Every fourth winter and summer when all citizens of the Earth celebrate our athletes (and Break Dancers) gathering together to compete against each other, it’s worth noting what a terrible idea that has typically been throughout history. Just check out what happened in the 1914 Sarajevo Games whose opening ceremony was Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination. Because what followed is a pretty accurate depiction of what happens any time the world gets together for anything.
And so it is with the Olympics generally. It’s just a matter of degrees. I honestly can’t think of a Games in my lifetime that didn’t involve all manner of bad blood, ill will, bad sportsmanship, cheating scandals, bribing scandals, vote-swapping scandals, boycotts, corrupt officials, crooked referees. The list is endless. International controversies are every bit as much a part of the Olympics as Track or Field.
What makes this one that’s still playing out long after the last athlete has left the Village and the last pizza box bed has been recycled so special is how ridiculous it is.
In a nutshell, the judges in the Gymnastics floor exercises screwed up, and Team USA’s coach appealed:
NBC News – Monday’s floor final will go down as one of the most shocking in the sport’s history.
Jordan Chiles won her first individual Olympic medal, a bronze, but it appeared at first that she would finish off the podium. She originally placed fifth but submitted an inquiry to the judges and received a tenth back on her final score. …
A skill in her routine called a Gogean, a split leap with a 1.5-turn, was originally not credited by the judges. …
Upon review, Chiles earned full credit for the leap and it was a medal-making difference.
OK. They made a mistake. Maybe they were told there’d be no math in Olympic judging or whatever. But the Team USA coach pulled the challenge flag out of his sock, threw it, and after further review, the original wrong was righted. No harm done. Grab your medal and your spot on the podium and listen to the Anthem and everyone can be glad justice was done.
It’s just that the “everyone” doesn’t include the one who lost that medal. Or the ones who give them out. They feel like their opinion is the only one that counts, and they want it back.
NBC News again – Jordan Chiles is a rarity in Olympic history: an athlete forced to return their medal for reasons other than a doping violation.
The Team USA gymnast originally finished fifth in the floor exercise Monday, but an appeal by her coach saw her upgraded to bronze. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee said that the appeal shouldn’t have been allowed, meaning she will have to return her third-place prize.
Throughout history, dozens of athletes have been forced to return their accolades, usually because they have failed a doping test after stepping off the podium. …
Following the back-and-forth over Chiles’ placement, outrage simmered online, and the athlete said she’d take a break from social media for her mental health.
Getting off the socials for a while is just the most recent in a string of good decisions Chiles has made. Beginning with landing that Gogean thing. And continuing on with telling the IOC they can go IO-piss up a rope.
To put in perspective how preposterous it is to demand someone give back a medal they won fair and square, note this from that same article:
In 2017, the Russian Olympic Committee said that none of the 18 athletes stripped of their medals because of doping violations had returned the physical awards. Committee President Alexander Zhukov said it was “not an easy process.”
So the Committee has gone 0-for-18 when it comes to getting back medals that are actually fraudulent because Team Russia was doping up 15 year old skaters like Breeder’s Cup throroughbreds, but they expect an American who scored better than the 4th place finisher to just hand hers back because … reasons. Because of some technicality. A mess up on their part. Because someone claimed that the coach’s appeal came a few seconds late. Which USA Gymnastics not only denies, but insists they have the irrfutable proof:
USA Gymnastics has submitted additional evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. pic.twitter.com/GOKymbAtcq
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 11, 2024
So keep coming for it, IOC. See how that works out for you. You’re a group of kleptocrats who’ve been grabassing with the worst people in the world since Berlin, 1936. We’re a nation of 330 million all too willing to defend our own. And we’ve got nukes we’re not afraid to use. Plus we have a long history of standing up for the principles of Triple Stamping, No Erasies, Touch Blue Make it True:
