The Olympics are unfair. In addition to all the sports at which we do not excel, they could have introduced an ancient event — Olympic Opinions. We might have won Gold if not Silver, Bronze, and fourth place too. We could have been the Lord of the Rings, all five of them. The Greeks shared their opinions at the Parthenon, which is back as a background on Olympic medals after a brief spot featuring the Roman Colosseum.
But, alas, we are confined to sharing our views in Olypub — name changed from the original Olympia, which has nothing to do with the Olympics either. In the past, the views would be bolstered by “evidence” such as “they said” and “I overheard”. But today, we get far more direct “evidence” from the media, social and antisocial. You can take sides with impunity. You can forward forwards that have no basis in reality, but which perpetuate someone’s view. What follows is a brief introduction to Olympic Opinions that I was subjected to through various groups and forums.
Opinions started as early as the Opening Ceremony, which engendered a blistering attack against the LGBTQ tableau that was apparently a parody of da Vinci’s Last Supper. Social media was full of prayers for mercy for the artists with at least one person saying, “I haven’t seen the controversial artwork, but I support the church”. Leonardo himself must have been mortified that the parallel was made at all — and the outrage drove several like me to actually go back and analyse the tableau, increasing the views. We’re glad that the organisers took to X (formerly Twitter) to explain their viewpoint — it was not X-rated.
The Last Supper tableau @Olympics/X
As the USA and China pulled away in the Gold medals tally, our local experts opined that the number of medals is more important than the quality of metal. So six medals is more impressive than a rank of 71 out of 206 competing countries. But having said that, there was a sudden outburst of concern about quality. Comparison pictures of medals at the Tokyo Olympics versus the Paris Olympics were circulated. Athletes generally bite their medals after receiving them and kissing them. I wondered why. Some wag informs me that it's to check the purity of metal. Which pun got extended when Vinesh Phogat reached the meme level and was lauded for her mettle versus the metal that she wasn’t awarded. Of course, a local butter manufacturer put together an advertising campaign out of the Olympics with space being awarded to all our athletes — Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh, Swapnil, Aman, Vinesh Phogat, Sreejesh — and a few sportspersons from other countries. That’s the way the rest of us get to know about them, too.
One of Amul's ads during the Olympics
There were the usual trolls who insisted that the Olympic committee were “body shaming” poor Vinesh for her 100 gram excess! Others took that forward to include the sad end to Anthony Ammarati’s pole-vaulting dreams, Imane Khelif’s size allegedly indicating gender differences and even diminutive Simone Biles standing alongside Shaquille O’Neal. Simone, of course, can actually jump over Shaq. I just loved Imane’s opinion that no one comments that size does matter when we look at basketball players. In a non-Olympic photograph, the USA Women’s Under 16 team is standing next to the U-16 from El Salvador. The latter look like the babies who accompany the big guys out onto a football field. They did score 19 to USA’s 114. No one objected and that was five years ago.
The referees of course were totally responsible for the Indian Hockey team dropping from Gold to Bronze. They kept awarding penalty corners till Germany scored the winner. Not my opinion, just a chapter from WhatsApp University.
But there were other endearing moments on social media. Like when Neeraj Chopra earned a Silver while Nadeem took Gold in javelin. Razeeah Parveen, Nadeem’s mother, insisted that both were her “sons” and that they were like brothers. This was to the unhappiness of those who perpetuate the Pakistan-India antagonism. And that special moment when Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowed to Gold medallist Rebecca Andrade on the victory stand.
Of course, other hilarious rumours roamed freely in cyberspace, without a shred of truth. Yusuf Dikec reportedly asked his ex-wife to return his dog after winning his silver without wearing protective gear. Comparative photos show other shooters completely covered in technology and Yusuf in his tee shirt winning Silver. Luana Alonso, the Paraguayan swimmer, was allegedly so beautiful that she was ejected from the Olympic Village for distracting the other athletes — too hot to handle apparently. Not to mention the sadder outcome for the wrestler Panghal, who shared her accreditation card with her sister — we are so used to the word ‘adjust’ that a shared card shouldn’t have been a problem for sisters.
Yusuf Dikec’s money shot TT Archives
Even the ceremonial outfits worn by our athletes came under the Opinions hammer. Some politely called them “below standard”, while others went the whole hog comparing them to Mongolia’s outfits and slamming the material and design. Apparently the design house that created masterpieces for the Ambani wedding might have been involved. Enough said.
And as Sreejesh retires having saved multiple attempts at the post, bringing home a Bronze in Hockey, the Opinion is that he should now get a Bharat Ratna.
As I said, if we had an event for Olympic Opinions, we might stand a good chance at Gold. Consider the opinion now doing the rounds that we have only a 30-minute physical education class once a week during term at schools and we want to win medals at the Olympics. Food for thought.
