[ad_1]
The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will take place in the weakening of the credibility of the Olympic movement itself and in view of a confrontational American presidential election. The Games will be held during revivals of gender equality and sexual abuse. They will occur during the rise of nationalism in the world. And they will come at a time when athletes seem more willing than ever to express their views on politics, social issues and human rights.
So, when the highest Olympic personality in the United States sent a letter Tuesday to two American athletes who had protested against the national anthem of the recent Pan American Games in Peru, putting them both on a probationary period of 12 months, she also warned future Olympic athletes to make political gestures. at the Summer Games next year. But trying to silence the athletes in Tokyo can be useless if some people feel more encouraged than ever to talk.
The letters sent by Sarah Hirshland, Executive Director of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee this week, were sent to hammer thrower Gwen Berry, who raised her fist during the national anthem, and to the fencer. Race Imboden, who knelt before the medal. podium.
Hirshland suggested in her letters that these wrist slaps could become more consistent if repeated, which seems intended for a wider audience.
"It is also important for me to point out that, in the future, to issue a reprimand to other athletes in a similar case is insufficient," wrote Ms Hirshland in the letters, which said "we are not going to be able to do it. first obtained and reported by The Associated Press.
But the conditions are very different from those of 1968, when American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos were sent home after the Summer Olympics in Mexico after protesting social inequality on the medal podium.
President Trump could respond vitriolally to any criticism of him during the Olympics, as he did in According to David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, "a large part of the country will be much more sympathetic" than in 1968, said David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, with an American football star, Megan Rapinoe at the recent Women's World Cup.
Today's athletes can get support through social media and, in some cases, are encouraged by their coaches and companies like Nike. There are also many other ways to pass on their thoughts beyond silent gestures of protest. In interviews, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who will lead the US men's basketball team in Tokyo, has been critical of Trump.
"I think there is a group of people who will always think that defending the greatest number is more important than the repercussions for themselves," Imboden said.
Douglas Hartmann, chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, who has studied the Olympic events, said, "I think more athletes are more likely to talk about social issues than n & # 39; any moment probably since the 60s ". "I'm pretty sure they're not inclined to do it during actual competitions and ceremonies."
An athlete who makes a political gesture on a podium, a uniform, or after scoring a goal or winning a race, would violate the Olympic Charter and the risks of eviction from the Games, not to mention the public excoriation and the loss of financial opportunities, if not the medal itself.
But such public gestures are just what the International Olympic Committee "is terrified of," said Hartmann.
Mr Hartmann said that if large-scale demonstrations, emanating from Americans or athletes from other hot spots of the world, captured the public's sympathy during the Tokyo Olympics, they could bring a moment of transformation and undermine the Western vision of sport: sacred, purely fun and an inherently positive social activity. "
I.O.C. takes an often contradictory position, discouraging political activity but also supporting it if it describes the Olympic Committee as a positive moral force. For example, Ethiopian marathoner Feyisa Lilesa was not penalized for crossing his arms over his head when he reached the finish line at second place at the Rio Olympics in 2016, to protest the treatment of his ethnic group, the Oromo people.
"They want credit for all that is good and want to avoid anything that is controversial," Hartmann said of the IOC.
What becomes tricky, said Hartmann, is when "athletes defend causes or problems that, for most observers, do not appear to be of a political nature, but which are within their rights, as moral causes ".
What would happen if, for example, an American athlete silently protested at the Tokyo Olympics, as did Mr. Imboden, the fencer at the Pan American Games? He stated that his decision to kneel was related to what he saw as "loopholes" in the United States, such as "racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants and a president who spread hatred. "
Certainly, some people would consider this a moral act and many would agree with Mr. Imboden's position on these issues. But many others would disagree and could consider any athlete taking a similar action as non-patriotic.
Ms. Hirshland, Executive Director, wrote in letters to hammerheader Mr. Imboden and Ms. Berry: "The objective of non-political speaking games is to focus our collective energy on the athletes' performance, and the goal is to improve the performance of the athletes. unity and international harmony that each game seeks to advance. When an individual formulates his grievances, as legitimate as they are, more important than those of their competitors and the competition itself, this unity and harmony are reduced. The celebration of sport and human achievement is lost. "
In reality, sport and politics are inextricably linked.
Harry Edwards, a sociologist who advised MM. Smith and Carlos and former N.F.L. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick about their protests, said about the Tokyo Games: "The probability that no athlete will protest is void."
The key to the impact of any event, he said, would depend on how it is organized for the Games. The International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee are "morally bankrupt" and particularly vulnerable to contesting their legitimacy by athletes, Edwards said, given rampant corruption and indifference to protect athletes against sexual abuse in gymnastics and other sports.
While many athletes protested against the organizers of the Games, while also taking political positions, Mr. Edwards said, "The IOC. and the U.S.O.C. can not win these two fights. "
[ad_2]
Source link