During the second Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis, USA, African athletes were still excluded from official competition. However, they did participate in a kind of shadow games, “athletic events for savages.” In a retrospective in this issue, sports historian Francois Cleophas recalls this “unique spectacle” in which spectators witnessed how the “savage tribes” had to pelt each other with stones in one of the events.
After African American runner Jesse Owens mocked Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Games and the Black Panthers balled their fists on the honorary podium in 1968 in protest of institutional racism, much has changed.
So much has changed that a former colonial superpower opened the Games last Saturday in Paris with a convincing manifestation of inclusiveness and equality. It introduced millions of viewers worldwide to the Europe of tomorrow and a France to which top soccer player Kylian Mbappé referred when he successfully warned against a victory of the radical right wing in the French elections. A new, honest Françafrique showed itself in the spectacular performance of Aya Nakamura. It was so much more than a raised finger from this French-Malian singer who faced months of racist hate campaigns following the announcement of her upcoming performance.
The European right wing reacted predictably, shooting its venomous arrows at this homage to equality. Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene even saw the hand of Satan in a show that celebrated the freedom of LGBTIQ people, women, and refugees.
The grumpy humbugging of the modern-day Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show will continue for some time, but before even one game had been played it became clear at the opening ceremony who had won.
ZAM Team
