Paris Games set for spectacular opening amid global political and sporting tension

The Olympic Games and politics have almost always been intertwined.

From Hitler’s Nazi propaganda machine in Berlin in 1936, to a boycott by African countries in Montreal in 1976 in protest of the All Blacks’ rugby tour to apartheid South Africa that same year, and many more incidents before and since, the greatest sporting show on Earth is always fraught with political tension.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games has not escaped political concerns either. The 23rd Olympics, which officially open on 26 July, but unofficially started with Rugby Sevens on 24 July, is happening at a time of massive global political instability.

Since the last Olympics in Tokyo, which took place in 2021 in the midst of Covid-19 (which came with its own political spats relating to the pandemic), global geopolitics has become extremely heated.

South Africa’s non-athletic delegation

On Wednesday, South African sports superfan “Mama Joy” Chauke confirmed she would not be going to the Olympics – neither through taxpayer funding nor private funding.

The President’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed President Cyril Ramaphosa would not be attending the Olympics.

Daily Maverick is still waiting for Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie to confirm if he is going and who will be part of the delegation.

Not joining to support our athletes in Paris would be Parliament’s oversight portfolio committee on Sports, Arts and Culture. Committee chair Joe McGluwa told Daily Maverick in the absence of an oversight role, “I see no need given the financial constraints within the sector to attend the Olympic Games.”

McGluwa said they would invite Sascoc to appear before the committee post the event to give “comprehensive feedback” on the country’s performance at the games.

Ukraine situation

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has led to a war that shows no signs of ending soon. The fact that Russian athletes are competing at the Olympics at all is a source of unhappiness for Ukrainians and Ukrainian sympathisers.

The International Olympic Committee’s response has been to deny Russian and Belarussian athletes the right to compete under their flag. They won’t take part in the opening ceremony and nor will their countries be recognised during medal ceremonies. But they are still there as neutral competitors.

The Ukrainian government considered boycotting the Games in protest of Russian and Belarussian participation. But after much consideration, Kyiv relented to send a team to Paris with conditions for its athletes.  

The government issued “guidelines” to its athletes to avoid any contact with “representatives of the aggressor states” inside the Olympic village and in Olympic venues.

The edict comes with a list of recommendations such as Ukrainian athletes keeping their distance from Russians in medal ceremonies and not being photographed alongside them. Ukrainians have been warned not to attend press conferences or live events unless specifically related to their competitions.

France has stepped in where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has not, by rejecting numerous Russian journalists’ applications for official accreditation for the Games on “security grounds” and the threat of “espionage” and “cyberattacks”.

It prompted the Russian foreign ministry to issue a statement accusing France of “paranoia”.

Perhaps even more serious is the current war in Gaza, which has seen more than 38,000 Palestinians killed as Israel exacts revenge for the 7 October 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas. The initial terrorist attack killed more than 1,200 Israelis with 250 people taken hostage.

Disproportionate military response

The disproportionate military response from Israel and the daily carnage in Gaza has led to numerous calls for Israeli athletes to be banned from the Olympic Games.

Israel has been accused of violating the Olympic Charter because of its actions in Gaza.

The Palestinian Olympic Committee this week joined calls for Israel to be excluded from the Games in an open letter to IOC president Thomas Bach. The Palestinians accuse Israel of breaching the traditional Olympic truce, which should run from 19 July until after the Paralympics in mid-September, with its continued military action in Gaza.

Those appeals have met with indifference from the IOC, which has resorted to its position of political neutrality and non-discrimination. That of course, has led to criticism considering its stance on Russian and Belarussian athletes.

“The position of the International Olympic Committee is very clear. We have two national Olympic committees. Both have been living in peaceful coexistence. The Olympic Games are a competition not between countries, but between athletes,” Bach said in response.

“If we would enter into the political discussion with regard to wars and conflict, at the opening ceremony on Friday we may be in the end with 100 national Olympic committees and not with 206 national Olympic committees, if we would violate our political neutrality.”

The IOC has even put on extra security for Israeli athletes as fears mount of another Munich 1972-type hostage situation of Israeli athletes, that left 11 members of that team dead.

“With regard to the security of the Israeli athletes we have the full confidence in the French authorities,” Bach said. “The French authorities are responsible for security. They are working very meticulously, working very professionally, working with 180 other international intelligence services collecting all the information.

“You could say... almost all the world with very few exceptions. They are contributing to make these Olympic Games safe and secure.”

The Israeli team of about 85 athletes will have additional security supplied by their own government, which has been standard practice since the Munich massacre.

US-China tensions

The third major political issue facing the Paris Olympics is the tensions between the US and China, particularly relating to a doping row.

The athletic rivalry between the two superpowers has become increasingly frosty in recent years, with the US not sending any diplomats to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

That prompted anger from the Chinese, who accused the US of violating the Olympic Charter by engaging in “politicking”.

Matters became even worse earlier this year when it emerged that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine months before the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics began in July 2021.

Read more: France arrests Russian suspected of planning to destabilise Olympics

None of the Chinese swimmers were suspended, even provisionally, and all continued with their careers. Eleven of those Chinese swimmers are in the team for Paris 2024.

The substance in question, trimetazidine, is non-specified under hormone and metabolic modulators. So, a provisional suspension should have been applied according to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s own code pertaining to the policy of strict liability.

That did not happen, which led to a call for a complete overhaul at the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) by the US Anti-Doping Agency. There has been no overhaul and the incident is still bubbling under the surface, days before the Games start.

Favouritism

An independent investigation ruled this month that the Wada did not mishandle or show favouritism, while a World Aquatics audit concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body.

“I hope everyone here is going to be competing clean this week. But what really matters also is, were they training clean?” seven-time Olympic gold medallist and US team member Katie Ledecky told reporters this week.

“So really, hopefully, that’s been the case. Hopefully, there’s been even testing around the world.”

Ledecky asked that there be more transparency around doping violations.

“They (athletes) want transparency. They want further answers to the questions that still remain,” she said. “At this point, we’re here to race. We’re going to race whoever’s in the lane next to us. We’re not the ones paid to do the testing.

“So, we hope that the people who are follow their own rules, and that applies now and into the future. We want to see some change for the future so that you don't have to ask us that question.” DM

Additional reporting by Suné Payne