READERS and Leonardo da Vinci are owed an apology. The tableau at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics that caused such offence was not a pastiche of Leonardo’s iconic mural Last Supper.
The organisers have clarified that the tableau depicted a bacchanalian scene showing an assembly of Greek gods, led by Dionysus, the god of wine. The inspiration came from a painting — The Feast of the Gods — by the 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Harmensz van Bijlert.
Was there no symbol closer to France’s reputation as the capital of wine than Greek gods and a Dutch painter?
Whatever other lessons the French have learned from the 2024 Olympics, one is that too many cooks can spoil a bouillon, even in France. The other, never to take decisions by committee, for didn’t a wit warn that ‘a camel is a horse designed by a committee’.
The 2024 Olympics will be remembered for unexpected issues.
The Olympic events, spread over the last week in different venues, have confirmed France’s administrative talents. The stunning gardens of Versailles palace could not have been a nobler backdrop for the riding competitions, a fusion of equestrian elegance and ineffable taste.
The 2024 Olympics will be remembered, though, for unexpected issues that emerged.
Gender, for one. For millennia, men and women were classed as opposites, compatible but uniquely separate. Being a hermaphrodite (the word comes from the fusion of the Greek deities Hermes and Aphrodite) put one in a no-man’s or no-woman’s land.
Parisians have for long tolerated the nightly infestation of its Bois de Boulogne gardens by provocative professionals from Brazil. The Olympic organisers had no problem with gay divers like Greg Louganis (gold medallist, Los Angeles, 1984, Seoul, 1988) or Tom Daley (gold, Tokyo 2020), even when Daley spent his off-platform time knitting for his partner.
Two boxers — Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan — were slammed by critics for competing as women, even though they had failed gender eligibility tests sometime in the past.
Will the IOC be forced to create a new category for trans people? They have already provided for national ambiguity by allowing refugees to compete as displaced nationals, and athletes from Russian and Belarussian to be admitted as Individual Neutral Athletes.
For some competitors, the use of technology has proved a bane. Photo-finishes are a tool of the past. Now, even turns in a swimming relay are scrutinised with shark-eyed precision. In the women’s 200-metre individual swimming medley, Alex Walsh finished the backstroke and was going into the breaststroke. That millisecond turn was dee-med illegal and Walsh (who would otherwise have won a bronze medal) forfeited her prize.
Similarly, the British medallist Luke Greenbank thought he had qualified in the 200m back-stroke heat for the semifinals. To his grief, he was disqualified because he was “completely underwater past the red 15-metre mark following a turn”. They were no grounds for review. Replays could not be refuted. Understandably, he felt “absolutely gutted”.
For every Olympic medal winner — whether gold, silver or bronze — there are hundreds of disappointed athletes who have spent years preparing for the event. As one athlete put it: “We have ups and downs. Unfortunately, you can’t pick the days they come on.”
If one has to admit partiality in favour of any single contestant, it would have to be for the Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic has won an all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles. He achieved a triple Grand Slam by winning each of the four majors at least three times. “Djokovic is also the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces.”
In the recent Wi-mbledon men’s fin-als last month, a 37 year-old Djokovic lost to the 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic had reach-
ed the age when men look forward to playing with unborn grandchildren. Critics wrote him off. But Djokovic craved an Olympic gold as the glittering capstone to a pyramid of hard, unrelenting endeavour.
On Sunday, the sun and the Serbian saints shone on Djokovic. In a tense duel, he secured his medal. Djokovic wept in victory; Alcaraz wept in defeat. Neither need feel shame: ‘Les larmes sont les gouttes du coeur.’ — tears are the drops of the heart.
By the time of future Olympics (Los Angeles, 2028, and Brisbane, 2032) the world will welcome a fresh crop of competitors. An increasing number will be black, representing traditionally white nations. The IOC should dispense with nationality and gender, and instead honour individuals.
We should applaud those who, despite a lifetime of commitment, never gained a medal, for many of them will no longer be athletes. They will have only memories of having been one.
The writer is an author.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024
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