Published on August 3, 2024, 12:31 am

The recent Olympics have been the center of contentious debates and scandals even before the commencement of the opening ceremonies. One such controversy surrounds WNBA star Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from Team USA’s roster. The omission is puzzling, considering Clark’s status as one of WNBA stars and her significant contributions to making the sport nationally recognized. Unfortunately, confirmation bias points to attributes such as Clark being heterosexual and white as a basis for this unfair decision.

Adding fuel to the fire was an unconventional performance staged at the opening ceremony, which sacrilegiously caricatured the Last Supper using drag queens in place of Christ and His apostles. Given that our world is still a hotbed for religious conflicts, with priests being killed during Sunday Mass in some locations, one could argue that more discernment could’ve been shown during planning.

However, an attempt to silence critics came in surprising form: mom to NFL player Travis Kelce took it upon herself to point out that these drag figures were representing Dionysus, Greek god of wine and festivity rather than engaging in blasphemy. She issued a somewhat pretentious message advocating ‘doing your own research’ before criticizing. On inspection though, it becomes apparent that this representation blends elements from both Dionysus’s Feast and the Last Supper – seeming to intentionally provoke Christian sentiments.

Amidst all this arose another issue during opening ceremony when South Korea was referred by its North Korean official title in French. Such errors are not uncommon but interestingly they always seem skewed towards one direction. Sneaking into events was another unexpected antic – Olympic flag mistakenly hoisted upside down instead of American flag portraying some symbolic relevance.

Further controversies unfolded when Nurali Emomali of Tajikistan showed unsporting behavior by refusing to acknowledge his Israeli opponent post-win and exited yelling “Allahu Akbar”. If consistency was applied in dealing with such issues regardless of origin or faiths involved, this could result in global unrest.

Adding another layer to the debate came an incident where female boxer Angela Carini was defeated by Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who was later found to possess male chromosomes. This outcome was a jarring setback for Carini who had dedicated her entire life preparing for this opportunity. Such decisions made by International Olympic Committee (IOC) show willingness to overlook scientific facts at the expense of athletes’ dreams and aspirations.

These recent events cast light on a worrying trend- from what seems like pandering towards disrespect of Christian values, officials perhaps unintentional alignment with homophobia or even bias in treatment based on nationality. The supposedly tolerant Olympics turned out to be ironically less tolerant towards certain groups such as Christians, Jews and women.

Taking into account these events occurring at a global stage like Olympics – it mirrors how our communities and public institutions have shifted worryingly towards promoting agendas that ignore common-sense & decency instead of championing unity and mutual respect.

The unchecked power, obtuse decisions making processes and controversial moves throughout the Olympics we have seen so far begs many critical questions. How long before we completely lose sight of genuine sportsmanship? How long until every globally recognized platform is hijacked by divisive narratives? The question remains – how do we navigate through overwhelming propaganda and enable real news from trusted sources with a Christian or any other worldview perspective?

As incidents unfold only halfway through the games, speculations ensue raising apprehensions regarding future sensational spectacles in upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.