Do The Olympics Still Matter?

The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is underway and so far it’s very different from the previous 31 Olympiads. Like many professional sports, it’s been taken over by grand displays of political correctness. While overall the games are still watchable, the wokeness that has seeped in has sucked out much of the fun. 

To kick off the Olympics of wokeness, was the U.S. Women’s soccer team. At their first match, all but three of them took a knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter to protest against racism in America. To many people, this was a sign of disrespect toward the country that they were representing. It was an insult that these women were allowed to compete for America, represent its colors, and then disrespect it in front of the entire world. While it’s never desired to see an American team be defeated, their losses to Sweden in their first match and Canada in the semifinals felt a little like sweet justice. 

The next – and most controversial –  instance came when Simone Biles decided to pull out of the gymnastics team competition and then her individual competitions too. Biles pointed to an ongoing mental health struggle when asked why she pulled herself from competition. She started off by saying that her “mental [health]’s not there” and she didn’t want to jeopardize her team’s chances of winning a medal. Later she came out and clarified that she was experiencing “the twisties“ and that she did not feel safe continuing, but the damage had already been done. 

Her actions caused a wide range of reactions from both sides of the political aisle with the left hailing her as one of the great heroes of the century and the right labeling her as a villainous quitter who was not worthy of praise for anything. Everyone was quick to forget that gymnastics has literally nothing to do with the right or the left. Not to mention that Simone Biles owes nothing to anyone. Rather than being a one day story like it should have been, the fact that it placed focus on mental health awareness propelled it into the limelight for the entire games.

To be clear, Biles’ reasons for quitting were completely valid. Gymnastics is an incredibly dangerous sport and it takes remarkable skill to be able to execute the flips and twists correctly, especially the ones that Biles performs. If she felt that she was putting herself at risk by performing when not able to focus she had every right to back down. But I think we can all agree that the whole situation should have been handled better on the worldwide stage.

Another point of contention in this edition of the games was the inclusion of transgender athletes. Trans women from various countries competed in several sports including soccer, skateboarding, and weightlifting, with Canada’s women’s soccer player Quinn becoming the first trans athlete to win a medal. The inclusion of these athletes reignited the discussion on the advantages that biological men have when competing against biological women.

So with all of the controversy surrounding this year’s Olympics one question arises: do the Olympics still matter? 

The ratings seem to say no. Ratings for the XXXII Olympiad have hit new lows. While streaming services have taken away some of the network viewers, the increased political activism has certainly not helped. People do not want to watch athletes promote their own political viewpoints through their sports. They don’t want to see anything remotely political in sports. They want to be able to watch athletes demonstrate their amazing talents and cheer for them and their country. 

The Olympics is meant to bring the country and the world together for some friendly competition. It’s one of the biggest honors for an athlete to be chosen to represent their country. If that honor is going to be shrouded by political activism, viewers will respond by turning it off. Activism has its place and athletes are more than welcome to speak out about issues that are passionate to them. No one wants to discourage that. But continuing to bring their personal opinions to their professional lives is getting old. Their political views don’t matter to most of the public, and it’s this type of behavior that will ensure the Olympics will continue down a dismal path.