Summer Olympics - Paris, France.
The Olympic Games are a celebration of sport, healthy competition as well as tolerance, understanding, friendship and camaraderie. This year's, the Paris, or rather French, one has already seen many extraordinary sporting feats. The likes of Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Shinnosuke Oka, Novak Djokovic and many others have shown an astonishing amount of skill. Some impressed with their unorthodox approach to preparation or to the competition itself - Hungarian swimmer Kristof Milák (gold in the 100m butterfly) missed the vast majority of the prescribed training hours leading up to the Olympic events, Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec shot to silver in his event without any of the usual aids (goggles, earmuffs, etc.), and the stylish Kim Ye-ji made the internet go crazy with her cyberpunk appearance and behaviour. As always, there were a number of critical and complimentary comments about the opening of the Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, the Summer Olympics with the serial number 33. Some statements were disproportionately militant and aggressive, others condescending, and still others admiring and celebratory. I personally watched only part of the opening, and what I saw seemed quite French to me. I preferred the slightly humorous and exaggerated form presented by the British for the 2012 London Olympics, but that's just a matter of personal taste. However, I find the discussion that has swirled around Algerian boxer Imán Khalifa and two-time world champion Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and their participation in the women's Olympic competition a little over the edge. The topic was accompanied by a hate campaign on social media and a series of abusive comments in endless discussion threads. It seems that many people without detailed knowledge of the issue are commenting on gender acceptability and how it should be assessed. This includes people with a great deal of influence on public opinion, such as Elon Musk and the writer Rowling. And on Czech Television, for example, Šárka Kašpárková or Michael Žantovský. The intricate story of the judging of the eligibility of the athletes, which goes back many years, has many strange and unexplained moments, including the sudden disqualification of both boxers from the 2023 World Championships by the now-suspended IOC organisation IBA. Both female athletes have the right to compete under IOC regulations as there is no relevant reason to the contrary. Recent history lends credence to this, for example Khalifa competed in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, where she lost her quarter-final bout, almost unnoticed. Moreover, the provisions in place for the 2024 Olympics are recruited from that time. One of the defining features of sport as a discipline or industry is adherence to the rules, and so in this case, too, it would be a good idea to adhere to that premise.
photo: Yusuf Dikec