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Transphobia and racism against non-hegemonic women, or in other words, women who do not conform to white-dominated standards of beauty, have been central issues at these Olympics. The notion of “whiteness” in this context does not refer to a simple absence of pigment, but rather to a fluid desire that engages axes of class, sexuality, gender, age, race, religion, culture, and even geopolitical interest. But it doesn’t stop there. Those who claim that Chinese people cannot be as fast, strong, and agile as the white athletes who have historically dominated certain competitions can no longer conceal the racism against Chinese athletes.
Following this line of thinking, one might think that the IOC authorities have shown wisdom, but this is not the case. The most serious act of racism at these Games was the double standard that excluded Russian athletes in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The double standard was due to the fact that athletes representing Israel had no obstacles to participate in the Games, while the Zionist state is committing the most brutal and well-documented contemporary genocide in history. Only in the stands and elsewhere did the demands of the Palestinian people emerge, which were systematically censored by the complicit media, which fortunately does not have complete control over social networks.
In this sense, the IOC is another Eurocentric bureaucracy, vulnerable to corporate interests and, as expected, attentive to the direction of economic power and geopolitical winds. Will sport be preserved as the flagship activity of our civilization? Perhaps. Suddenly, we saw the remnants of the vaunted Olympic spirit from the podium, where three women of African descent celebrated the victory of Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who won the gold medal, but who was also a symbol of Lula’s social program, without which he would not have won the gold medal. It was possible to reach this level of excellence. A small gesture, but full of sisterhood.
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It was also inspiring to watch the performances of Olympic table tennis medalists from China, South Korea and North Korea. Selfie Standing on the podium, ignoring decades of the Cold War and geopolitical conflicts, these are absolutely not to be ignored. Moreover, it allows us to remember which countries have institutions that promote sport and integrate it into society, providing food, education and health services to at least a large part of the population.
One cannot fail to mention the gold medal won by Andrea Ruano and the bronze medal won by Jean Pierre Brol. Creole essentialism aside, without denying the merits of those who won medals, there is no doubt that Guatemala remains a dysfunctional country, malnourished, poorly educated, a producer of immigrants, from where the absence of medals is largely noticeable, with the exception of the silver medal won by Erik Barrondo in 2012.
If international sports are plagued by racism, then national sports cannot be saved, because it is also controlled by corrupt structures. That being the case, we cannot ignore the fact that hegemonic centers invest heavily in medals, because the Olympics are usually a display of power. In this equation, there are few small countries like Cuba, with well-fed and well-educated people, that can win medals in certain disciplines and often compete for first place. That is, we should not worry about the number of medals in Guatemala; first of all, we should worry because two million boys and girls go to bed every day without dinner.
The Olympics will end in 2024, racism, geopolitical disputes, hatred of the different and everything that challenges economic, cultural and religious forces will continue. But this is what life is about, being irreverent in the face of power without losing sight of the fact that the roots of our problems are poverty and abject poverty, with a whiff of neoliberalism that should be a national shame and not just a rumor behind the scene.
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