Olympics
Neutrality in sports and other fables
The Olympic Games does not get to exist in a bubble outside of reality.
«No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas». This is the Olympic Charter passage, under which the IOC (International Olympic Committee) banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing in the current Winter Games.
The offending item? His helmet, depicting athletes killed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Through its ruling, the IOC seems to placate a certain crowd that wishes to keep politics (or at least the ones they don’t agree with) out of sports. As if athletic competitions exist in a black hole, devoid of contact with the rest of the world.
But this year’s games offers a great chance to reiterate a very simple message: everything is political.
But this year’s games offers a great chance to reiterate a very simple message: Everything is political.
The fact that Heraskevych happens to have survived is political. The deaths of his teammates, who might have otherwise been participating right now, are political. The deafening boos towards the Israeli delegation were political, as was the broadcasting decision to raise the volume of the stadium music during that moment. As are, of course, the 800 sportspeople reported by the Palestinian Football Authority as having been killed in Gaza.
Different standards do not magically apply in regions not presently experiencing active conflict. The economic and environmental implications of hosting the Games in Italy are political, as were the police-supressed demonstrations before their start.
Even the very notion of sovereign states competing against each other is political.
Even the very notion of sovereign states competing against each other is political.
During Norwegian skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo’s viral uphill sprint and subsequent finish, one could spot Norwegian and Swedish flags side-by-side in the stands. The mere existence of these two separate flags is – guess what – political.
With its decision on Heraskevych, the IOC reinforces a status quo that would prefer it if we tended to ignore that all things in this world are a matter of politics. Including the fact that some of us are not alive.
