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The USA men’s volleyball team poses for a photo after beating Italy to win bronze at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 9, 2024. (AFP/Yonhap)

Tensions ran high during the 17 days of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The city was filled with armed soldiers and police officers, and the country’s telecommunications and railways came under actual attacks during the Games. Fortunately, authorities managed to thwart any major incidents. However, from the opening ceremony onward, the Games became a battleground of values and ideology, demonstrating wider, global divisions. 

Even before the opening ceremony, critics were accusing Olympic organizers of harboring “double standards.” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) forbade athletes from Russia and Belarus to protest their invasion of Ukraine, but athletes from Israel, which is waging a war in Gaza, were allowed to compete. Combined with the heavy coverage by Western outlets of human rights abuses by the Qatari authorities during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Arab and Middle Eastern communities were particularly outspoken about such hypocrisy at this year’s Olympics. 

Many in Arab nations and the Middle East argued that the Olympics are just a front for Western values in the guise of globalism and universal values. The opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics broke tradition by attempting to embrace a variety of sexual identities, but the Muslim community visibly chafed at the sight. French athletes were barred from wearing hijabs, sparking criticisms about intolerance of Islam. Some Muslims took to social media to call for a boycott against the Olympics. 

Even within the West, critics of political correctness, Catholics and Christians, and conservatives were highly critical of the opening ceremony. In a statement criticizing the Olympics, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that “the international Olympic Movement is losing face, becoming a victim of these pseudo-liberal manifestations, which sometimes border on perversion.” The Paris Olympics were just the latest demonstration of global rifts in values and ideology that continue to deepen. 

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif celebrates after winning the gold medal in women’s welterweight boxing at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 9, 2024. (pool photo)

Controversy surrounding the opening ceremony was followed by controversy over the victories of Algeria’s Imane Khelif, 25, who won the gold medal in women’s welterweight boxing, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu Ting, 28, who won gold in the women’s featherweight event.

The International Boxing Association disqualified both athletes from its world championship for having XY chromosomes. As soon as this knowledge became public, a fierce public debate ensued. The IOC issued statements that both athletes are women, and some people questioned the legitimacy of the gender tests cited by the IBA. The issue was adopted by various pundits and politicians on both sides of the aisle, and Arabs and Muslim communities claimed that the West was simply attacking an Arab athlete (Khelif). 

The Olympics will likely continue to be marred by controversy. The IOC has forbidden any comments or behavior that can be construed as political. Since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, however, it has allowed certain comments regarding ideas of gender equality and racism, under the claim that they represent universal values. This has sparked a larger debate about what those “universal values” are. 

By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter

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