The politics of the 2024 Olympics
Okay, next month, July, in Paris, individual and team athletes from most of the world’s countries will compete against each other in sporting events that are always more than mere athletic contests. National prestige is more often at stake, and the clash of the globe’s biggest nations (Russia, China, the U.S., etc.) in sport always has a ring of political intrigue and ego gratification (or loss) attached to the failure or success of a given big country’ athletes. Towards the end of the games, there will always be an announcement of a “leaderboard” showing how many medals (particularly gold and silver) each major country’s athletes have won.
Those results won’t tangibly change a nation’s fortunes (e.g., whatever happens during the Olympics, Russia will still be invading Ukraine, North Korea will still be a menace, Israel will probably still be bombing Gaza, etc.), but the results will allow brief periods of chest-beating and nationalist fervor between rival countries that won’t involve bombs and missiles being deployed.
For Black American athletes, once again they will perform grandly on the world stage representing the U.S., England, Canada and other such countries, still expecting their success on the tracks and fields of world competition to translate into increased respect for their ethnic groups beyond sports. Again, they will be disappointed.
As much pride as the U.S., England, etc. will glean from the golds and silvers their Black athletes will bring home, the sorry state of those athletes’ social standing won’t change. Remember Jesse Owens’ herculean four gold medals in track and field in the Olympic Games held in Hitler’s Nazi Germany in 1936? It was the most individual medals won by any single track and field athlete ever, at that time (Carl Lewis only repeated Owens’ quadruple feat in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles). And 3 of the medals established world records, while crushing the idea among Germans and the rest of the world that African American, and African athletes in general, were inferior and not up to par.
As stupendous as Mr. Owens’ achievements were to U.S. citizens and the world, Mr. Owens returned to a U.S. still so steeped in racism that Mr. Owens could not get a congratulatory meeting with the POTUS at the time, Franklin Roosevelt, and, even as a world-famous athlete, he was not able to even get decent employment for a long time in the country (for a time, he had to run against thoroughbred race horses to earn money). Yes, he made America proud; but no, nothing would really change for his status as an “inferior” Black man (at least not immediately).
In 2024, Black athletes will again show up and show out at the Olympics, bringing home lots of silver and gold medallions. The U.S. will again revel in that success, particularly if the gold medal totals favor the U.S. over Russia and China. Politically, once again, such athletic success will have little, if any, tangible benefits for the masses of African Americans (though these days, many of the winning athletes will themselves receive substantial financial remuneration).
The U.S. society owes much to the talent and hard work of African American athletes, and let us hope this country finally acknowledges that fact.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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