Sunday, August 8th, 2021
Olympic record far from reality
Oh, Thomas Bach …
By Tobias Nordmann
The athletes delivered: The Olympic Games were once again a sporting highlight. There was, for example, the absurd world record show in athletics and on the bike. But there is only one reason for euphoria after the end of the Tokyo Games: the boss.
When Thomas Bach says that the Olympic Games were not ghost games, then of course he is right. Because at really many competitions in Tokyo there were no ghosts in the stands, but the head of the International Olympic Committee himself. He was there at the table tennis fairy tale by Dimitrij Ovtcharov, stopped by the fencing (he was once an Olympic champion in the sport) and applauded at the athletics competitions in the otherwise rather empty round. Now, however, Bach has something in common with ghosts. When things get uncomfortable, the most powerful sports official in the world can simply go invisible. The IOC boss doesn’t like to talk about things like human rights violations in venues. It’s also a stupid thing to court autocrats, give them the power of beautiful pictures and then credibly criticize the conditions in the country.
When, towards the end of these ghost games, pardon me, these Olympic Games, a journalist asked about Beijing and the dramatic situation of the oppressed Uyghurs in the country, Bach made himself invisible. His spokesman, Mark Adams, said that only questions about Tokyo would be allowed in the relevant round. One would like to talk about Beijing another time. The winter games will take place in the Chinese capital next year. Yeah right, winter games. If the climate change thing wasn’t so dramatic, it might almost be found funny. But the IOC says yes, when it comes to protecting the climate, you are far ahead. You can certainly see it differently. Winter games in Russia’s bathing paradise Sochi, ancient trees cut down in Pyeongchang. Oh well.
Another thing: The IOC did not act confidently in the bizarre case of sprinter Kristina Timanowskaja from Belarus. The athlete was supposed to be forced by her association to return home against her express will. The story passed off as a prevented kidnapping. The world association had a hard time with a tough sanction against the country. Whenever it becomes political, the IOC seems overwhelmed. Even in protest actions such as the crossed arms of the shot putter Raven Saunders, the officials find it difficult to make sensitive decisions. It is better to check punishments first than to leave the statement of a strong woman.
Curious ghost events
But Tokyo is really a great thing. The 16 days in the Japanese capital exceeded all of Bach’s expectations. Says Bach. Anyone who had bet that the 67-year-old would say these words would probably have had to pay extra, the quota on his anthem was so miserable. These Olympic Games were very successful, he also says. Well, from a German point of view (haha) this assessment cannot be maintained. 10 times gold, 11 times silver, 16 times bronze, that is the worst medal yield since reunification. But it’s not just the triumphs, but also the dramas, the heroic stories and the scandals that turn the Olympic Games into the Olympic Games. And that works, you have to agree with Thomas Bach, even without an audience. Some things might not have made headlines with viewers.
The racism scandal surrounding cycling official Patrick Moster, for example. With fans cheering on the track, his dull “camel driver” motivation would probably not have been audible in the men’s individual time trial. And what you don’t hear doesn’t turn into a scandal. Nobody knows this better than Kim Raisner. Your “Hit it. Hit it right” request during the pentathlon show jumping became a big story. To a story full of hatred against the trainer of the German team and against the athlete Annika Schleu, who in her desperation used the whip several times against the horse. The pictures were shocking. Pictures that have fueled important discussions about nonsensical rules and for more animal welfare. That would hardly have been possible without the Olympics. The games are the biggest stage, they are the only world stage. Especially for such niche sports. And that is also the strong legitimation for holding the games even in times of pandemic. It is also about existences.
It is also the world stage for athletes, gymnasts and swimmers. Your heroines are always the kings of the games. This time, too, they delivered emotional stories. For example those of Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, the vulnerable superstars who gave courageous insights into their mental health. It was the really big moments of the games. In addition, the great battles of a Dimitrij Ovtachrov, an Alexander Zverev. The last big races of Allyson Felix or Ronny Rauhe. That was thrilling. that was moving. Others provided stories that may need to be rewritten in a few years. Because what was going on in the Olympic Stadium? One impossible sensational time after another was run. But nothing amazed the world more than the absurd world record run by Karsten Warholm. In 45.94 seconds he ran 74 hundredths of a second faster than anyone before over the stadium lap with ten hurdles. Of course, the ultra-fast Mondo track was “to blame” and of course the phenomenal new super generation of “spikes” on the running shoes. In fact, they provide explanations. But approaches rather than explanations.
Interested doping interpretations
That also applied to the sprinters. Marcell Jacobs is her best. Over 100 meters, the Italian was, yes, right, the Italian (!), Unbeatable. His winning time of 9.80 seconds is spectacular, but not completely insane. The same goes for Elaine Thompson-Herah’s insane sprint shows. It was a relief that the Jamaican didn’t break Florence Griffith-Joyner’s all-time world records over 100 and 200 meters. They were created at a time when doping was unrestrained. “Flo-Jo” was heavily in the twilight. She was never convicted. Thomas Bach now thinks that these competitions were “absolutely clean”. He even believes in a change of culture in associations that previously pumped massive illegal substances into their athletes. He did not mention that because of the pandemic around 45 percent fewer tests could be carried out internationally before the games. Not even that ZDF research found that the close-knit system of controls after the competitions (of the athletes) was interpreted in an airy way.
The first dubious stories of dubious men in their immediate environment are already being told about Wundermann Jacobs. And in the sprint there were two exclusions during the competitions. Nothing unusual, but also far from the reality in which Thomas Bach lives. This also applies to Corona. The rapidly increasing infections in the city are affecting the image of the emergency games in Japan. The IOC boss sees it this way in his world: “These games took place at the right time”, they would have given “hope and trust”, not only to the Olympic community, “but to the whole world”. An “unprecedented effort” was required to carry it out. For the athletes, the risk was taken in the midst of the pandemic. And they would have found the risky decision to be correct. He said nothing about how (bad) the mood in the country is. A final ghost moment.
In a survey before the games, 82 percent of the Japanese interviewed would prefer the delta variant of the corona virus in the country to the ignorant sports official from Germany. A bitter mockery for the Japanese: they had both. And there is only one thing you can get rid of so quickly: Thomas Bach.
.