We Need to Talk About the Olympics

As you may know a female sprinter named Sha’Carri Richardson was supposed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics this summer but was suspended over a positive cannabis test. Considering that they also banned Soul Caps which are designed for black hair, I think it’s pretty obvious that the Olympics is racist. However, I have a lot more receipts to share.

I’ve never been very interested in the Olympics itself. I feel like, as with anything involving sports, whenever the Olympics was going on all of a sudden our country was completely absorbed in the games and it was all anyone, including the media, was talking about. (I feel like another hint that the Olympics actually sucks was because the awful pastor [or maybe I should say IMpastor, because he was a hypocrite] mentioned it during his homily.) I digress.

Basically, growing up, I felt like the Olympics, maybe even sports in general, were kind of pushed onto me and I felt like I had to care.

When I was in eighth grade, I was given a book that consisted of mini biographies about female athletes like Leslie Sparks, Venus Williams and Michelle Kwan. When I think of Michelle Kwan, I feel like she’s so well known as an Olympic medalist that it may be shocking to know that she never won a gold medal. In fact, this statement was used as a punchline in an episode of the Gilmore Girls (I believe it was the Thanksgiving episode in season 3). Perhaps the reason why Kwan never won a gold medal is because the Olympics is racist?

The other day, I happened to be looking at footage from the US Open 2018, Naomi Osaka vs. Serena Williams. In the video I watched them emphasize the fact that Serena broke her tennis racket and the announcer mentioned that Naomi’s victory was overshadowed by Serena. Honestly though, Serena has every right to speak up. This is her career. And as she told the judges, this had happened several times before. It wasn’t okay that they pushed her into the “angry black woman” trope, but if I was in her situation, I would have been furious.

When you remember the fact that Naomi Osaka’s Haitian heritage is always left out during interviews, does it really surprise you that the Olympics is racist? I mean, literally Google Naomi Osaka it will say “Japanese tennis player.” However, she is half Haitian and half Japanese.

Also in 1998, Surya Bonaly, a black, French figure skater landed a backflip on one foot at the Olympics. However, the move landed her a penalty. Apparently the reason for the backflip being “illegal” was because it had been landed on two feet and wasn’t considered a “real” skating jump when it was originally attempted by Terry Krubicka. Then by default wouldn’t that mean that the backflip that Bonaly landed shouldn’t not have resulted in a penalty? This penalty is so convoluted that no matter how many times I try to put an explanation into words, it doesn’t make sense. Maybe if the Olympics stopped taking away points from black female athletes, then we wouldn’t have to try to make sense out of something that doesn’t make sense at all.

Adding up everything I have noticed about the Olympics and also the entertainment industry, it’s clear to me what favoritism looks like. America has an obvious, colonized idea of how their perfect star should appear and if a specific person doesn’t fit that mold, they will seek ways to destroy them. That’s exactly what happened to Sha-Carri Richardson. Especially given everything I discussed in my previous article “Cannabis Prohibition & Racism.”

The facts are, Richardson consumed cannabis and was tested in Oregon, a state where it is legalized. From what I understand, drug tests are meant to test for performance enhancing drugs. Cannabis is historically known to impair performance. The fact that the Olympics still test for cannabis seems like another attack on BIPOC athletes given that the herb has historically been weaponized against these communities.

When I heard this news, I was and still am infuriated that this happened. Sure, Richardson publicly made peace with the news, most likely because she is young and is probably being advised to not say much. (But,She also shouldn’t have to defend herself to begin with because she didn’t do anything wrong.) What I’ve learned is that accepting outdated rules rather than challenging them does not make for progression. Which is why I’m making noise about this situation.