S. at the Olympics? Thirty years ago as the country was gearing up for the Olympics in Atlanta, a lot of parents were telling their kids to stop listing to Snoop or else they’d be grounded. And this year, he carried the torch at one point.
And did anyone have Flavor Flav sponsoring the U.S. women’s polo team on their 2024 Bingo card? He along with others, including Alexis Ohanian, an internet entrepreneur and investor, helped sponsor U.S. teams. The Olympics in Tokyo originally scheduled for 2020 were postponed until 2021. And it seemed that people still had Covid-19 to worry about so it was hard to get into. This year, it seemed everyone was in a better mood. Maybe it’s the excitement following the announcement of Vice-President Kamala Harris running for President and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
However, there was some controversy even though it wasn’t much ado about nothing. Imane Khelif, a boxer from Algeria, was accused of being a transgendered woman because she defeated her Italian opponent Angela Carini after 46 seconds. Of course, most of the hub-bub was from conservative Christians who wanted to use the Olympics to fit their agenda. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and conservative journalist Megyn Kelly were just two of many you spread this misinformation.
Khelif is a woman and it’s illegal in Algeria for people to transition. In the end, she won the gold for women boxing, even though people like Kelly still call her a man. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee denounce the accusations as hate speech and said Khelif is a woman.
If anything else, it’s shown how some people have to politicize everything. The Olympics shouldn’t be about that. At a time where politics have ruined relationships in America, we can’t even go two weeks without people having to make it about their own agenda. The Olympics are an example of sporting events being a metaphor for the nobility of common humans. There may be a few big names, but most of them come from small towns you never heard of.
I was watching the diving matches and they said Carson Tyler was from Moultrie, Ga., which was near where I used to work and live. A young man, Hampton Morris, only 20, is a weightlifter from Marietta, Ga., near where my brother and brother-in-law live. He won a bronze medal and became the first American since the 1984 Olympics to win a medal. Another young man, Kenny Bednarek, ran the 200 meter dash. He used to live in Tahlequah, Okla. near where I live.
So, while we laugh about Rachel Gunn, who has a Ph.D. in cultural studies, it’s people like her who make the Olympics special and important.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 