The Olympic Controversies

The summer Olympics of 2024 have been all the rage as of late, with over 10,000 athletes competing from a total of 206 territories around the world.

Starting with a bang, the opening ceremony along the river Seine in Paris, France, was one of the most spectacular events ever witnessed, breaking the age-old tradition of beginning the games in the stadium.

This sparked debate among viewers of the games, which marked the beginning of quite a few other controversies that have taken place in Paris so far.

1.The Opening Ceremony

         The Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony took place on the 26th and the 27th of July, with famous artists and bands performing for the thousands of onlookers on the banks of the Seine. The ceremony sparked debate due to the re-enactment of the famous “Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci by drag queens. Many who witnessed this or had heard of it online were quickly offended due to the painting’s religious links being openly flaunted by performers who were not, to many, representative of the moralities of the religion.

Therefore, the show was criticized online as “insensitive” and “disrespectful”, while others considered it to be an act of free expression. The Vatican replied that they were, “saddened by certain scenes” pertaining to the ceremony, but that they were unable to join in on the sentiment that the offended parties felt.

A few argued that the re-enactment had no ulterior motive that disregards the religious denotations of the painting, while the other advocated for the fact that this should not have been blissfully ignored by the organisers either.

2. The River Seine

         The river Seine, that runs through the heart of Paris, hosted a showcase by the Olympic athletes, who swam in it during the opening ceremony. Originally, when it was announced by the French government that the river would be cleaned thoroughly for the Olympic games, there was uproar in the city, since a sum of a hefty $1.5 billion was needed to fund this project.

Citizens’ main concerns were that this amount was not being put to better use such as improving infrastructure or reducing the housing concerns in and around Paris, but rather went into something that would not impact or improve the standard of living of the average citizen.

A flash mob was gathered for a vulgar cause, where Parisians lined up along the banks of the Seine on the 23rd of June to defecate in it, as an act of rebellion against the government’s expensive efforts to cleanse the river.

However, the athletes that swam in the river during the ceremony reported feeling unwell afterwards, meaning that the river had become too polluted to improve, with some even suspecting they were infected with foecal E.Coli found in the water.

3. The Gender Controversy

         This controversy arose when now Olympic gold medalist, Algerian Imane Khelif’s boxing match went viral on social media, where one post claimed that she was assigned male at birth and was actually transgender.

This has since been debunked, as it had been proven that there were naturally elevated levels of testosterone in her body due to chromosomal abnormalities- a symptom which is common among female athletes due to 37% of them having polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

The controversy sparked debate online regarding whether she should be allowed to compete at all, due to the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualifying her and another boxer, Lin Yu-Ting, for failing gender eligibility tests in 2023.

Celebrities such as Elon Musk and JK Rowling commented on the situation, spreading misinformation stating that she should not be allowed to compete because of her biology, leaning into the assumption that she was originally male. Later, the Olympic committee did not disqualify her, and she went on to win in her category.

4. The Wrestling Disqualification

         Indian Olympic finalist, Vinesh Phogat, had recently been disqualified from her category in wrestling (50 kilograms) for being 100 grams above the upper weight limit. After celebrating her victory in the  semi-finals, this heartbreaking news was delivered to the country, and uproar was caused, with many speculating that the reason for her disqualification was political in nature.

In the beginning of 2023, Phogat and a few other female wrestlers protested the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan, on sexual harassment charges. The chief had links to the Indian political Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which was the ruling party and had reach over certain areas, making people assume that her being pulled out from the competition over such a small discrepancy had to have political motivations behind it. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

 On the other hand, an appeal has been sent to the Olympic committee to award Phogat a silver medal, since she won the semi-final match while being within the weight limit and was only found to be overweight the next day. The appeal has been delayed, and the response is greatly awaited.

5. The Olympic Village

         Issues surrounding this specific setup within the Olympics have been cropping up since the start. The Olympic Village is where accommodations for the athletes are found- a specialised area where they can rest and socialize with fellow competitors.

Many have complained that the living spaces are too hot to reside in, prompting India to send over 40 air conditioners for its athletes, since the place had not had them installed. The beds in each room were reportedly made from cardboard with a hollow in the middle, leading to many athletes’ beds collapsing, while others were unable to get a good night’s sleep, which could affect their performance during the games .

Additionally, the village’s location was such that many residents of the area had to be forcefully evicted for the structures to be made, adding to Paris’ migrant problems of gentrification and lack of housing.

Multiple smaller controversies are being discussed on online forums, but the larger ones have been grabbing the public’s attention since the beginning of the games.

The above-mentioned events are just the highlighted controversies that have been circulating for the past couple of weeks but have already influenced people so greatly that many viewers have been motivated to call the Paris Summer Olympics of 2024 the worst one yet.