Wikipedia's “Concerns and controversies” starts slowly, but has some hard hitters, like Latvia boycotting coverage of “““neutral””” Russian athletes, pissing “fuck ICE” in the snow, censoring Toussaint Louverture, Hearskevvych, another Ukrainian ban, Oleh Handei for a poem.

And Israel.

And the IOC answer that they grade genocide.

And did I mention Russians fake-ass-neutrality?

At least they got booed along with JD Vance: reuters.com/world/middle-east/…

In the IOC's ruling, they acknowledge who this athlete wanted to memorialize, and they mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they very carefully weasel-word their way around connecting the two: "...died following Russia's invasion...", not "from Russia's invasion" or "from Russian attacks".

Hell, you could say "Bill died in a pedestrian accident, after humankind's invention of the wheel..."

In doing so, they accidentally state they do not see a political connection between the two, thereby invalidating their own position for the reason why this athlete expression is not okay, but the athlete holding up a photo of his parents who died in a plane crash was fine.

In treading carefully in order to appease Russia, they destroy their own (weak and still fading) credibility.

This is all I need of the Olympics now: Viktor Petrenko, born in Ukraine under the USSR, making a return to Olympic competition at the 1994 Lillehammer games to skate for recently independent Ukraine. A bit past his prime, but turning in a thrilling free skate.

#Olympics #FigureSkating #Ukraine #Petrenko #ViktorPetrenko #1994 #FuckTheIOC

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaWBSuKV…

Let's also remember 1968. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved hands in a Black Power salute (popular at the time) on the Olympic podium. With a nod to Australian Peter Norman, who stood calmly with his arms at his sides, as Smith and Carlos requested when he asked.

#TommieSmith #JohnCarlos #Olymics #1968 #BlackPower #PeterNorman #FuckTheIOC

bbc.com/culture/article/202310…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Oly…

In History: How Tommie Smith and John Carlos's protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics shook the world

US athlete Tommie Smith attained international fame when he gave the Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics – but the protest came at a huge personal cost.

^{Myles Burke (BBC)}