What’s been going on recently?
The Tokyo Olympics 2021 is coming up soon, and a recent set of rulings by corporate sponsors and athletic ruling bodies have shown worldwide racism in sports. Numerous people have mixed feelings about the games and criticism of the Olympics being a cause of anti-Blackness has surfaced. Many are pushing to boycott, cancel and even abolish the Olympic Games in the future due to the racist history trailing behind them.
In the past few weeks:
The International Swimming Federation banned special hair caps used by Black women in competitions because they are more suited for their natural hair and braids.
Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, two Namibian sprinters, were banned by the world policy on Athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD) due to their testosterone levels being higher than usual. This case is eerily similar to Caster Semenya’s, a fellow athlete who has also been prohibited from competing since 2018.
CeCe Telfer, a Black American trans woman, is not allowed to compete due to transphobic views on womanhood and the gatekeeping of women with differing sex characteristics from sports.
US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was a gold medal favourite, but upon testing positive for traces of THC (marijuana) during a drug test, she was suspended.
Brianna McNeal, an Olympic champion of 100m hurdles, had her five-year Olympics ban extended after she failed to show up for a drug test while she was resting after an abortion.
Is this new?
Punishing and excluding Black women from the Olympics over small mistakes is not a new concept. Before 2021, the Olympics already had a policy where athletes could not protest during games, or share any vaguely political messages. The Games have also displaced poor locals in the cities they’re located in. Historically, they have used Black athletes from colonized countries as anthropology “experiments” where they’ve been compared alongside white athletes to prove that they were naturally gifted with athletic skills.
In Summary
Only around 19% of Olympics competitors are Black, and few manage to succeed in the realm of elite sports, especially women. Talented Black athletes were often seen as invading a space built for white people. They were seen as deviations from the norm and weren’t recognized for their achievements. The racial makeup of athletes in sports where entry costs are lower, such as basketball or boxing, are predominantly Black, proving the intersection of money and race with access. The world of athletics desperately needs to spread a message of anti-racism and highlighting the racist history of the Olympics, or the conditions of Black athletes won’t improve.
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