tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/tokyo-2020-7090/articlesTokyo 2020 – The Conversation2021-09-07T13:44:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1654332021-09-07T13:44:33Z2021-09-07T13:44:33ZTokyo’s Olympic legacy: Will hosting the Games have benefitted local communities?<p>Over the past 20 years, the notion of the legacy of the Olympic Games has become increasingly crucial to any campaign to host them. As World Athletics president and former chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee Sebastian Coe put it in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/may/04/Olympics2012.politics">2006</a>, legacy counts as nine-tenths of what hosting the Olympics is all about. And he was clear about what that meant: “It is the local people,” he told the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldselect/ldolympic/78/78.pdf">House of Lords</a>, “who should stand to gain most from the Games.”</p>
<p>The Legacy Games, as London 2012 was dubbed, sought to project a new and positive future for the city at large, a vision that was duly satirised by the BBC’s mockumentary Twenty Twelve. Framing the Olympics in this way, as a long-term investment in a future destination, usually helps to justify the cost of hosting them. The aim is to convince local populations that the Games will bring them net benefits, compared to investing this money into other sectors like health and education.</p>
<p>By some counts, the 2020 Olympic Games <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0308518X20958724">overran by up to 244%</a> to cost Japan <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-games-total-cost-8ec49ea2ea9d7316f37ffd20770a2742">$15.4 billion</a>. Japan’s National Audit Board <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">nearly doubled that estimate</a> in 2019, placing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2021/07/21/the-massive-costs-behind-the-olympic-games-infographic/?sh=441f18f46b02">overall spending</a> at closer to $28 billion. As the curtains close on Tokyo 2020, the big question for many, and local Tokyoites in particular, will now be: was it worth it? </p>
<h2>Tourism development</h2>
<p>Shinzo Abe, who was prime minister at the time Japan won the right to host the 2020 Games, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/08/tokyo-2020-olympics-jubilation-relief">explicitly stated</a> that Tokyo 2020 represented a key way to open up Japanese culture and people to the watching and visiting world.
And in the run-up to the Games, the Tokyo Olympic committees made bringing international visitors to Japan a central tenet of their legacy pitches.</p>
<p>These committees <a href="https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/document/vision_english02.pdf">argued</a> that the interaction between visitors and local communities – cultural producers, small businesses - are the unique selling points for Tokyo as a tourism destination. It follows that displacing existing residents and local businesses potentially undermines this central justification for hosting the event in the first place. </p>
<p>And yet, that is what took place. Across Tokyo, new urban development projects have replaced diverse and authentic Japanese backstreets. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2017.1355408?journalCode=rlst20">Research</a> has shown that ahead of Tokyo 2020, older neighbourhoods in the capital were feeling the squeeze. </p>
<p>One journalist <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/11/07/lifestyle/heart-darkness-nostalgic-tokyo-disappearing-amid-construction-boom/">noted</a> how “the Shinagawa neighborhood of Musashi-Koyama — a vibrant maze of tiny alleyways that once housed dozens of small eateries, tapas restaurants and bars — is now a virtual ghost town”. Tokyo parks saw <a href="https://olympicswatch.org/tokyo-2020/">increased policing</a> and closed shop frontages lined up one after another, victims of rising property prices and rents. </p>
<p>Local business precincts being subjected to corporate colonisation typifies a broader concern that Olympic tourism scholars highlight around the world. Our research has pointed to host cities becoming <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">clone towns</a> and urban blandscapes, with small businesses replaced by global and national chains. </p>
<p>This signals anything but the diverse and unique cultural offer promised in Olympic hosting campaigns. In the long run, this will hamper, and not encourage competitiveness, in terms of tourism. And it is already alienating local communities. </p>
<h2>Local fallout</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/tokyo-olympics-how-hosting-the-games-disrupts-local-lives-and-livelihoods-162893">significant body of evidence</a> has found that, in the run up to the Games, local communities in and around Olympic sites are directly affected. Construction of the new National Stadium in Shinjuku, ahead of Tokyo 2020, saw elderly tenants <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2017.1355408?journalCode=rlst20">evicted</a> and displaced, and homeless people driven out in alarming numbers. </p>
<p>With each new successful Olympic bid, this pattern of displacement, disruption and gentrification is consistently noted. In the five years prior to the Games, Barcelona saw an <a href="https://www.yourmoney.com/investing/hosting-the-olympics-a-win-for-the-housing-market/">increase of 130%</a> in property prices. Sydney, too, saw a <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/archives/assembly-reports-econsd-lasting-legacy-uel-research.pdf">rise in house prices of 11%</a> more than the rest of Australia ahead of the 2000 Summer Olympics. </p>
<p>Low-income residents can be replaced by upwardly mobile residents as fast as the new apartment blocks are erected to house them. Rising commercial rents, meanwhile, <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">cause small, low-profit margin businesses to fail</a>, with bijou stores and coffee shop chains replacing them.</p>
<p>These effects are felt long after the Games come to an end. Post-event gentrification has become so persistent that pundits refer to it as <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w14854">the Olympic effect</a>. However, the reality for those facing eviction and forced out of local neighbourhoods is frequently bleak, which highlights an indifference towards protecting local business communities and diverse urban high streets. <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228155959.pdf">Research</a> has found that these communities are often embroiled in a struggle to survive and barely recognised as a key contributor to both local and national economies. Yet, this is far from the truth. </p>
<p>Cities are complex organisms. The way they evolve over time is a product of decades of social and economic policies. The Olympics, however, hasten gentrification that would otherwise have come to fruition more gradually. </p>
<p>Often, this is the result of targeted regeneration schemes, like the creation of <a href="https://japanpropertycentral.com/2019/05/redevelopment-details-for-meiji-jingu-stadium-district/">the Meiji Park</a> for Tokyo 2020, or, in Rio de Janiero, the <a href="https://www.thegpsc.org/sites/gpsc/files/2._porto_maravilha.pdf">Porto Maravilha cultural quarter</a>. Such event-induced <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468797618775219">touristification</a> of urban spaces plays a further role in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098019883734">catalysing and exacerbating</a> gentrification.</p>
<p>Future Olympic host cities, including Paris (2024), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032), must try to limit any negative local social impacts. The fallout of displacing local people and businesses may not be an immediate priority, politically or economically speaking. However, unique local culture produced by vibrant local communities is what keeps visitors coming in the long term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Mike Duignan has previously received funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but for a topic unrelated to this article. Mike is also the Director of the Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events which is the UK's official Olympic Studies Centre, which is affiliated to the IOC's academic Olympic Studies Centre. However, the nature of this relationship is academic with the view to disseminate good social science concerning how we can enhance the social and economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games for the host country, city and its citizens. This article was based on work funded by 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Research and Innovation grant agreement no. 823815</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Judith Mair receives funding from The International Olympic Committee Advanced Olympic Research program. </span></em></p>Urban regeneration and tourism development are habitually touted as central reasons for a city to host the Olympics. Research shows that local people, however, often fail to benefitMike Duignan, Head of Department, Reader in Events, and Director of the Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events, University of SurreyJudith Mair, Associate Professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670132021-09-06T12:04:48Z2021-09-06T12:04:48ZAfter the Paralympics: New initiative to get more Canadians involved in power wheelchair sports<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419167/original/file-20210902-19-1l3h8my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7590%2C5056&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Malaysia's Chew Wei Lun plays a shot during a gold medal Boccia match at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Boccia is only one of three summer Paralympic sports where athletes can compete while using a powerchair.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Tokyo Paralympic Games gave fans the opportunity to witness <a href="https://paralympic.ca/tokyo-2020/results/medal-table">incredible athletic achievements</a> by Canadian Paralympians. However, within the parasport community itself, inclusivity and access is a real issue, especially for those who don’t fit the mould of how some think an athlete “should” look or move.</p>
<p>The International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) vision is to foster a more inclusive world through parasport. This is primarily supported through <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/190704145051100_2019_07+IPC+Strategic+Plan_web.pdf">its strategic goal</a> of promoting the Paralympic movement at all levels by encouraging participation in parasports, especially for athletes with high support needs. </p>
<p>But some of these athletes, those who use powerchairs — wheelchairs propelled by electric motors — to play sports, including boccia, powerchair soccer and powerchair hockey, are underrepresented in the Paralympics, and in parasport more broadly. Canada needs to create community-based sport programming for athletes with disabilities, especially those who use powerchairs to train and compete.</p>
<h2>Athletes with high support needs</h2>
<p>Athletes with <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/news/athletes-high-support-needs-get-touch">high support needs</a> can have a variety of physical, vision and intellectual impairments that require additional support at competitions. Support may involve directly assisting athletes during competition, or with everyday living needs. For example, an athlete with limited hand function may need assistance to load a pistol in a shooting event or get dressed for the day. They may also have a greater degree of physical impairment (such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy) and use powerchairs.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Communication-Sport-and-Disability-The-Case-of-Power-Soccer/Jeffress/p/book/9781138053588">Powerchair sports</a> are played by people with a physical disability who use power wheelchairs. Powerchairs make sport accessible to athletes with greater physical disability and eliminate performance differences usually associated with gender and age. </p>
<p>Because of this, powerchair sports are considered some of the most inclusive sports because they allow athletes of diverse abilities, ages and genders to compete together on one team. Because the use of powerchairs minimizes the impact of impairment on competition, athletes who use a powerchair to compete succeed largely as a result of their sporting ability.</p>
<h2>Under-representation</h2>
<p>Despite being capable of <a href="http://powerchairhockey.org/canada-and-usa-1-goal-2-countries/">high-performance international sport competition</a>, athletes with high support needs who use powerchairs are underrepresented. For instance, only about five per cent of the Canadian Paralympic Team are daily powerchair users. Of the 22 sports included in the current summer Paralympics, only boccia, archery and shooting feature athletes who use powerchairs while competing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Wheelchair para-archery athletes pulling the string back on their bows" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419175/original/file-20210902-26-vq8vow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Emma Rose Ravish, center, of the U.S. competes in the women’s individual recurve-open ranking round of the archery event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the limited opportunities for powerchair-using athletes at the elite level also trickle down to the recreational level. This brings into question whether the IPC will be able to meet its strategic goal, especially when considering the influence of commercial interests. </p>
<p>Scheduled live coverage of the Tokyo Paralympics in Canadian television broadcasts didn’t include boccia, leading to missed opportunities for audiences to appreciate the athleticism of these competitors. (All sports with live feeds <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/sports/paralympics/boccia">are available</a> to be live-streamed or viewed on-demand.)</p>
<h2>Marketability and media exposure</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.30.1.24">Previous research</a> suggests athletes with high support needs receive less media coverage because their performances are not considered “esthetically pleasing.” These perceptions also affect audience recognition of the performances as being elite or high-level.</p>
<p>Assigning value to parasport performances based on marketability perpetuates a lack of inclusion. It also affects the amount of exposure certain parasports get, which in turn limits access to financial resources. </p>
<p>If the media provided greater exposure to athletes with high support needs, it could broaden the general public’s perceptions of what elite sport performance looks like. It could also result in more parasports gaining access to the social and economic capital needed to grow their sport and develop athletes.</p>
<p>Corporate sponsors and the media can minimize concerns that it’s risky to push parasports that feature athletes with high support needs. The IPC could embrace more sports that include athletes who use powerchairs, by wielding financial and social influence to spotlight athlete accomplishments.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/paralympians-still-dont-get-the-kind-of-media-attention-they-deserve-as-elite-athletes-166879">Paralympians still don’t get the kind of media attention they deserve as elite athletes</a>
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<h2>Changing perceptions of elite athletes</h2>
<p>We need to reimagine our perception of athletes beyond the mainstream understanding of sports. Highlighting the talent of athletes who compete using powerchairs may challenge the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2017.1421174">societal prejudices</a> that contribute to the marginalization of people with complex disabilities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An athlete in a powered wheelchair leans forward to hit a ball with a hockey stick" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420092/original/file-20210908-17-zh7ccs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">As the Calgary Selects take on the Michigan Mustangs at the 2019 PowerHockey Canada Cup in Toronto, Mustangs forward Jordan Zmich evades veteran Selects forward Nathan Grossklaus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(PowerHockey Canada/GTA Sports Photography)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Participation in sport offers physical, social and psychological <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101164">benefits</a> for children, youth and adults with disability. Yet powerchair sport is not widely available in Canada, and research to inform program development is lacking. Tailored powerchair sport programming is sorely needed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2020.1767220">to create opportunities</a> for quality participation among high support needs athletes.</p>
<h2>Recreational programs are the way forward</h2>
<p>Canada has powerchair sport programs for <a href="https://www.powerhockeycanada.com">international-level competition</a>, but it lacks the recreational programs needed to foster interest, engagement and athlete development. Creating more parasport opportunities for people who use powerchairs will give more Canadians the chance to participate in sports while fostering the development of those who aspire to compete internationally.</p>
<p>To address this need, <a href="https://cdpp.ca/get-involved">our research team</a> has partnered with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Ontario Parasport Collective, PowerHockey Canada and other stakeholders to close the gaps in community-based sport programming for athletes with disabilities, especially those who use powerchairs. We are working to develop a resource guide for building high quality powerchair sport programs and aim to use this guide to establish programs in communities of 50,000 people or more.</p>
<p>In order to build long-lasting programs, we must meaningfully collaborate with the communities the programs are intended to serve, so we have adopted <a href="https://ikt.ok.ubc.ca">integrated knowledge translation principles</a> for this project. These principles make sure our research is conducted as ethically as possible. Over the next several months, we plan to speak with members of the <a href="https://cdpp.ca/get-involved">powerchair sport community and community-based organizations</a> interested in offering powerchair sport opportunities. This collaboration will transform the landscape of powerchair sport in Canada.</p>
<p><em>Paul Desaulniers of PowerHockey Canada co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167013/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Herbison receives funding from Mitacs the Sport Science Institute at McGill University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Latimer-Cheung receives funding from MITACS in partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Within the parasport community itself, inclusivity and access is a real issue, especially for those who do not fit the mold of how we think an athlete “should” look or move.Jordan Herbison, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Queen's University, OntarioAmy Latimer-Cheung, Professor, School of Kinesiology, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667252021-09-02T21:50:37Z2021-09-02T21:50:37Z#WeThe15 was misguided in using the Tokyo Paralympic Games to launch a disability inclusion revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418514/original/file-20210830-18-qko1xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7446%2C4960&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada's Zak Madell (right) and France's Jonathan Hivernat (left) compete during a semifinal wheelchair rugby match at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Tokyo Paralympic started, more than 125 landmarks across the globe, including the CN Tower and Niagara Falls, were <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/cn-tower-niagara-falls-illuminated-purple-supporting-paralympics-wethe15/">bathed in purple</a> in support of the campaign #WeThe15. This new campaign aims to use sport to break down barriers and end discrimination faced by 15 per cent of the world’s population who experience disability. </p>
<p>According to #WeThe15, people who experience disability <a href="https://www.wethe15.org/brand-guidelines">are still waiting</a> for equitable opportunities to be seen as “active and contributing members of global society.” Supported by organizations such as UNESCO, the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics, the Deaflympics and the Invictus Games, the campaign hopes to <a href="https://www.wethe15.org">create long-lasting change</a> by “bringing together the biggest coalition ever of international organizations from the world of sport, human rights, policy, communications, business, arts and entertainment.” </p>
<p>Relying on the power of branding, imagery and social media to <a href="https://www.pentagram.com/news/wethe15">shape public perception</a> and promote inclusive actions, #WeThe15 was launched with <a href="https://youtu.be/Ng6mT_EJy2Q">a 90-second video</a> featuring people with disabilities talking about stereotypes, from inspiration to pity to “specialness.” The video aired during the Paralympic Games opening ceremony, which reached an estimated global audience of 250 million.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ng6mT_EJy2Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">#WeThe15’s campaign film features people with disabilities challenging commonly held stereotypes about disabled people.</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Only when you see us as one of you, wonderfully ordinary, wonderfully human … only then can we all break down these barriers that keep us apart,” was their message. While we as researchers commend the emphasis on dismantling the divide between disabled and non-disabled lives, we question the use of the Paralympic Games as an appropriate starting point for the #WeThe15 movement. </p>
<p>We study health and physical cultures, including Paralympic sport. David is a former member of the Canadian Paralympic Team with a lifelong personal experience of disability. Carla has over 15 years of practical experience in and around disability sport culture. </p>
<h2>Exclusionary by nature</h2>
<p>Eager to benefit from the global reach of the Paralympic Games, the #WeThe15 visionaries overlooked the exclusionary nature of the Paralympics. The Games are exclusionary because they are meant to be so — only certain bodies that experience disability are eligible to compete. Of these, only the most physically talented are selected to represent their country. </p>
<p>Even Paralympic athletes have even begun to question the exclusionary nature of the Paralympics. In a recent <em>BBC</em> article, Paralympic archery champion <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/56168199">Danielle Brown said</a> the Paralympics are “becoming an exclusive rather than an inclusive event.” Brown, who has complex regional pain syndrome, competed in the Beijing and London Paralympics, but was told in 2013 that she was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/24875429">no longer eligible</a> to compete after the international <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/archery/classification#:%7E:text=Para%20archery%20is%20split%20into,weight%20and%20without%20magnifying%20sights.">para-archery classification procedure</a> changed.</p>
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<img alt="Athletes inspect their archery targets in the distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419156/original/file-20210902-19-1vft3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Team members check their target after a session of the men’s individual recurve-open ranking round of the archery event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the midst of the Games being <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2016.1225885">used as a vehicle</a> to expand disability sport participation, the Tokyo Paralympics are a current example of exclusion — not only because of eligibility issues, but also because more impaired athletes are seen as detrimental to the commercial appeal of the Games and are often left out of Paralympic media and marketing. </p>
<p>Because of the elite nature of the Paralympic Games and the bodies that engage in it, it is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319353058_Challenging_'normalcy'_Possibilities_and_pitfalls_of_paralympic_bodies">extremely difficult</a> to see Paralympians as a fair representative of #WeThe15. </p>
<h2>A better way forward</h2>
<p>We are not writing to condemn the #WeThe15 movement, but to argue that a better step for disability activism, is what we call the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmr.2018.01.009">social empowerment of difference</a>. Instead of advocating that “everyone is human,” we believe we should move beyond that messaging and centre the celebration of difference. In addition, the social empowerment of difference is designed to enhance not just the social emancipation of #WeThe15, but all marginalized groups. </p>
<p>Quite simply, inclusion should not require marginalized people to wave a flag that proves their humanity. Instead, we should all take a step back and celebrate differences. #WeThe15 should be careful to not get caught up in grand gestures of political activism or the media spectacle of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, and instead demonstrate an openness towards difference, which in turn will extend beyond the boundaries of sport and permeate all dimensions of social life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The #WeThe15 movement is rooted in good intention and falls short in a big way by using the Paralympic Games as a backdrop to its launch.P. David Howe, Dr. Frank Hayden Endowed Chair in Sport and Social Impact, Western UniversityCarla Filomena Duarte da Silva, Assistant Professor Health Studies and Kinesiology, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1668792021-09-01T21:54:13Z2021-09-01T21:54:13ZParalympians still don’t get the kind of media attention they deserve as elite athletes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418775/original/file-20210831-27-10rp3nz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4436%2C2955&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Manuela Schaer of Switzerland, right, and Tatyana McFadden of the United States, second from right, compete in the women's 1500m wheelchair racing T54 final during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Games.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/news/tokyo-2020-paralympics-set-break-all-broadcast-viewing-records">no international spectators and limited domestic crowds</a>, the importance placed on broadcasting the Paralympic Games is greater than ever before. When the Games were postponed in 2020, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons argued that the Paralympics were needed more than ever to put disability back at the <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/news/ipc-president-paralympics-needed-more-than-ever-in-2021">heart of the inclusion agenda</a>. </p>
<p>With the highest estimated global viewership to date, at <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/news/tokyo-2020-paralympics-set-break-all-broadcast-viewing-records">4.25 billion total viewers</a>, Parsons was convinced that <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/news/ipc-president-paralympics-needed-more-than-ever-in-2021">media representation of the Paralympic Games</a> would help “change attitudes, breakdown barriers of inequality and create more opportunities for persons with disabilities.”</p>
<p>But has the media represented Paralympic athletes in a way that can change attitudes about disability? Our <a href="https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/471442/canadian-media-representations-of-para-athletes-at-the-2016-paralympic-games-erin-pearson-laura-mise?_lg=en-GB">recent analysis</a> found Canadian media coverage of Paralympians at the 2016 Rio Games fell into four main categories: athlete first, stereotyped, informative and multidimensional.</p>
<h2>Athlete first</h2>
<p>From a positive perspective, we found that many Paralympians were represented as athletes first. While not necessarily the most dominant approach, this frame was at the forefront of coverage. </p>
<p>In athlete first coverage, media referred to Paralympic sporting events as high-performance sport competitions, highlighted the dedication and training of athletes and focused on their results and accomplishments — all aspects of sports coverage we normally only see for able-bodied athletes. </p>
<p>Historically, this has not been the primary way of representing Paralympians, as stereotypical representations of disability <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2017.1397775">remain prevelant</a>. But we are starting to see this narrative used more often, especially with the coverage of the Tokyo Paralympics. </p>
<h2>Overcoming disability</h2>
<p>Despite the positive shift towards representing Paralympians as athletes first, stereotypical ways of covering Paralympians remain dominant in media coverage; this is the most common way they have been represented over the past two decades.</p>
<p>One of the most common stereotypes we saw used was the “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193723511433865">supercrip narrative</a>.” This narrative frames disability as an individual problem that a person must “overcome” to achieve success. Paralympians were heralded as “superheroes” because they were able to “overcome” their disabilities to participate in the Paralympic Games. The media often used the word “participate” and not “compete” when describing Paralympians. </p>
<p>Other stereotypical narratives of coverage we observed portrayed Paralympians as “cyborgs” whose <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-297-enhanced-athletes-venezuelan-diaper-hoarders-gawker-s-founder-declares-bankruptcy-and-more-1.3707540/should-athletes-be-allowed-to-hack-their-bodies-to-get-an-edge-1.3707544">success was owed to their adaptive technologies</a>, such as running blades, rather than their athletic abilities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Athlete with blade prosthetic in the middle of long jumping" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418965/original/file-20210901-22-1u65j9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Germany’s Markus Rehm competes during the men’s long jump T64 final in the 2020 Paralympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also observed “comparison” narratives where a Paralympian’s success was compared to an able-bodied counterpart, often an Olympic athlete who competed in a similar event. This was highlighted when Paralympic athletes achieved similar times in races as their Olympic counterparts. This appears to be a way for the media to justify the success of a Paralympian rather than celebrating their athletic abilities in their own rights.</p>
<h2>Why are stereotypes a problem?</h2>
<p>Celebrating a Paralympian for “overcoming” their disability in order to “participate” in sport, rather than celebrating them as a high-performance athlete, devalues their athletic performance. This type of narrative perpetuates the idea that any person with a disability can overcome it if they just tried hard enough. This misrepresents the experiences of Paralympians and the everyday lives of people who live with disabilities. </p>
<p>Alongside these stereotypical representations, we also observed that only a select group of people with disabilities tended to be given coverage. <a href="https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/471442/canadian-media-representations-of-para-athletes-at-the-2016-paralympic-games-erin-pearson-laura-mise?_lg=en-GB">Our research</a> demonstrated that athletes with less visible impairments and more innovative technologies, such as wheelchairs or blades, were represented more in coverage than athletes with more visible impairments. </p>
<p>As a result, media coverage conformed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.1997.10484258">what society thinks an athletic body should look like</a>, and ended up not representing the diversity of bodies and abilities that compete in sport. The issue of what bodies are acceptable at the Games and what ones are shown by the media continues to be hotly debated within <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.30.1.24">the Paralympic movement</a>.</p>
<h2>More than an athlete</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Man sitting in a wheelchair on a red carpet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418971/original/file-20210901-15-190escj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ade Adepitan, a decorated Paralympian in wheelchair basketball, is hosting Channel 4’s highlights show as part of a 70 per cent disabled presenting lineup for the Paralympic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The other two ways we observed Paralympians being represented was through informative and multidimensional frames. The informative frame focused on educating viewers about the Paralympic movement, disability sports and included articles written by Paralympians. The increase in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/paralympics/paralympics-presenters-channel-4-team-b1907462.html">media commentary from former Paralympic athletes</a> supports this approach. </p>
<p>This is a step in the right direction, as it helps create a fan base for disability sport while providing a platform for Paralympians to share their perspectives and control their representation. </p>
<p>The multidimensional frame was another positive example of media coverage that addressed their roles outside of being an athlete. Stories that highlighted their roles as parents, spouses, children and friends were used to connect with audiences in a way that had been typically absent from Paralympic coverage previously. </p>
<h2>What about Tokyo 2020 coverage?</h2>
<p>The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics is the most widely broadcasted Games to date, and it’s encouraging to see a steady increase in the quantity and quality of coverage. The diversity of the coverage has also increased, and is comparable to what’s seen with able-bodied sports. It has also spread across a wide range of <a href="https://paralympic.ca/news/most-comprehensive-broadcast-and-digital-coverage-plan-set-tokyo-2020-paralympic-games-across">social media channels and platforms</a>, such as <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@paralympics?lang=en">TikTok</a>.</p>
<p>What we hope to see, in terms of the quality of media coverage, is a focus on athlete first framing that steers clear of stereotypical representations of Paralympians. That way all athletes can be celebrated as the elite, high performance athletes they train to be. </p>
<p>Earlier, we asked if media representations of the Paralympics can change attitudes about disability. We think they can if Paralympians are represented in non-stereotypical ways. The Paralympic Games have the ability to raise awareness and start important conversations about disability, but it’s important to remember the context of what we are watching and to not homogenize the experience of a Paralympian as the everyday <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.748648">lived experience of people with disabilities</a>. </p>
<p>What’s most important, however, is that conversations about disability, and campaigns such as <a href="https://www.wethe15.org/">#WeThe15</a> — a human rights campaign headed by the IPC and UNESCO to end discrimination against people with disabilities — continue beyond the Paralympics’ two-week life span. Tangible actions, not just rhetoric, need to occur 365 days a year to truly ensure that positive changes are made for people with disabilities across all areas of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Pearson receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Misener receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>The media determines how Paralympians are depicted to viewers. What it chooses to focus on can help change attitudes about disability.Erin Pearson, PhD Student in Kinesiology, Western UniversityLaura Misener, Associate Professor & Director, School of Kinesiology, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1664722021-08-24T17:04:27Z2021-08-24T17:04:27ZSaint Boy’s rebellion spurs debate about ethical treatment of horses at the Olympics — and beyond<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417443/original/file-20210823-19-kyyhre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C25%2C8575%2C5716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Annika Schleu of Germany cries when Saint Boy, the horse she was assigned to ride, wouldn't co-operate in the equestrian portion of the modern pentathlon at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the glitter and dust of the Tokyo Olympic games settle, one controversy doesn’t just have legs, it has four legs. This is largely due to an ugly scene in the modern pentathlon, an intense event in which human athletes fence, swim, shoot, run and ride a horse all in the same day. </p>
<p>During the pentathlon, a horse named Saint Boy — ridden by German athlete Annika Schleu — refused to jump multiple obstacles. This <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/olympian-hits-back-over-allegations-of-horse-cruelty-in-tokyo/news-story/1dacc4351ca78a64b9e943b2d71ef6da">resulted in Schleu having a very public meltdown</a>, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/07/sport/modern-pentathlon-germany-disqualification-tokyo-2020-spt-intl/index.html">German coach Kim Raisner being disqualified after she was caught on camera punching the horse</a>. The incident generated so much international attention that actress and horsewoman <a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a37338694/kaley-cuoco-horse-instagram-update/">Kaley Cuoco offered to buy Saint Boy</a>.</p>
<p>Saint Boy, who normally lives and works at the Minakuchi Riding Club in Japan, certainly made his views crystal clear on that day in Tokyo. He did not want to participate, no interpretation or detailed horse knowledge needed. Was he an athlete feeling stress and discomfort? A worker withdrawing his labour? A sentient being saying no? As a researcher of animal protection and labour, I’d say all three.</p>
<h2>Competitive events</h2>
<p>In modern pentathlon events, the humans and horses only meet each other <a href="https://horsesport.com/horse-news/canadians-respond-pentathlon-jumping-olympics/">right before the class starts</a>. The horses are borrowed for the event, normally from a local farm. The horse-rider pairs have a short warm up, and then the competition begins. This is highly unusual.</p>
<p>In the trio of primary equestrian sports at the Olympics — <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/equestrian/">dressage, eventing and show jumping</a> — the horse and human pairs normally train together for many months, more often years. While horses intended for jumping learn to understand a consistent set of commands and aids, the animals are all different. They have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Equine-Cultures-in-Transition-Ethical-Questions/Bornemark-Andersson-Essen/p/book/9780367582005">personalities and preferences</a>. Horses are not machines. You cannot simply hop onto one and expect to perform challenging tasks in tandem instantaneously.</p>
<h2>Horses are unique individuals</h2>
<p>Horses’ moods, comfort levels and physical well-being <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051347">change over time, and in immediate response to a host of factors</a>, including the rider, their particular style and their level of anxiety — <a href="https://inside.fei.org/media-updates/keeping-cool-tokyo-%E2%80%93-heat-and-humidity-measures-under-microscope">even the weather</a>.</p>
<p>In an Instagram post, Malin Baryard-Johnsson, a member of the gold medal-winning Swedish show jumping team, wrote about her equine partner Indiana. Baryard-Johnsson says that it took “a couple of years of learning to understand each other” and speaks about Indiana as an individual and as a whole being who is “friendly, funny, crazy, positive, sensitive, energetic …”</p>
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<p>Horses are not a uniform group, and neither are horse people. Far from it. There are many subcultures and industries engaging with horses in starkly different ways. Racing has little in common with equine-assisted therapy and pleasure riding, for example. </p>
<p>Plus within each equine culture there are distinct philosophies, methods and ethical priorities, all of which affect the horses’ experiences. From their stabling conditions, including their ability to see and touch other horses, to their feed to their time outdoors (or not) to the length of horses’ careers and what happens to them afterwards — all of these factors affect the animals’ work-lives in a full sense, and differ substantially.</p>
<h2>Crucial debates</h2>
<p>There were other equestrian concerns stemming from the Olympics, including about the <a href="https://www.worldofshowjumping.com/en/Exclusives/WoSJ-Focus/Rodrigo-Pessoa-on-the-Olympic-format-I-hope-the-FEI-will-listen-this-time.html">new structure</a> of the team show jumping and its implications for horse welfare. </p>
<p>A horse named Jet Set was <a href="https://eventingnation.com/robin-godels-jet-set-euthanized-after-injury-on-tokyo-cross-country/">euthanized after an injury in the eventing competition in Tokyo</a>. When you involve other species, the risks and very real effects of our choices are heightened.</p>
<p>Horses hold complex positions in our laws, lives and hearts. Whether it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091513">Thoroughbred racing</a> or <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-york-city-carriage-horse-industry-controversy">horse-drawn carriages</a> in tourist centres, when it comes to horse controversies, people tend to split into three camps. </p>
<p>There is always a group that believes the status quo is acceptable and that the horses are fine. These people might support some minor tinkering with equipment or welfare regulations, but insist that the <a href="https://cona.org/the-truth-about-carriage-horses-myths-and-facts/">horses are well cared for overall</a>.</p>
<p>The second and largest group is generally comfortable with horses doing some work and sport with humans as long as it is respectful but will still have concerns about specific practices and horses’ well-being before, during or after the job in question. This group may want to see <a href="https://horseandstylemag.com/2014/09/18/where-do-you-stand-on-the-great-carriage-debate/">modest or even major reforms</a>, and some activities eliminated altogether because they are deemed too unethical or risky for the horses.</p>
<p>The third group argues that people’s use of <a href="https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/horse-drawn-carriages/">horses’ labour</a> is unethical, period, and that horses <a href="https://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/how-does-peta-feel-about-horseback-riding/">should be freed from human tasks</a> as a matter of principle.</p>
<p>These debates are not tidy and are unlikely to be resolved soon. But robust, well-informed reflection is critically important. One thing is clear — people love horses. Yet we disagree about what it really means to love horses.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1424369653854343173"}"></div></p>
<h2>Listening to horses</h2>
<p>The International Modern Pentathlon Union — the organizing body that oversees the sport — is <a href="https://www.uipmworld.org/news/uipm-forms-riding-working-group-and-appoints-disciplinary-panel">reviewing the riding portion of its event for horse welfare and safety</a>. A <a href="https://horsesport.com/horse-news/canadians-respond-pentathlon-jumping-olympics/">growing number of people want it reformed</a> or <a href="https://horsesport.com/horse-news/modern-pentathlon-under-fire-after-ugly-scenes-riding-phase/">removed</a> out of respect for horses. </p>
<p>We ask horses to do an extraordinary number of jobs for and with us. Our decisions have significant effects on their bodies, minds and relationships. Horses always have a lot to say about those jobs and about their lives in a full sense. Sometimes their views are obvious, as was the case with Saint Boy on that day in Tokyo, but often their voices are softer. In all cases, we have an ethical duty to not only pay attention but to really listen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra Coulter receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and serves on the Canadian Violence Link Coalition's Coordinating Committee and on the Government of Ontario's Provincial Animal Welfare Services Advisory Table.</span></em></p>The treatment of the horse Saint Boy has ignited fierce discussion about horses in modern pentathlon, and reanimated ethical debates about horses’ jobs beyond the Olympics.Kendra Coulter, Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence and Associate Professor in the Department of Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642842021-08-24T10:57:34Z2021-08-24T10:57:34ZTokyo Paralympics: how Paralympians are affected by the heat<p>The heat experts were right. In 2019, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00414/full">historical data</a> suggested that the average daily temperature athletes would have to contend with during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games would be between 28.2°C and 29.7°C, with relative humidity of 65%. These have indeed been the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tokyo-olympics-how-athletes-are-using-ice-vests-parasols-and-slushie-machines-to-cope-at-the-hottest-games-ever-165257">hottest Olympics on record</a>. </p>
<p>Archers have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/archery/russian-archer-passes-out-under-tokyo-heat-1.6114021#:%7E:text=6-,A%20Russian%20archer%20fainted%20in%20the%20Tokyo%20heat%20during%20a,head%20to%20cool%20her%20down.">collapsed</a>, tennis players have <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/28/sport/tokyo-olympics-heat-humidity-spt-scli-intl/index.html">feared they might die</a> and volleyballers have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/20/tokyo-olympics-fears-athletes-could-face-hottest-games-on-record">scorched their feet</a> on the sand. But for many Paralympians, these conditions present a major additional challenge. </p>
<p>The complexity and severity of a Paralympian’s impairment combined with the demands of their particular discipline – the type, intensity, duration, mode of exercise and environmental conditions – will determine their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23328940.2019.1617030">particular susceptibility</a> to heat-related issues. The extent to which any athlete responds physiologically to the heat will also vary widely within any specific impairment group. </p>
<h2>Specific impairment groups</h2>
<p>Research has shown that those with spinal cord injuries, amputation, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy are likely to suffer the most in the heat. </p>
<p>When we exercise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/benefits-of-extreme-temperature-workouts-not-as-great-as-you-might-think-121668">around 75-80%</a> of the energy consumed by the body is released as heat. The problem for some Paralympic athletes is that they have a reduced ability to sweat or to dissipate sweat. Others potentially produce more heat than an Olympic athlete performing the same activity. </p>
<p>Athletes with spinal cord injuries are unable to sweat or control their skin blood flow below what is known as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4855464/">their injury level</a>. The higher up the spinal cord the injury is, the smaller the body surface that is able to sweat. Core temperatures in wheelchair rugby players with high spinal cord injuries, for example, <a href="https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0042-121263">have been shown</a> to increase at a much greater rate than in players with other physical impairments. </p>
<p>This remains true even though wheelchair rugby matches are played indoors in moderate temperatures (18°C-21°C) and players with a high spinal injury <a href="https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0042-121263">cover less distance</a> (17% less) and push slower (on average about 10% slower) than teammates with other physical impairments. Less physical effort means they produce less heat than their teammates. However, the difficulty they have in expelling this heat through sweating and skin blood flow sees their core body temperature increase much faster.</p>
<p>Athletes with amputated limbs also have a smaller body surface area through which to get rid of heat. Meanwhile, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25356571/">sweat builds up</a> in the sockets of the prosthesis, which can potentially lead to blisters, skin conditions and heightened discomfort.</p>
<p>Athletes with multiple sclerosis <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28275061/">may also </a> be less able to sweat and more intolerant of the heat in general. Poor muscle coordination and involuntary movements or spasms in athletes with cerebral palsy means they too could get hotter, quicker when exercising. They also have a harder time <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26493357/">pacing their effort</a>, which is even more important in hot conditions. Anecdotal observations have shown that when some of these athletes start out too fast, even in cooler climates, they risk falling over in the closing stages of a race. </p>
<h2>Heat acclimation and cooling strategies</h2>
<p>As with Olympic athletes, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22592455/">heat acclimation</a> may be helpful for Paralympians to prepare their bodies to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244021000190?dgcid=rss_sd_all">cope in the heat</a>. This can include training in heat chambers or greenhouse tents and having post-exercise hot baths.</p>
<p>Research on the benefits for Paralympians in particular, however, is limited. Each individual would need to be carefully monitored to ensure the heat exposure was proving beneficial, not harmful. </p>
<p>One of the main things heat acclimation is intended to help with is to get you sweating more and earlier on. As the sweat evaporates, the skin’s surface and body core cool down. As shown above, athletes with a spinal cord injury must contend with a large surface area of their body that is not able to sweat. They may experience <a href="https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(21)00019-0/fulltext">cardiovascular benefits</a>, but acclimation won’t induce any beneficial sweating.</p>
<p>Further, travel restrictions during the pandemic have also prevented athletes from working in specialised heat chambers, especially earlier in the pandemic. This may have affected those athletes at an increased risk of COVID, who have had to severely reduce interactions with others.</p>
<p>Once events are underway, there are a lot of things <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-014-0241-3">that can help</a>: fans, misting, ice vests, iced towels, water immersion, ice slushies. Athletes make use of them, often in combination, before and after competition, as well as during cooling breaks scheduled into events. </p>
<p>Each of these strategies need to be practised before use in competition. And the logistics involved for making sure they have what they need must be carefully considered. Cooling a wheelchair athlete’s hands before a race would not be a great idea – numb hands don’t help with dexterity.</p>
<p>Some disability sporting bodies do have clear heat policies. The International Tennis Federation’s regulations for <a href="https://www.itftennis.com/en/about-us/governance/rules-and-regulations/?type=tour-regulations">wheelchair tennis</a> typically works lots of breaks into events and training schedules, as well as rescheduling events for cooler parts of the day where applicable. </p>
<p>Similarly, while teams such as Paralympics GB have spent a lot of time and money preparing their athletes physically and mentally, other national bodies don’t have the same level of access to funds, facilities or expertise. Even within Paralympics GB, <a href="https://www.uksport.gov.uk/our-work/investing-in-sport/current-funding-figures">some sports such as wheelchair rugby are deemed to have less medal potential</a>, which typically means less funding and as a consequence less preparation support for the Games. </p>
<p>Conditions in Tokyo may be overwhelmingly hot and humid. But anyone competing at the 2020 Paralympic Games will have had to overcome many hurdles to even make it to Japan. Take Great Britain’s powerlifter Ali Jawad, a double amputee athlete overcoming setbacks due to Crohn’s disease. These are athletes determined to show the world <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjIP9EFbcWY">that anything is possible</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katy Griggs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Summer Games warm up, more research is needed on how heat acclimation can help Paralympians in particular prepare for extreme conditionsKaty Griggs, Senior Lecturer in Sport Engineering, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659352021-08-23T13:22:43Z2021-08-23T13:22:43ZTokyo 2020: how the Paralympics have evolved from rehabilitation to spectacle<p>In the 57 years since Tokyo first hosted the Paralympic Games, the event – and the sports it comprises - have changed beyond recognition. The Tokyo 1964 Games marked the first time the word “paralympic” was used. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-1964">At the time</a>, the term described 21 countries represented by 378 athletes, a small minority (75) of whom <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Paralympic-Games-Explained-Second-Edition/Brittain/p/book/9781138927186#:%7E:text=The%20Paralympic%20Games%20is%20the,of%20sport%2C%20disability%20and%20society.&text=classification%20in%20disability%20sport.">were female</a>. The events comprised nine sports, but only individuals with spinal cord injuries were eligible to compete. </p>
<p>As the 2020 Paralympics open, those numbers are almost incomparably larger. This year’s teams hail from approximately 160 nations. They comprise approximately 4,400 athletes, with female participants accounting for a record 40.5% of the total <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/2021_04_30%20Tokyo%20QG.pdf">delegation</a>. Athletes will compete across 22 sports. And new disciplines continue to be added. <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/news/100-things-know-about-paralympic-games-1-25">Badminton and taekwondo</a> make their Paralympic debuts this year. </p>
<p>Shaped by evolving societal attitudes towards physical and mental impairment, the Paralympics have gone from championing rehabilitation to being <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2011.614767">the second biggest mega-event</a> in the international sports calendar. This growth has come with international recognition and heightened media coverage. Big questions about the event’s core purpose, however, persist.</p>
<h2>Classification of impairment groups</h2>
<p>The Paralympics have grown commensurate to the number of competing nations and the variety of eligible sports and impairments. Initially founded as a means of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-the-paralympic-games-from-post-wwii-rehabilitation-to-mega-sport-event-64809">rehabilitating soldiers</a> after the second world war, the earliest events focused on athletes with spinal chord injuries, competing in wheelchair-based sports such as archery and snooker.</p>
<p>In 1976, in a bid to make the Games a <a href="https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/files/4035809/britch1.pdf">multi-disability</a> sporting event, the range of eligible groups <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games/summer-overview">was expanded</a> to include amputees and visually impaired athletes. The subsequent Paralympics in 1980 further expanded to include athletes with cerebral palsy, as well as a category for “les autres” (the others), a catchall classification for athletes with locomotor impairments. </p>
<p>Athletes with intellectual disabilities, meanwhile, were officially included for the first time at Atlanta 1996. This decision was revoked after the <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1010804/intellectual-disability">Sydney 2000 Summer Games</a>, when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/sep/16/gilestremlett.features11">ten members</a> of the men’s Spanish basketball team were found to have faked having an impairment. This resulted in a blanket ban. </p>
<p>Following the implementation of a <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-25/edition-7/what-does-olympics-mean-you">robust and rigorous</a> procedure for detecting and classifying athletes with intellectual disabilities, the ban was finally lifted for London 2012. Ultimately, though, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2gz0">innocent athletes with intellectual disabilities</a> had been penalised over several Games because of cheating by some able-bodied individuals. </p>
<p>Though it has enabled the participation of athletes with a range of impairments, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dmcn.14537">functional classification system</a> remains one of the most contentious issues in Paralympic sport. There are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wwdd">suggestions</a> that the system is inconsistent and open to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1012690218825209">corruption</a>. </p>
<h2>International coordination</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/news/100-things-to-know-about-the-paralympic-games">establishment</a> in 1989 of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) provided the event with a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Paralympic-Games-Explained-Second-Edition/Brittain/p/book/9781138927186#:%7E:text=The%20Paralympic%20Games%20is%20the,of%20sport%2C%20disability%20and%20society.&text=classification%20in%20disability%20sport.">centrally coordinated voice</a> and helped to foster a close working relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 2001, this resulted in an <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/feature/7-first-ipc-ioc-agreement">agreement</a> between the IOC and IPC which formalised the “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Paralympic-Games-Explained-Second-Edition/Brittain/p/book/9781138927186#:%7E:text=The%20Paralympic%20Games%20is%20the,of%20sport%2C%20disability%20and%20society.&text=classification%20in%20disability%20sport">one city, one bid</a>” philosophy that mandates every host city to stage both the Olympics and the Paralympics. </p>
<p>This official recognition has contributed to the Paralympics being seen as a legitimate sporting event. Over the past ten to 20 years, in particular, the focus has been on <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Paralympic-Games-Explained-Second-Edition/Brittain/p/book/9781138927186#:%7E:text=The%20Paralympic%20Games%20is%20the,of%20sport%2C%20disability%20and%20society.&text=classification%20in%20disability%20sport">sporting prowess and achievement</a>. The London 2012 Paralympics was perhaps the pinnacle of this. The Games featured thousands of athletes comprehensively demonstrating Paralympic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/sep/09/britain-paralympics">sporting excellence</a> to <a href="https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/london-2012-paralympic-summer-games">consistently sold-out venues</a> and on a global stage.</p>
<p>Conversely, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193723513491751?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1">some argue</a> the relationship between the IOC and the IPC has the potential to marginalise athletes with more complex impairments and high support needs. They argue that this is done in an attempt to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2159676X.2012.685102">legitimise the event</a> for a non-disabled audience. Athletes with <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/30/1/article-p24.xml">milder impairments</a> and those with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038038511413421">technological enhancements</a>, including running blades – which research has termed the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038038511413421">cyborgification</a> of Paralympic bodies – have been prioritised. Critics <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203506097-18/accommodating-paralympic-bodies-david-howe">worry</a> the Paralympic movement, in its determination to produce a marketable product, is shunning the athletes who are central to the event’s foundational ethos and spirit: those with severe impairments.</p>
<h2>Global coverage</h2>
<p>In 1964, media coverage was <a href="https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/tokyo-1964-paralympic-summer-games#media_coverage">largely limited</a> to the host nation. Today, Paralympic events draw significant global broadcast numbers. The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games were <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/news/100-things-to-know-about-the-paralympic-games">the most viewed in history</a> with a cumulative audience of 4.1 billion.</p>
<p>It is anticipated that Tokyo 2020 will claim this mantle. In the UK, Channel 4 will provide <a href="https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-sets-out-its-most-ambitious-ever-paralympic-plans-multi-location-studios-and">more than 300 hours</a> of Paralympic coverage, the most ever by a UK broadcaster. </p>
<p>That said, media coverage, in terms of quality and quantity, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2011.557271">still lags</a> behind the Olympics. Paralympians have often been portrayed in <a href="https://static.kent.ac.uk/media/news/2016/07/GUIA-paralimpicos-English-Version.pdf">passive</a> rather than active poses, with a focus on the impairment rather than the athlete’s sporting ability. Hosting the Games may <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2011.557271">increase the amount</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687599.2013.816624">quality</a> of coverage in the host nation. This is not always replicated for competitors from other nations. </p>
<p>The modern Paralympics are unrecognisable from the last time Tokyo hosted the Games, in 1964. But with this growth have come challenges. How can the Paralympic movement ensure a robust and trusted classification system fair to all impairment groups it represents? Is the <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/141113141204499_2014_10_01+Sec+i+chapter+1_1_Paralympic+Vision+and+Mission.pdf">Paralympics’ stated mission</a> at odds with the current trajectory of the event? </p>
<p>Ultimately, should athletes with impairments cease to be known as Paralympians and simply be Olympians, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17511321.2015.1041149">part of an inclusive Olympics</a>? Resolving these issues may yet create another paradigm shift in the makeup of the Paralympic Games.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since the Games’ post-war beginnings, the Paralympics have become the second-largest mega-event in the international sporting calendar. Is the core purpose being lost?Christopher Brown, Lecturer in Sports Development, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651452021-08-22T12:00:11Z2021-08-22T12:00:11ZParalympics haven’t decreased barriers to physical activity for most people with disabilities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416820/original/file-20210818-21-17hsuny.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C82%2C4985%2C3038&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Swimmer Nikita Howarth of New Zealand competes at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Simon Bruty/Olympic Information Service)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-2020/qualification-criteria">More than 4,000 athletes</a> from around the world will compete at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, a tenfold increase <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/rome-1960">since the first Paralympics in 1960</a>. Despite the growth in Paralympic athletes, for most of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31638-1">world’s 1.5 billion people with a disability</a>, participation in sports, exercise and other types of physical activity is still nearly impossible.</p>
<p>In a recent research review, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01164-8">we reported</a> that children, youth and adults with disabilities are up to 62 per cent less likely to meet the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128">World Health Organization’s physical activity guidelines</a> than the general population. This is because people with disabilities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2016.1198240">face over 200 barriers</a> to doing physical activity, two of the largest being built environments and transportation. For example, most public playgrounds, swimming pools, and outdoor tracks are built in ways that make them inaccessible to wheelchair users. </p>
<h2>Accessibility is key</h2>
<p>Even fitness and recreation facilities that say they are accessible <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.28.1.1">often lack basic accessible features</a>, such as changing rooms, showers and clear pathways so that a person with a visual or physical impairment can easily move about. </p>
<p>Truly accessible facilities are often underutilized. Worldwide, people with disabilities can’t get to these places because they have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11420/">limited or no access to public transit services</a>.</p>
<p>Participation costs are another big barrier. People with disabilities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1044207320919942">more likely to live in poverty</a>. Some facilities demand additional entrance fees from family members who come along to help the person with a disability. Adapted sports equipment is expensive — a special wheelchair for playing wheelchair basketball can cost <a href="https://www.wheelchairbasketball.ca/the-sport/equipment/">as much as $5,000</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A disabled archer prepares to shoot by using his teeth to pull back the arrow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416826/original/file-20210818-21-15o45u0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While the Paralympics can inspire disabled athletes to take up sports, barriers still exist that keep disabled people from regularly participating in activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Simon Bruty/Olympic Information Service)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564182">Physical activity barriers create health inequities</a>. Persons with disabilities are at greater risk for developing chronic diseases linked to physical inactivity, such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They are also at greater risk for depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. </p>
<p>Some of the risk can be reduced by participating in sports, exercise and active play. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01164-8">recent research found</a> that physical activity significantly improved the cardiometabolic health, physical fitness and mental health of children, youth and adults with disabilities. Even small amounts of activity — well below the levels recommended by the World Health Organization — can improve health and well-being. </p>
<h2>Inspiration does not equal participation</h2>
<p>People with and without disabilities often say they feel inspired by watching Paralympic athletic performances. Unfortunately, the inspiration and sport enthusiasm created by the Paralympics (known as the “<a href="http://www.nassm.org/files/conf_abstracts/2010-012.pdf">demonstration effect</a>”) has little effect on actual sport participation. </p>
<p>In 2012, more than <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/55360/report.pdf">31 million television viewers</a> across England watched the London Paralympic Games. And yet, from 2006 to 2016, the percentage of people with disabilities in England who participated in sport increased by just 1.5 per cent. Sport participation rates hit a high of 19.1 per cent of the disability population in 2013. By 2016, that number had fallen to just <a href="https://activepeople.sportengland.org/">16.8 per cent</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sprinter points with his right hand after crossing the finish line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416825/original/file-20210818-15-1ewpslo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Richard Whitehead of Great Britain wins the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres - T42 final at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bob Martin/Olympic Information Service)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What happened? After the London Paralympics, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723518781237">British disability and sport organizations</a> were not adequately resourced to support the influx of new participants. There was also a greater focus on getting people with disabilities to try a sport rather than addressing the barriers preventing them from staying in sport. Ultimately, the motivation created by the Paralympics was not enough to override the longstanding barriers to sport participation.</p>
<h2>Pandemic launched new initiatives</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has created even more barriers to participation. Regions have locked down. Facilities and programs have closed. Access to personal support workers and other disability services has been lost. But there is a silver lining — these challenges have spurred some new actions. </p>
<p>Throughout the pandemic, organizations around the world have provided free online workout programs for <a href="https://adaptiveyogalive.com/">people with physical</a> and <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/school-of-strength?locale=en">intellectual disabilities</a>. Our research team with the <a href="https://cdpp.ca/">Canadian Disability Participation Project</a> launched a free physical activity coaching service for Canadians with disabilities. Coaches give information and motivation, by phone, to help clients overcome barriers to being active during the pandemic. </p>
<p>The province of Ontario recognized physical activity as being critical to the health of people with disabilities. Sports and recreational facilities were allowed to open <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/guidance-facilities-sports-and-recreational-fitness-activities-during-covid-19-provincewide-shutdown">during the province’s shutdown</a> so people with disabilities could do physical therapy.</p>
<p>While these efforts are encouraging, they must be part of a long-term, global solution. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01164-8/fulltext">International and national physical activity action plans</a> note the importance of addressing the needs of people with disabilities. These action plans have not been given enough resources to make real change. </p>
<p>The Paralympics will raise awareness about sporting possibilities for people with disabilities. Some viewers may even be inspired to try a new sport, join a gym, or simply to go outside and play. Now is the time to move beyond the optics of the Paralympics and push for proper investment and serious action to remove <a href="https://cdpp.ca/sites/default/files/CDPP%20KT%20Bulletin%20%232%20January%202018_0.pdf">the barriers to physical activity</a> in our built environments, policies and communities and affect real change for people with disabilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen A. Martin Ginis receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, CIBC and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation for research related to physical activity participation and disability. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron M. Gee is affiliated with Athletics Canada as a physiologist with the Paralympic team and previously affiliated with Wheelchair Rugby Canada as a graduate student.</span></em></p>Physical activity barriers are still prevalent for people with disabilities, despite the increase in participation in the Paralympic Games.Kathleen A. Martin Ginis, Professor and Director of Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, University of British ColumbiaCameron M. Gee, Postdoctoral fellow at ICORD, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1658472021-08-11T14:58:00Z2021-08-11T14:58:00ZBlack women athletes ruptured destructive and limiting beliefs at the Tokyo Olympics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415500/original/file-20210810-23-p7m73b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C10%2C6894%2C4599&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Japan's Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approached, fans around the world struggled to balance their excitement with a general uneasiness surrounding the Games. These included <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/olympics-opening-ceremony-creative-director-fired-holocaust-joke-1200587/">high-profile firings</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/world/asia/japan-tokyo-olympics-volunteers-covid.html">volunteers quitting</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/21/olympics-face-heat-from-broiling-tokyo-summer">abnormally high temperatures</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tokyo-olympic-village-unvaccinated-1.6109907">low vaccination rates</a> as well as a declared <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/asia/japan-state-of-emergency-olympics-intl-hnk/index.html">state of emergency</a> amidst surging COVID-19 cases.</p>
<p>While there were many engaging story lines and developments worth following over the last 14 days, the prominence of Black women was hard to ignore. </p>
<p>From the outset of the Games’ opening ceremony, where Naomi Osaka <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/23/naomi-osaka-olympic-cauldron-opening-ceremonies/">lit the Olympic cauldron</a>, it quickly became evident that Black women would be of central importance to the games and stories that followed. </p>
<h2>Black women’s participation in sport</h2>
<p>Coming off a tumultuous exit from the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2021/06/17/naomi-osaka-withdraws-wimbledon-play-tokyo-olympics/7592502002/">French Open and Wimbledon</a>, Osaka gleefully stated that lighting the cauldron was her <a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1418602684580438019">biggest athletic achievement</a> to date. </p>
<p>Osaka, of Haitian and Japanese descent, was <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/naomi-osaka-olympic-cauldron_n_60fadcc9e4b00c1de0a12350">the first tennis player to ever light the Olympic cauldron</a>. Despite her <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/sport/20210727-japan-s-naomi-osaka-knocked-out-of-olympics-tennis-in-third-round">early exit in the Olympic tennis</a> tournament, she had already won. </p>
<p>Too often, Black women’s participation in sport is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/06/us/black-women-athletes-treatment-olympics-spt/index.html">questioned</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/trackandfield/namibian-teens-stoke-new-olympic-testosterone-controversy-1.6126829">negated</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/canadian-tennis-player-francoise-abanda-blames-racism-for-low-profile-1.4666176">simply</a> <a href="https://www.powerplays.news/p/racisms-central-role-in-wnba-coverage">unnoticed</a>.</p>
<p>Common depictions of Black women athletes are often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720960919">racist and misogynist</a>. Praise for Black women atheletes is often accompanied with what feminist scholar Moya Bailey <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479865109/misogynoir-transformed/">refers to as <em>misogynoir</em>, the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman stands wearing silver medal making an X above her forehead" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415504/original/file-20210810-13-1rigm1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raven Saunders of the United States poses with her silver medal she earned in women’s shot put making an X with her arms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)</span></span>
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<h2>Sacrificing mental health</h2>
<p>Gymnastics typically account for the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2016/08/04/gymnastics-track-and-swimming-will-win-ratings-gold-in-rio/?sh=22fe02925f11">highest TV ratings</a> for women’s sport at the Olympics. The competition was marketed around African American <a href="https://usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetail.html?id=164887">Simone Biles</a>, the global superstar who is a 32-time Olympic and world medallist.</p>
<p>Biles shocked the world this year by pulling out of the all-around team gymnastics competition. A slew of <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/piers-morgan-goes-simone-biles-131431421.html">demeaning “takes”</a> then flooded both <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmmjltfWfe0">news and social media</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/simone-biles-and-naomi-osaka-put-the-focus-on-the-importance-of-mental-performance-for-olympic-athletes-165219">Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka put the focus on the importance of mental performance for Olympic athletes</a>
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<p>According to sociologist Delia D. Douglas, Black athletes — especially Black women — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934711410880">must show graciousness, gratefulness, obedience, adhere to respectability politics and live up impossible standards</a>, including sacrificing their mental health. </p>
<p>Black women often challenge these narratives and in doing so are (not so) quiet champions for a variety of <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/female-athletes-take-a-central-role-in-u-s-election-through-political-activism-1.1546900">social justice issues both in and outside of sport</a>. As the Black feminist <a href="https://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Readings.pdf">Combahee River Collective</a> reminds us, “the only people who care enough about Black women to work consistently for our liberation are Black women.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Simone Biles smiles excitedly wearing a unitard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415501/original/file-20210810-25-1x3a47i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Simone Biles smiles as Tang Xijing of China embraces teammate Guan Chenchen after she won the gold medal on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women’s apparatus final at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Following her withdrawal from the team competition, Biles then dropped out of additional events, leaving the beam her only remaining competition. The world <a href="https://www.golfdigest.com/story/simone-biles-team-usa-womens-gymnastics-silver-medal-tokyo-olympics">debated</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/simone-biles-doesnt-need-to-look-invincible/619606/">scorned</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-07-27/simone-biles-celebrity-reactions-support">applauded her efforts</a> yet once again, a Black woman cleaved open the conversation about the mental health of athletes. </p>
<h2>Black women at the Olympics</h2>
<p>As the competition carried on, athletes, celebrities and politicians <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-07-27/simone-biles-celebrity-reactions-support">came out in support</a> of Biles and her decision. This compassion started to shift the seemingly impenetrable narrative that a gold medal is the only success worth celebrating at an Olympic competition. </p>
<p>Biles’s journey at the Olympics was framed as an act of rebellion against sporting federations, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which was recently held accountable for the mistreatment of athletes. Athletes are no longer remaining silent about overly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/06/30/nursing-moms-babies-tokyo-olympics/">restrictive rules</a> including those that limit sociopolitical expression.</p>
<p>African American athlete Raven Saunders deserves credit and celebration over her silver medal in shot put. Rule 50, which states that “<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/olympics-rule-50-protest">every kind of demonstration or propaganda, whether political, religious, or racial, in the Olympic areas, is forbidden</a>”, was visibly contested by Saunders when she raised her two arms in the air to form an X on the podium. She stated that her medal represented where the “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/trackandfield/raven-saunders-podium-gesture-tokyo-olympics-1.6126142">oppressed meet</a>.” </p>
<p>Saunders went on to say that the IOC will “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8079122/raven-saunders-gesture-olympics/">never take her silver away</a>.” Hammer throw teammate Gwen Berry <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/03/sport/gwen-berry-fist-social-justice-tokyo-spt-intl/index.html">raised a fist in protest</a> of the investigation the IOC opened after Saunders’ noncompliance, which was since put on hold <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2021/08/03/raven-saunders-shot-put-silver-tokyo-olympics-mother-dies/5475666001/">after the death of her mother</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-no-simone-biles-naomi-osaka-and-black-womens-resistance-165318">The power of no: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Black women's resistance</a>
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<p>In addition to increasing empathy for Black women and their intersectional plights, there was also a recognition of the athletic feats of Black women especially in sports historically dominated by white women.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/08/04/tamyra-mensah-stock-becomes-first-united-states-black-woman-win-gold-wrestling">U.S. wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock</a> became the first Black woman to win gold in freestyle wrestling. Dutch runner Sifan Hassan <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-track-and-field-sifan-hassan-sports-europe-7251c910cfad05dfacd504c9f810ca52">defied all odds</a> by winning her 1,500-metre heat, despite falling at the beginning of the final lap. Hassan went on to win gold in the 5,000 metres, bronze in the 1,500 metres and gold in the 10,000 metres.</p>
<p>In athletics’ most popular event, Jamaicans <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/athletics-thompson-herah-leads-jamaican-sweep-womens-100m-2021-07-31/">Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson</a> placed first, second and third respectively in the 100-metre sprint. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman wearing unitard runs holding baton" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415503/original/file-20210810-23-18bb3q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Allyson Felix of the United States runs in the women’s 4 x 400-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)</span></span>
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<p>Sprinter Allyson Felix, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opinion/allyson-felix-pregnancy-nike.html">champion of Black maternal health</a>, now dons the title of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/07/allyson-felix-usa-olympic-record-track-most-medals-carl-lewis">most decorated track and field athlete</a> in history. Her bronze medal performance in the 400-metre event signalled a win for motherhood, donning <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-06/track-star-allyson-felix-wins-olympic-medal-in-her-own-shoe-line">her newly designed shoe</a>, after her sponsorship <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opinion/allyson-felix-pregnancy-nike.html">was slashed by Nike after becoming pregnant</a>.</p>
<p>Namibian runners were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/opinion-case-of-namibian-runners-further-exposes-half-baked-testosterone-regulation-1.6092033">wrongly denied</a> entry into the Olympic 400-metre competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.725488">sexist, antiquated rules that regulate only women’s testosterone levels</a> — they were subsequently allowed to compete in the 200 metres. Christine Mboama captured silver, while Beatrice Masillingi finished fifth. </p>
<p>The IOC and IAAF might have unfairly felt a bit of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/04/sebastian-coe-claims-chrstine-mboma-tokyo-olympics-200m-silver-medal-shows-testosterone-rules-are-working">vindication</a> from this result, and the fight against sex and gender testing that overwhelmingly discriminates against Black and racialized women is consistently <a href="https://vimeo.com/386468558/a9c5f66487">being challenged and led by Black women</a>.</p>
<h2>Beyond the finish line</h2>
<p>Black women were once again trailblazers in Tokyo, shouldering the burden of contesting archaic and unfair rules and lack of accommodations. The Games may be over, but the legacy of the Black women athletes will be the rupture of destructive and limiting beliefs. </p>
<p>This legacy has the potential to permeate long after the medal ceremonies and homecoming celebrations. Compounded with COVID-19, athlete health is beginning to take precedence over any hardware or harmful narratives about pushing through injury, racial trauma or mental health issues. </p>
<p>We must thank the athletes, and particularly Black women, who continue to take risks, sacrifice and endure the pain and emotional turmoil of being game changers in racist and misogynist sport systems. Flourishing, experiencing joy and being supported remain conditional for Black women athletes — these athletes managed to shine brighter than gold, triumphing on their own terms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165847/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Braeden McKenzie receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Sport Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:janelle.joseph@utoronto.ca">janelle.joseph@utoronto.ca</a> receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Sport Canada, and University of Toronto through the Connaught New Researcher Award and School of Cities Anti-Black Racism/Black Lives Fund. She is affiliated with the Black Canadian Coaches Association as the Director of Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sabrina Razack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Black women played a central role in the 2021 Olympic Games. And that role was more than just resistance and resilience.Sabrina Razack, Sessional Instructor, Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of TorontoBraeden McKenzie, PhD Candidate; Reseach Assistant @ the IDEAS lab, University of TorontoJanelle Joseph, Assistant Professor, Critical Studies of Race & Indigeneity, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653592021-08-11T13:54:21Z2021-08-11T13:54:21ZTokyo 2020: how did the latest Olympics rank against others for sustainability?<p>The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games brought the world together in the shadow of two planetary crises: the pandemic, which emptied stands and <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-olympics-still-be-cancelled-yes-but-the-legal-and-financial-fallout-would-be-staggering-161739">nearly caused the event to be cancelled</a>, and climate change, which forced athletes and spectators to <a href="https://theconversation.com/tokyo-olympics-how-athletes-are-using-ice-vests-parasols-and-slushie-machines-to-cope-at-the-hottest-games-ever-165257">swelter in 40°C heat</a>. </p>
<p>Clearly, the Olympics can no longer ignore the environmental challenges of the modern world. Sustainability formally became one of the <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/What-We-Do/Olympic-agenda/Olympic-Agenda-2020-Closing-report.pdf?_ga=2.136641395.251626570.1628586120-815363149.1628586120">three pillars of the Olympics</a> in 2014 but the environment had already been on the agenda since 1994.</p>
<p>This is what first inspired me to research the potential for the Summer Olympics to turn their host nations into adopters of more ecological policies.</p>
<p>In my first study on the topic, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137297471">published in 2013</a>, I examined how four Olympic host cities and countries fared in their capacity to implement environmentally sustainable policies. I found that no causality was identified between Olympic Games hosting and improvements in the capacity for environmental sustainability of the host nation. Developments in this direction were tied to political changes. </p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00696-5">research</a> by Martin Müller at the University of Lausanne and five colleagues systematically evaluated how sustainable 16 Summer and Winter Olympic Games were between 1992 and 2020.</p>
<p>The team devised nine indicators to assess the sustainability of each Games. They suggested, perhaps provocatively, that “the overall sustainability of the Olympic Games is medium and … has declined over time”.</p>
<h2>What makes a sustainable Olympics?</h2>
<p>The nine indicators looked at a range of issues. They took in how much construction each Games needed, what the visitor footprint was and how large the event ended up being. Whether the local public approved of the Olympics coming to town was also factored in, as was “social safety” – or whether people were displaced to make the Games happen. The degree to which hosting the Games involved sidestepping local laws, such as planning rules, was also taken into account.</p>
<p>Budget balance was a factor, as was “financial exposure”. In the Tokyo Games, for example, the state footed more than half the sports-related costs against a backdrop of huge COVID-related uncertainty. “Long-term viability” was an important indicator in the study too. Games could score more if venues were reused after the event, for example. </p>
<p>Each indicator was assessed on a scale of zero to 100, from least to most sustainable and a mean value was calculated to determine the overall sustainability of the Olympics under examination.</p>
<p>The devised model corresponds to the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">17 UN Sustainable Development Goals</a> and the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris climate change agreement</a>, both of which envision just human development without increased environmental costs. </p>
<p>Across the indicators, the lowest value is reserved for budget balance, since overspending is generally expected from the Olympics. Games that required a lot of new construction score low since new venues cost money and habitually involve displacing people.</p>
<h2>Best performers</h2>
<p>According to the study, Vancouver was the first host to explicitly promise to be sustainable in its bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. But the sustainability of the Olympic Games has been on a downward trend ever since, with earlier Olympics generally performing better than those after Vancouver.</p>
<p>The Salt Lake City Summer Olympic Games of 2002, the Albertville Winter Games of 1992 in France and Barcelona 1992 are ranked as the most sustainable Olympics. Albertville is usually seen as environmentally damaging but in fact had only moderate numbers of visitors and personnel and few new venues were created, according to the study.</p>
<h2>Worst offenders: Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016</h2>
<p>For the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the picture is very different. These Games had the lowest sustainability scores. In the case of Rio, lots of people and communities were displaced to build venues and the law was circumnavigated to do it. After the event, few of the venues were regularly used, resulting in the highest cost overrun in the sample. Sochi also had extensive new construction with “no meaningful after-use for most venues”.</p>
<p>The study was completed before Tokyo 2020, and considering the uncertainty surrounding running the event due to COVID-19, the results produced in the study are provisional. The overall score given was 40 points, below the average of 48 points. The most sustainable Games, the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, scored 71, Albertville, 69 and Barcelona 56. While around 500 people were displaced to build the venues, Tokyo made good use of existing buildings, with only 20% of venues built specifically for the Games.</p>
<p>With Tokyo 2020 now over, there’s a chance to reflect on how the Olympics may run in future editions. Knowing that a great part of CO₂ emissions in any Games is linked to the travel and habits of spectators, the decision to run the Olympics without them highlights the possibilities available in organising more sustainable Games. It is of course highly unlikely that these circumstances will be repeated but we might still consider greatly downsizing the Olympics in the interests of sustainability. We might also decide to rotate the Games among the same cities to avoid construction and displacement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Karamichas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study has looked at which mega events took the largest toll on the environment and local people.John Karamichas, Lecturer in Sociology and Green Criminology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1658332021-08-09T15:53:08Z2021-08-09T15:53:08ZOlympics: why not all new sports will return at Paris 2024 – but breakdancing will make its debut<p>Never in the history of modern Olympics has so many new sports made their debut than in Tokyo 2020. Skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate have now got their maiden Olympic champions, while softball and baseball returned to the Games since they were last seen in 2008. </p>
<p>Five years ago, the decision to include these sports was made by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-new-sports-announced-for-tokyo-2020-but-where-does-the-future-of-the-olympics-lie-63026">appeal to the youth</a>. For the host nation, Japan, these sports were also highly relevant to them. Baseball is Japan’s biggest sport, karate is a traditional favourite and skateboarding is popular among young people.</p>
<p>Some of the new additions will return at Paris 2024. While most of them were hits with audiences watching as well as the athletes competing in them, others still have kinks that need to be sorted out before they return. </p>
<h2>Skateboarding stood out</h2>
<p>Having researched <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SBM-10-2017-0052/full/html">skateboarding and its bumpy road to the Olympics</a> for many years, I am certainly a bit biased, but I thought it attracted the most attention out of the five new sports for several reasons. First of which was the participants’ age. </p>
<p>No doubt many Olympic viewers were fascinated to see the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/57967633">youngest ever Olympic podium</a> with the average age of 14 years. For a group of teenagers, there was amazing sportsmanship and maturity on display. Sky Brown, a 13-year-old sensation from the Team GB, was first to run over to her competitor, Sakura Yosozumi, after she won skateboarding’s park contest. This played out across the competition with competitors cheering each other on and congratulating winners from other teams. </p>
<p>Skateboarding also made its debut in style. From <a href="https://skateboarding.transworld.net/news/team-usa-olympic-skateboarding-uniforms/">90s-inspired multi-coloured uniforms</a> of the US skaters to <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympics/status/1419497162371645440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1419497162371645440%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fmojo-wire%2F2021%2F07%2Fbrazils-13-year-old-skateboard-phenom-rayssa-leal-is-hands-down-the-best-part-of-the-olympics-so-far%2F">Brazilian Rayssa Leal’s</a> tan-coloured cargo pants held up by a black skater belt to Japan’s Aori Nishimura’s all-white uniform and platinum blonde hair, <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/skateboarding-olympic-uniforms">Olympic skateboarding outfits were unanimously praised</a>. </p>
<p>Bryce Wettstein, a 16-year-old skater from California, even brought her ukulele to take the edge off the Women’s Skateboard Park Finals a bit. Olympics are known to be the high-pressure environment, and it was very refreshing to see at least skateboarding part of the Games feeling like a gathering of teenagers having fun and cheering for each other.</p>
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<h2>Tough questions in sport climbing</h2>
<p>While the novelty of skateboarding received all round praise, sport climbing left some fans split on whether Olympic climbing <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d9580411-e65f-4fc0-a923-6133ed2d4bf1">made sense at all</a>.</p>
<p>Sports climbing is a unique sport in the Olympic programme (there is nothing similar to it) and was a hit in Tokyo for those who had never seen it before. </p>
<p>The controversy originated when the IOC decided to allocate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/sports/olympics/sport-rock-climbing-bouldering-lead-speed.html">only one medal set</a> for sport climbing instead of three. As a result, the governing body of sport came up with the “combined” format of three key types of climbing: bouldering, lead and speed climbing. The latter plays well on television, but in fact it has always been considered a fringe discipline among the core climbers and the most different from the other two.</p>
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<p>Climbers normally specialise in a single discipline and given the different skill sets needed for each, the combined Olympic format can be compared to asking swimmers to do a diving competition too, or asking <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/05/climbing-scoring-tokyo-2020-olympics-adam-ondra">Novak Djokovic to compete in table tennis for the first set</a>. It looks like the fears of climbing community were true, as Adam Ondra, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/sports/olympics/olympics-climbing-adam-ondra.html">many see</a> as the best climber in the world, had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/sports/olympics/adam-ondra-climbing.html">spend last year training specifically for the speed part</a> and still did not make the Olympic finals. </p>
<p>It feels unfair perhaps, looking at established Olympic sports like swimming or cycling where the same athletes are able to compete for numerous medals in separate disciplines or relays. There has been a lot of politics behind <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Action-Sports-and-the-Olympic-Games-Past-Present-Future/Wheaton-Thorpe/p/book/9781138492851">the IOC relationships with action sports</a>, but it does look like they should have listened to the sport community.</p>
<h2>What Paris 2024 will have in store</h2>
<p>With the 2020 Olympics delayed for a year by the pandemic, the next summer Games are now only three years away. The Paris 2024 preview video that played during Tokyo’s closing ceremony had a very urban and artistic vibe to it, and we can expect <a href="https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-paris-2024-olympic-sports-programme/">the “modernisation” of the Games to continue</a>. Part of this modernisation comes with the addition of another new sport in 2024: breakdancing. </p>
<p>It might have been unthinkable to see it in the Olympics ten years ago (and yes, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/02/09/break-dancing-olympic-sport-paris-2024/">it is a sport</a>), but the was true for skateboarding. Karate, baseball and softball worked great for Japanese viewers and athletes but will be dropped as, presumably, they are not that relevant to France, where breakdancing is a huge part of youth culture.</p>
<p>Surfing, skateboarding and <a href="https://www.paris2024.org/en/sport/sport-climbing/">sport climbing (with more medals thankfullt</a>) are there to stay and strengthen the IOC standard for youth-centred and more <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-statement-on-gender-equality-in-the-olympic-movement">gender-balanced Games</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315714264-39/snowboarding-skateboarding-mikhail-batuev-sarah-zipp-leigh-robinson">Research</a> I took part in a few years ago showed that action sports tended to keep women and minorities to the margins of the sports. While commercially men’s actions sports are still miles ahead, it was heartening to see that Tokyo 2020 indicated a shift from that exclusivity – with female athletes like skater Sky Brown and surfer <a href="https://www.teamusa.org/usa-surfing/athletes/Carissa-Moore">Carissa Moore</a> becoming icons in sports traditionally dominated by men. </p>
<p>In coming years, expect to see more girls in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/06/sky-brown-helps-ramp-up-uk-girls-interest-skateboarding">skateparks</a>, surfing spots and climbing gyms. And hopefully, governing bodies will give them the same amount of support so the best of them might become the next generation of Olympians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mikhail Batuev does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From skateboarding and climbing to baseball, the new Olympic events had varying degrees of success.Mikhail Batuev, Lecturer in Sport Management, Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655802021-08-08T14:33:11Z2021-08-08T14:33:11ZFewer viewers, nervous sponsors: The Olympics must rethink efforts to stay relevant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415108/original/file-20210808-27-oitz0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3969%2C2634&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Olympic flag is lowered during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics – the first Games to be held without spectators because of concerns of spreading COVID-19. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/David Goldman) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the conclusion of every Olympics, there are reflections on the importance and relevance of the Games. There are always a wide range of opinions, from those who praise the movement as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-the-olympics-still-matter-90215">global humanitarian platform</a> to others who criticize the Games due to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/sports/olympics/tokyo-olympics.html">sustainability, environmental and human rights concerns</a>.</p>
<p>International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach called the Tokyo Games the “most challenging Olympic journey” <a href="https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Mixed-bag-Erratic-Pandemic-Olympics-winds-to-a-16372498.php">during his speech at the closing ceremonies</a>. The Games were postponed a year, held during a pandemic emergency that barred fans from the stands and had reluctant support from the host country. And there are other challenges ahead for the Olympic movement. </p>
<p>Given all of the problems facing the Olympic movement, what is the relevance of the modern Olympic Games from a consumer, marketing, media and economic perspective?</p>
<h2>Eyeballs matter</h2>
<p>Olympic viewership dropped significantly this year, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/why-tv-audiences-are-tuning-out-tokyo-olympic-games-2021-07-30/">with some estimates</a> noting close to a 50-per-cent decline from the 2016 Rio Games — including for the lead television partner NBC Universal, which paid over US$7 billion to extend its U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympics through 2032.</p>
<p>Despite parallel streaming arrangements with all major Olympic network partners, viewers in North America and Europe were considerably fragmented, if not frustrated, with being many time zones away while major events were taking place live. The Canadian rights holder to the Games, the CBC, said it <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/cbc-tokyo-olympics-ratings-1.6135953#">had a record number of views via its digital platforms</a> after initial reports of a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/08/03/with-empty-stands-and-viewership-way-down-olympics-still-gold-for-advertisers-and-broadcasters.html">decline in ratings on traditional broadcast channels</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A beach volleyball game taking place in an empty stadium" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415059/original/file-20210806-19-i6foxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A women’s beach volleyball match in the empty Shiokaze Park at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More troubling for the International Olympic Committee is growing evidence of a general decline in interest in the Olympics from young people, <a href="https://www.ypulse.com/article/2021/06/10/this-is-how-many-gen-z-millennials-say-theyll-watch-the-olympics-this-summer/">including Generation Z</a>.</p>
<p>Support from key sponsors is also declining. Toyota announced on the eve of the Games that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-2020-tokyo-olympics-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-5eb0e254b9a0cac7ad57005677eebe66">it wouldn’t air any Olympic-themed TV ads in Japan</a>, even though it signed a US$1 billion sponsorship in 2015. Other sponsors are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/20/1018390493/toyota-and-other-big-olympics-sponsors-are-downplaying-their-ties-to-the-games">minimizing their Olympic commitments</a>, raising questions about the perceived value of the hefty partnership deals.</p>
<h2>Olympic economics</h2>
<p>The Olympic Games are a massive social and financial undertaking. It’s estimated the Tokyo Games will <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tokyo-olympics-staggering-price-tag-and-where-it-stands-in-history-11627049612#:%7E:text=The%20average%20cost%20per%20event,million%3B%20%2439.2%20million%20for%20Winter">cost over US$20 billion</a>.</p>
<p>While cities once competed fiercely for the right to host the Olympics, the steep costs, coupled with waning public sentiment, has resulted in less countries willing to take on the multi-billion-dollar commitment. Case in point: when Brisbane, Australia, was recently <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-sports-brisbane-australia-olympic-team-germany-olympic-team-cbaf0d0e504b8bb3861f35c2876b7bbb">announced as the host of the 2032 Olympics</a>, there were no other rival bids.</p>
<p>The economics and expenses of the Olympic Games has been generally well supported by a highly structured means of revenue, which is led by significant broadcast contracts, followed by the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/faq/roles-and-responsibilities-of-the-ioc-and-its-partners/how-are-the-olympic-games-financed">The Olympic Partners (TOP) program</a> that was established following the highly successful 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. A small group of international partners in the TOP program each pay <a href="https://adage.com/article/special-report-olympics/faq-everything-you-need-know-advertising-marketing-sponsorship-athlete-pay-nbc-olympics-2020-2021/2351056">approximately US$200 million per four-year cycle</a> to be an Olympic partner, including multinational companies like Coca-Cola, Dow and General Electric.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women holding up sign that says Brisbane 2032" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415058/original/file-20210806-90838-k920qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Australian politician Annastacia Palaszczuk celebrates after Brisbane was announced as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city during the IOC Session at Hotel Okura in Tokyo on July 21.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Toru Hanai/Pool Photo via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The core profits from both the media and marketing partnerships are ultimately dependent on the interest and consumption of the Olympics.</p>
<p>Corporate and media investments are based on the premise that consumers around the globe are tuned in to the Games (and are watching key corporate partner messages), that major corporate partners want to be affiliated with the Olympics and all they represent, and that hundreds of thousands of tickets will be sold to people who want to attend the competitions.</p>
<p>Given the recent free-fall of interest and <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2021/07/2021-olympics-controversy-makes-the-games-hard-to-watch.html">global awareness of the Olympics</a>, this traditional Games revenue model will be significantly challenged moving forward.</p>
<p>It was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-30/olympics-ratings-slump-forces-nbc-to-haggle-with-advertisers">recently reported</a> that Olympic advertisers are renegotiating with NBC given the less-than-promised viewing numbers. The U.S. broadcaster had expected to generate <a href="https://adage.com/article/special-report-olympics/faq-everything-you-need-know-advertising-marketing-sponsorship-athlete-pay-nbc-olympics-2020-2021/2351056">more than US$1 billion in ad sales</a> during these Games. Likewise, sponsors have sought make-good provisions from broadcasters and Games stakeholders to safeguard their expenditures.</p>
<h2>What now for the Olympics’ economic model?</h2>
<p>Given changing consumer, corporate and geopolitical sentiments, the current model of the Olympic Games is outdated. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Branch <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/sports/olympics/tokyo-olympics.html">recently wrote in the <em>New York Times</em></a>: “In some ways — too many ways, critics argue — the Olympics are stuck in time, a 19th-century construct floating through a 21st-century world.” </p>
<p>The Olympic movement, which has been called “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/business/media/nbc-olympics-tv-ratings.html#:%7E:text=The%20Olympics%20coverage%20is%20headed,in%20an%20interview%20on%20Thursday">the most complicated sports event in the world</a>,” will have to dramatically rethink its current strategy and economic model to stay relevant to its partners and fans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Olympics will have to be adaptable in order to keep up with the rapidly shifting economic landscape and changing interest in the Games if it wants to continue to turn massive profits.Cheri L. Bradish, Professor of Sport Business, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityNicholas Burton, Assistant Professor, Sport Management, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655592021-08-06T12:36:37Z2021-08-06T12:36:37ZBlood flow restriction training: how Olympians use it to boost performance<p>To be the best of the best, Olympians and Paralympians sometimes resort to using peculiar methods to achieve even the most minute gains in their fitness and performance. For example, things like ice baths and cupping are popular with elite athletes. More recently, many Olympians have been spotted wearing black cuffs around their muscles during workouts – a practice known as blood flow restriction training. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2012.00392/full">Blood flow restriction training</a> sees athletes strap a cuff or band around their muscles – not unlike the kind of cuff you might use when having your blood pressure measured – which is then inflated. This cuff reduces blood flow to the muscle, leading to less oxygen being transported to the muscle cells.</p>
<p>Since oxygen is needed to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-201X.1998.0331e.x?casa_token=4jXqZXhzrAgAAAAA:lZqkfJKCQkQA0vU6WqUIxzpI356FSkp65N0xnAWGvJiLXJzL0fDv9PisGtZWQ7ojKvFqDhmBCRZh">help the muscles recover</a>, when it’s limited, so is recovery during the workout. This means that it requires more effort for the body to work – so much so that even during a less intense workout, the exercises becomes harder <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00982.2020">because there is more fatigue</a>. Once the workout is finished, the cuff is removed – allowing blood to surge into the muscle cells. This is thought to accelerate recovery post-workout, and fitness levels. </p>
<p>This is an emerging area of research, so there’s still much to be learned about it. But the evidence we currently have is compelling and explains why it’s becoming a <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00982.2020">popular approach with elite athletes</a>. </p>
<p>For athletes for whom strength is important, such as hammer throwers or wrestlers, blood flow restriction training <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sms.13632?casa_token=FC9Iy3UlZFAAAAAA%253ATqdZ1d1cJOT3vWkNvpJ6AW5YINxfiZ9HNpOeZq0ZAg3ihT7ND8Es0Wf1HdBRDD2APpoDyl_hgHQb">has been shown</a> to increase the maximum amount an athlete can lift by around 6-19%. It’s thought this happens because blood flow restriction training increases the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6553970/">amount of protein</a> the body uses, and protein is necessary for helping the body change and develop muscle and strength. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Olympic wrestler Kayla Miracle using blood flow restriction training during a workout.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Blood flow restriction training has also been shown to benefit endurance athletes. Endurance is all about being able to <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00793.2019">circulate enough oxygen</a> to the muscles that need it. Using blood flow restriction training during endurance training (such as while cycling or running) has been shown to lead to the body developing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17461391.2017.1422281">additional blood vessels</a> – which ultimately helps increase the rate of blood flow to the muscles. </p>
<p>It is the <a href="https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP277657">stress on the blood vessels</a> that ultimately helps the body develop additional blood vessels. More blood vessels means more oxygen-rich blood going to the muscles, which is needed for recovery and also performance. This ideally means an athlete will perform better in competition.</p>
<p>Blood flow restriction training alongside endurance training also increases the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.01796/full">size and number of mitochondria</a> (which generates most of a cell’s energy) circulating in the body. This thereby improves the body’s use of stored glycogen (which acts a fuel to the body), ultimately leading to better endurance performance.</p>
<h2>Olympic effort</h2>
<p>For Olympic and Paralympic athletes, even the most minute gains in their performance can mean the difference between a gold medal and last place. </p>
<p>The problem is that the fitter a person becomes through years of accumulated training, the smaller their <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-201X.1996.483230000.x">improvements in fitness</a> become. An example of this can be seen in the slowing in athlete personal best performance as they get older. </p>
<p>For any athlete to become physically fit, they need to undergo physiological adaptations – like when the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200737030-00004">size of a muscle increases</a> through strength training or the heart <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413117302310">increases in size from endurance training</a>. But these adaptations – which are affected by the intensity, frequency and duration of training – are fundamentally <a href="https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1113/jphysiol.1995.sp020533">impacted by the recovery after the training</a>. Recovery is where the adaptations occur. If recovery is not sufficient, the adaptation is reduced.</p>
<p>Training leads to fatigue – and the amount of fatigue that’s produced <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2012.00142/full">dictates the size of the adaptation</a>. But you also need to give the muscles time to adapt and recover. In other words, fatigue plus recovery equals fitness gains. Blood flow restriction training causes greater fatigue on the muscles – and more quickly – so as long as an athlete gives their muscles time to recover, it allows them to adapt more quickly than they might have otherwise.</p>
<p>For elite athletes, where gains in physiological adaptation are marginal because they’re approaching their genetic limits, the use of blood flow restriction training is used to push their training adaptations to the limit – and make these adaptations happen more quickly. And, as many athletes suffer from injuries during training, blood flow restriction training <a href="https://paulogentil.com/pdf/TREINO%20DE%20FORC%CC%A7A/Applications%20of%20vascular%20occlusion%20diminish%20disuse%20atrophy%20%28hypertrophy%29.pdf">can help to speed up the recovery</a> by encouraging gains from less demanding workouts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many athletes have been seen strapping cuffs around their muscles during workouts – but does it have any affect on their performance?Dan Gordon, Associate Professor: Cardiorespiratory Exercise Physiology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityJulien Desanlis, PhD Researcher, Sport Physiology, Université Paris-SaclayMarie Gernigon, Associate Professor, Sport Sciences, Université Paris-SaclayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1654512021-08-05T16:11:46Z2021-08-05T16:11:46ZBoycotting the next Olympics in Beijing will hurt athletes: Here’s a better idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414441/original/file-20210803-15-1vse00i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5000%2C3330&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Attendees wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus look at an exhibit at a visitors center at the Winter Olympic venues in Beijing in February. Human rights groups have called for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics due to reported human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in China.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the Tokyo Olympics coming to an end, human rights activists are expected to step up their campaign against the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in protest against the genocide of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/09/09/interview-chinas-crackdown-turkic-muslims">the Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking people</a> in Xinjiang, the colonization of Tibet and the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong. They will call upon the International Olympic Committee to cancel or move the Games that start in just six months, and if that fails, they’ll urge athletes to boycott. </p>
<p>As frightening as those human rights abuses are, they’re not likely to persuade the IOC or athletes to change their plans for Beijing. Cancelling, moving or boycotting the Beijing Olympics runs counter to the very purpose and history of the Olympic movement and places athletes in an untenable position.</p>
<h2>Choosing a different strategy</h2>
<p>Given the almost constant tensions in world politics and international sports, boycotts and threats of boycotts have almost been an accepted feature of the modern Olympics. The first occurred at the inaugural Games in Athens in 1896, when German gymnasts known as “turners” refused to participate because most of the events were British sport.</p>
<p>There have been feminist boycotts (<a href="https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Women_and_Sports_in_the_United_States/utWx5SNoxXAC?hl=en&gbpv=1">British women stayed away from Amsterdam</a> in 1928 when the IOC reneged on its promise to add 10 women’s events to the athletics program), podium protests against racism (<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/08/07/the-forgotten-story-behind-the-black-power-photo-from-1968-olympics.html">Tommie Smith, John Carlos</a> and other U.S. athletes in 1968), so-called recognition boycotts (<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/taiwan-controversy-at-the-1976-montreal-olympics">Taiwan left in 1976</a> when the IOC refused to call it the “Republic of China”), anti-apartheid boycotts (29 African and Caribbean teams <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/the-olympics-used-to-be-so-politicized-that-most-of-africa-boycotted-in-1976/260831/">walked out of the Montreal Olympics in 1976</a> to protest a New Zealand rugby tour of apartheid South Africa) and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-virus-outbreak-afghanistan-boycotts-cold-war-8b447c53e96621f1ca2b06e8621b351f">Cold War boycotts</a> in 1956, 1980, 1984 and 1988.</p>
<p>In 1936, an international coalition of socialists, labour unions and churches not only mounted a highly visible boycott campaign against the staging of the Games in Nazi Germany, but tried to hold a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/protest-olympics-never-came-be-180978179/">counter-Olympics in Barcelona</a>. It was only cancelled when the Spanish general Francisco Franco led an armed attack upon the city on the morning of the opening ceremonies, starting what became the bitter, three-year Spanish Civil War.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Crowd of men and women in matching striped jackets standing in airport gate." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414439/original/file-20210803-19-1b5wrgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Nigerian Olympic team prepare for their journey home at Montréal’s Mirabel Airport after it was announced they would boycott the 1976 Olympic Games. The boycott came after the IOC refused to expel New Zealand from competition after its rugby team did a tour of apartheid South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the Olympic movement is not indifferent to human rights, it seeks to bring representatives of every community in the world together for peaceful dialogue and sports — recognizing that there are very real political and ideological differences among nations.</p>
<p>To build such a big, inclusive tent, it makes few demands upon National Olympic Committees, the international federations that govern the sports or the host countries. It’s the sporting equivalent of the long-held principle of “non-intervention” in the internal affairs of nation states.</p>
<p>As the world has begun to contemplate the obligation of the international community to safeguard citizens from an abusive national state, activists are calling on the IOC to apply and enforce human rights upon National Olympic Committees, federations and host countries. That battle is far from won.</p>
<p>The IOC has been able to withstand boycotts because it selects its own members, a grossly undemocratic process that ironically has enabled it to stand up to the strongest governments. In 1980, in the face of intense pressure from U.S. President Jimmy Carter to cancel or move the Moscow Olympics, the IOC voted unanimously to go ahead. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Statue of a man in front of a sports stadium bearing the Olympic rings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414440/original/file-20210803-23-165w8g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of Lenin sits outside of Lenin Stadium, the main stadium for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The United States and 65 other countries, including Canada, boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While most athletes are concerned with human rights, an earlier generation learned in 1980 that governments, corporations and human rights activists are quick to volunteer them for symbolic actions, only to find that they’re the only ones who actually sacrificed something important.</p>
<p>In 1980, the government of Pierre Trudeau forced Canadian athletes to stay home, despite their strong objection, and then cut their funds afterwards. The oral history of that bitter experience looms large in the informal discussions about the proposed Beijing boycott currently taking place among Canadian athletes.</p>
<h2>A way forward without boycotting</h2>
<p>Is there a way for the Olympic community to attend the Games without legitimizing atrocities in China? As an Olympian and an academic who has studied the Olympic movement for decades, I believe there is.</p>
<p>Instead of the IOC knuckling under host country repression, as it did in Beijing in 2008 and Sochi in 2014, it should ensure that the freedom of expression now guaranteed in the revised <a href="https://olympics.com/athlete365/what-we-do/voice/athlete-expression-rule-50/">Rule 50</a> should be respected during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Activists should insist that no one will be penalized under the revised rule.</p>
<p>Secondly, the IOC should affirm the importance of human rights and full intercultural exchange in the opening ceremonies and the schedule of events and meetings in the Olympic Village, <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/pierre-de-coubertin/sport-as-a-human-right">as modern Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin</a> always intended. That would give athletes and others concerned about human rights the opportunity to express their views freely with other Olympic participants and their hosts without constraint.</p>
<p>There is Olympic precedent that needs to be remembered and strengthened. In 1936, when he arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for the Winter Olympics, IOC president Henri Baillet-Latour found the city plastered with anti-Semitic, Nazi propaganda. He immediately met with Adolf Hitler and demanded that the posters and flags be taken down.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man lighting Olympic torch in foreground with lines of Nazi soliders lined up behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414435/original/file-20210803-25-epojn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">German Nazi soldiers line up at attention during the lighting of the Olympic torch at the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hitler is said to have replied: “When one visits a home, one doesn’t immediately ask the host to redecorate.” Baillet-Latour rejoined: “Yes, Mr. Chancellor, but when the Olympics is held, it’s not a national city but an Olympic city, and should be held according to Olympic rules. The propaganda must come down.” It did.</p>
<p>Baillet-Latour also established the requirement that the host country must recognize every participant duly entered by a National Olympic Committee, regardless of their background, a stipulation that ensured full participation in Berlin and during the Cold War.</p>
<p>In the end, the 1936 Games were a tremendous propaganda victory for Hitler, and the world lost sight of the safeguards won by the IOC. But an updated version of that strategy would be useful today.</p>
<p>The IOC should make it clear that while it’s grateful to China for hosting the Winter Olympics, the Olympic movement guarantees the right to free speech — including the condemnation of genocide and other abuses — within the Olympic precincts. Activists should support it.</p>
<p>It would be an important step on the long road to human rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Kidd is an honorary member of the Canadian Olympic Committee. </span></em></p>Instead of boycotting the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, activists should pressure the IOC to let anyone attending the Games to express their views on China without fear of penalization.Bruce Kidd, Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651522021-08-03T20:44:28Z2021-08-03T20:44:28ZFrom outlier to Olympic sport: How skateboarding made it to the Tokyo Games<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414395/original/file-20210803-19-2ut00h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5564%2C3579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zion Wright of the United States takes part in a men's park skateboarding practice session at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ben Curtis) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If organizers could script skateboarding’s Olympic debut, they’d likely change very little about what unfolded in Tokyo. Hometown skater Yuto Horigome, who honed his craft on the streets of Tokyo, won the discipline’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/25/1020382670/japans-own-wins-first-skateboarding-medal-at-tokyo-olympics#:%7E:text=Ezra%20Shaw%2FGetty%20Images%20TOKYO%20%E2%80%94%20In%20the%20neighborhood,air%2C%20sailed%20over%20staircases%20and%20glided%20on%20rails.">inaugural gold medal</a> in the men’s street competition. </p>
<p>The next day, <a href="https://www.nprillinois.org/2021-07-26/japan-is-golden-again-in-skateboarding-at-tokyo-olympics">13-year-old Momiji Nishiya</a> won Japan’s second skateboarding gold, finishing atop the podium in women’s street style to become the nation’s youngest ever Olympic gold medallist and the third youngest in the history of the Games.</p>
<p>And the Japanese domination continued in the women’s park event, when Sakura Yosozumi took the gold and 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki won silver.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The three athletes wave as they stand in the skateboard park with the Tokyo 2020 sign behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414573/original/file-20210804-19-1tdqeyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Silver medallist Kokona Hiraki of Japan, gold medallist Sakura Yosozumi of Japan and bronze medalist Sky Brown of Britain pose during a medals ceremony for the women’s park skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many people may find it strange to see skateboarding in the Olympics. And that’s not a slight on the skill or talent required to compete as an elite skateboarder — it’s strange because of skateboarding’s long history as a counter-cultural activity. </p>
<p>To participate in the Olympics, a sport needs an international federation that adheres to the Olympic Charter. Yet, it’s hard to imagine that some, if not most, skaters don’t scoff at <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf?_ga=2.194823405.1504875107.1627918953-1425222182.1623163457">Rule 1</a>, which lays out the “supreme authority and leadership of the International Olympic Committee.”</p>
<p>What unfolded at Tokyo 2020 is just a small sliver of an activity, typically celebrated and cherished as a form of resistance against mainstream culture. Indeed, in its most basic form, skateboarding is still a quintessentially counter-cultural activity. </p>
<h2>Rooted in resistance</h2>
<p>Skating as we know it today evolved <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Skateboarding_and_the_City/Hb-EDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">primarily in the 1970s and 1980s</a>, when innovators like Mark Gonzales (Street), Rodney Mullen (Street), and Tony Alva (Vert) were experimenting with new ways of using skateboards.</p>
<p>In the mid-1970s, purpose-built skate parks dotted America’s urban landscape. Competitions existed, but there was little money to be made. Skating was about camaraderie, creativity and personal expression.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/evkpvw/why-skateboarding-should-not-be-an-olympic-sport">2018 article for <em>Vice</em></a>, Cole Nowicki describes skateboarding as an art. Like so much art that came before it, skateboarding stood in opposition to prevailing notions of appropriate leisure and recreation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A skateboarder slides down a staircase railing while the Tokyo Olympic logo is in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414416/original/file-20210803-23-16gdrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yuto Horigome of Japan competes in his gold medal performance in the men’s street skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an America dominated by sports with strict rules and regulations and confined to a stipulated playing field, skateboarding offered beautiful, unstructured freedom. There were no scores. No stadium. No limits. Improvisation was celebrated, not castigated.</p>
<p>There was little money in early professional skateboarding. Competitions paid virtually nothing. Skaters filmed “parts” demonstrating their abilities, hoping to gain a modest sponsorship from industry-specific companies. When John Cardiel was named the 1992 Thrasher Magazine Skater of the Year, for example, he was only <a href="http://www.thepowellmovement.com/listen/2018/6/17/s2-ep25-john-cardiel">earning $500 a month</a> as a professional skateboarder.</p>
<h2>From margin to mainstream</h2>
<p>The popularity of skateboarding eventually caught the attention of folks with deep pockets. In 1995, ESPN staged the first X-Games, encompassing skateboarding and eight other “extreme” sports.</p>
<p>Rather than the typical skate sponsors, <a href="https://www.xgamesmediakit.com/read-me/">the X-Games touted massive brands</a>, including Advil, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell, Chevy Trucks, AT&T, Nike and Miller Lite Ice. Although the X-Games placed new eyes on skateboarding, ESPN didn’t make millionaires out of skateboarders. The lifestyle of a professional skater largely remained a struggle to make ends meet.</p>
<p>Skaters first really took notice of the IOC when it staged a hostile takeover of snowboarding for the 1998 Nagano Olympics. As <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7exnq/how-the-olympics-ioc-thirst-for-youth-subculture-steamrolls-the-sports-we-love">Dvora Meyers recently highlighted in <em>Vice</em></a>, the IOC flexed its organizational muscle by rejecting the already established International Snowboarding Federation (ISF) — the group truly responsible for the global spread of the sport — moving snowboarding under the umbrella of the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS). Rival FIS events were staged, forcing snowboarders to choose sides, resulting in the collapse of the IFS in 2002. </p>
<p>After enduring immense hostility from within snowboarding for its treatment of the IFS, the IOC moved rather more carefully when incorporating skateboarding into the 2020 Games. Although it looked like the IOC might hand jurisdiction over skateboarding to the International Roller Sports Federation, a merger with International Skateboarding Federation was ultimately secured, producing the IOC-recognized federation World Skate.</p>
<h2>A mixed response</h2>
<p>The skateboarding community is split over their pastime’s incorporation into the Olympics. In 2016, shortly after the IOC announced that skateboarding was joining the mega event, <em>Thrasher Magazine</em> <a href="https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/skateboarding-in-the-olympics/">reached out to 33 professional skaters</a> for their opinion on the arrival of Olympic Skateboarding. Responses ranged from excitement to revulsion.</p>
<p>For many skaters, competition is an afterthought. Take John Cardiel, for example. Hailed as a legend in the skate subculture, Cardiel was known for his high-speed style and daredevil risks. His reputation evolved on the ground, by seeking out the most challenging and interesting landscapes he could skate. His “part” tapes remain popular and, although he was a sponsored professional, he views skating as something more than a sport. </p>
<p>“To me, skateboarding is all about individuality and originality,” <a href="https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/skateboarding-in-the-olympics/">Cardiel told <em>Thrasher</em></a>. “It has nothing to do with highest, furthest, longest. Skating being an Olympic sport contradicts everything that I believe skateboarding to be.” </p>
<p>Cardiel’s career peaked in the 1990s before skateboarding was thoroughly commercialised via the X-Games and comparable events. But for skaters that rose to prominence in the 2000s, like American Olympian Nyjah Huston, the Olympics is another opportunity to expand the sport.</p>
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<img alt="Man skateboarding on a ramp" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414404/original/file-20210803-23-11p3njj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">American skateboarder Nyjah Huston competes in the men’s Street Final during an Olympic qualifying skateboard event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Huston has won 12 X-Games gold medals and four world championships and his view of the Olympics couldn’t be more different than Cardiel’s: “I’m excited about the opportunity to be able to skate in the Olympics! Whether people like it or not, skateboarding is bound to grow into bigger things like this sooner or later. So, in my eyes, it might as well be now.”</p>
<h2>Silver lining</h2>
<p>2017 Vans Park Series World Champion Nora Vasconcellos has spent her young career balancing competition with the more traditional “part” videos that made Cardiel an icon of the sport. Although women skated from the beginning, opportunities have lagged behind the men. Vasconcellos hopes that the Olympics can help improve the lot of female skaters. </p>
<p>“I don’t care because skateboarding will always be skateboarding to me,” Vasconcellos told <em>Thrasher</em>. “If anything, it’s good because as women skaters we now have more contests to go to and travel opportunities. It totally changed snowboarding for the women. Once snowboarding was in the Olympics, women snowboarders were really able to just live off putting out video parts. The more girls who are making a living skateboarding, the more diversity there can be.”</p>
<p>The IOC’s interest in skateboarding, of course, is financial. Like a greedy vampire, it scans the sportscape in search of popular, youthful sports, capable of revitalizing its viewership. It will be up to the athletes to use the creativity, daring, and camaraderie skateboarding is known for to resist from the inside and preserve what they can of the skater subculture, lest the sport and art be separated, forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>MacIntosh Ross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although it’s now an Olympic sport, at its core skateboarding is still a counter-cultural activity that represents creativity, community and personal expression.MacIntosh Ross, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652802021-08-02T14:03:35Z2021-08-02T14:03:35ZThe Tokyo Olympics are billed as the first gender equal Games, but women still lack opportunities in sport<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414154/original/file-20210802-20-12sal0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3091%2C1920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The German gymnastics team at the Tokyo Olympics wore full-legged unitards that went down to their ankles, eschewing the traditional bikini cut that ends high on the hip. The athletes said they were trying to combat the sexualization of young women and girls in their sport, which is trying to recover from a decades-long sexual abuse scandal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The International Olympic Committee has called the Tokyo Olympics the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/tokyo-2020-equal-gender-participation-1.6110907">most gender equal Games</a> off all time, with women comprising a record-breaking 49 per cent of participants. </p>
<p>This near gender parity is long overdue. By adding 18 new events and establishing equal number of spots for men and women in every sport except baseball and softball, the IOC was able to reach this goal. There is also a higher number of <a href="https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/31/mixed-gender-events-olympics-swimming-track-golf">mixed-gender competitions</a>. </p>
<p>Several countries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/22/sports/olympics/olympics-athletes-gender.html">including Australia, Britain, Canada and China</a>, have sent teams to Tokyo with more women than men. Team selection is based on an athlete’s prior achievements and chances to win a medal. For a country like Canada, women dominated the medal haul in the first week of competition, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-women-are-owning-the-podium-for-canada-at-the-tokyo-olympics-165213">taking 13 medals</a> before a male athlete made it to the podium. </p>
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<p>But aside from increasing the opportunity for women to compete at the Olympics, the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are still lacking gender equality in other areas.</p>
<h2>Gender equality gaps in sport</h2>
<p>In an example of how women’s bodies are still heavily policed in sport, Paralympian Olivia Breen was recently told by the International Paralympic Committee that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/sports/olympics/paralympian-olivia-breen-shorts.html">her uniform was too revealing</a>.</p>
<p>While not an Olympic sport, the recent fining of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/sports/norway-beach-handball-team.html">Norwegian beach handball team</a> for wearing shorts instead of the typical bikini uniform has sparked a global conversation about the sexualization of female athletes, and even <a href="https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31889339/pop-singer-pink-supports-norwegian-women-beach-handball-team-protest-fines-very-sexist-uniform-rules">drew the attention and support of singer Pink</a>.</p>
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<p>In their own statement to protest the sexualization of their sport, the German gymnastics team wore <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/26/sport/tokyo-germany-unitard-intl-scli-spt/index.html">full-body unitards</a> instead of the usual high-cut leotards. It was a decision made by the gymnasts themselves, one that was fully supported by their coaches; possibly because of a recent scandal.</p>
<p>Beyond uniforms, we have seen women have to fight for their right to participate in the Games after <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/canadian-boxer-mandy-bujold-wins-olympic-appeal/">giving birth</a> and fight to bring the babies they were <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/article/gauchers-breastfeeding-exception-quest-equity-issue-larger-sports/">breastfeeding</a> to the Games. American Olympian Allyson Felix is stepping up to help <a href="https://www.today.com/parents/allyson-felix-giving-olympic-moms-money-childcare-t225225">pay for childcare expenses</a> for women athletes so they can participate. </p>
<p>We have also seen the Olympics become an unsafe space for women: an intricate plan involving <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/sports/olympics/us-fencing-pink-masks.html">separate planes and accommodations</a> was constructed to allow a member of the U.S. fencing team accused of sexual impropriety against other athletes to participate in Tokyo. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tokyo-olympics-will-be-the-games-of-all-mothers-163862">The Tokyo Olympics will be the Games of all mothers</a>
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<h2><strong>Equal participation does not mean equity</strong></h2>
<p>Despite equality in athlete numbers, the IOC has not made a similar push for gender parity within its own organization. Women within the IOC occupy only a third of the executive boards and <a href="https://www.givemesport.com/1523011-womens-sports-huge-inequality-exposed-on-international-sports-federation-boards">only 37.5 per cent of committee positions</a>. </p>
<p>The International Paralympic Committee faces similar issues, with only 25 per cent board positions held by women. Neither organization has had a woman as president. Many of the international federations that govern each sport has equally dismal gender equity issues at the governing level.</p>
<p>Research shows us that having gender diversity in organizations is not only a moral imperative, but also enables better <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/">thinking and problem-solving</a>, greater <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/gender-diversity-at-the-board-level-can-mean-innovation-success/">innovation</a> and <a href="https://library.pcw.gov.ph/sites/default/files/does%20female%20representation%20in%20top%20management.pdf">better performance</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to sport organizations, recent research has shown that having women on boards provides <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345482961_Women_representation_in_the_boardroom_of_Canadian_sport_governing_bodies_structural_and_financial_characteristics_of_three_organizational_clusters">better financial performance</a>.</p>
<h2>Unequal media coverage</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/doi/full/10.1177/2167479519863652">Media coverage</a> of women athletes is a long-standing issue. A recent example that has come under scrutiny is when an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/swimming-ecstatic-aussie-coach-goes-viral-with-medal-worthy-celebrations-2021-07-26/">Australian swim coach’s</a> celebration received more media attention than the Olympic champion herself. </p>
<p>In an important sign of change, the NBC coverage in the United States has covered women more than men, <a href="https://fiveringtv.com/2021/07/26/tokyo-olympics-primetime-report-day-3-nbc-devotes-more-coverage-to-women-by-a-more-than-2-to-1-margin-women-now-lead-total-coverage-after-three-days/">almost 2-1</a>, possibly because they are winning more medals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Thompson-Herah reacts with joy with her arms outstretched while her teammates cross the finish line in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414153/original/file-20210802-18-1w9p3mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica reacts as she crosses the finish line to win the women’s 100-metres final at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Jamaica swept the medals in the 100 metres.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)</span></span>
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<p>Historically, gender equity programs have benefited primarily <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/03/07/gender-equity-is-useless-without-racial-equity/?sh=4ab680307b4f">white women</a>. Gender equity cannot be addressed without addressing racial equity, especially because for countries like Canada, <a href="https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/2017/05/11/olympic-athletes-disproportionately-white-and-privately-educated-compared-to-general-population/">Olympic athletes are disproportionately white</a>.</p>
<p>Many past initiatives have failed to address either issue. One popular way that we have seen is “fixing women” and not the <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/03/whats-really-holding-women-back?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">structural sexism</a> that exists in organizations. To truly move ahead we need to focus on structural changes and to stop holding underrepresented groups hostage to stereotypes.</p>
<p>Sport researchers have <a href="https://womenandsport.ca/resources/research-insights/the-pandemic-impact-on-girls-in-sport/">long advocated for increased participation</a> of girls and women in sport. In most countries, women and girls are <a href="https://sportforlife.ca/women-and-girls/">still vastly underrepresented</a> in sport and physical activity.</p>
<p>So while we are cheering on the Olympians during these Games, let’s also be looking for ways to create real systemic change to effect true equity in sport - this is the true gold medal goal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Pegoraro receives funding from Sport Canada. She is a co-director of E-Alliance, Canada's new Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felix Arndt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Tokyo Olympic Games are being called the most gender-equal Games ever — but does that label hold up under scrutiny?Ann Pegoraro, Lang Chair in Sport Management, Lang School of Business and Economics, University of GuelphFelix Arndt, John F. Wood Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652192021-07-30T16:59:04Z2021-07-30T16:59:04ZSimone Biles and Naomi Osaka put the focus on the importance of mental performance for Olympic athletes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413833/original/file-20210729-27-1o2sjg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C3032%2C1975&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Simone Biles’ sponsors, including Athleta and Visa, are lauding her decision to put her mental health first and withdraw from the gymnastics team competition during the Olympics. It’s the latest example of sponsors praising athletes who are increasingly open about mental health issues. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/simone-biles-and-naomi-osaka-put-the-focus-on-the-importance-of-mental-performance-for-olympic-athletes" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Tokyo Olympics will go down in history for many reasons. It was the first Olympics to be postponed, the first to be held in the midst of a pandemic and the first to be held without spectators.</p>
<p>But these Olympics will also be remembered for another first — the public airing of <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a37146642/simone-biles-naomi-osaka-olympics-loss-criticism-essay/">mental health challenges by two of the world’s biggest sports superstars</a>, gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka.</p>
<p>The Tokyo Olympics are not the first Games to face unique challenges.</p>
<p>Midway through the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/documentarychannel/features/terrorism-at-the-munich-olympic-games-how-an-event-four-decades-ago-has-a-l">1972 Olympics in Munich</a>, the athletes’ village was taken over by terrorists, resulting in 11 Israeli athletes being killed. Remarkably, after suspending the Games for only 24 hours, athletes returned to competition. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/08/02/90s-nineties-terrorism-centennial-olympic-park-bombing.cnn">1994 Atlanta Olympics</a>, a pipe bomb was detonated at the Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring 111 others. </p>
<p>And much like the Tokyo Olympics, the 1920 Antwerp Games were held on the heels of the influenza pandemic.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sardines-for-breakfast-hypothermia-rescues-the-story-of-the-cash-strapped-post-pandemic-1920-olympics-162246">Sardines for breakfast, hypothermia rescues: the story of the cash-strapped, post-pandemic 1920 Olympics</a>
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<p>When athletes rise to the occasion under difficult conditions, we say they are mentally tough — and we applaud them. But if they should fail to deliver an expected performance, we assume they have choked.</p>
<p>And yet, as we’ve seen with Biles and Osaka — two athletes who are the best in the world in their respective sports — none of us watching the Olympics can ever truly know what other additional or personal problems an athlete may be facing. </p>
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<img alt="Woman player crouched with a tennis racquet in one hand after returning a hit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413842/original/file-20210729-21-o5aenh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, who was favoured to win in Tokyo, was eliminated after losing in straight sets to the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova. Osaka has been open about her mental health struggles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</span></span>
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<p>It’s easy for athletes to perceive a greater burden to perform, to struggle with distinguishing their identity from their performances and, for a favoured athlete like Biles or Osaka, to feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.</p>
<p>In fact, few athletes can return to the Olympic Games and win again after winning in the previous Games.</p>
<p>In 1993, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-31617-001">researchers interviewed world champion athletes</a> and found that success resulted in greater demands for athletes, compromising future high-level performances unless they were able to control both the expectations they placed on themselves and the expectations of external demands like media, sponsors and public appearances.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-olympic-athletes-choke-at-the-winter-games-92018">Why Olympic athletes 'choke' at the Winter Games</a>
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<p>One of the many things that makes the Tokyo Olympics a unique Games is the absence of crowds. For some athletes, the presence of a crowd can help them get into an optimal performance state.</p>
<p>When I was competing for Canada in the high jump, I drew a lot of energy off the crowd — and consequently had better performances in a packed stadium. But if there were few fans in the stands, I had to really work on my mental game to perform well. </p>
<p>Other athletes, however, prefer the absence of a crowd because they can improve focus and keep their arousal level under control. </p>
<h2>Mental health and mental performance</h2>
<p>The demands on athletes at these Games have sparked a lot of discussions about mental health, but not so much about mental performance. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response">World Health Organization</a>, mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813415/pdf/10.1177_0706743715616609.pdf">mental health continuum</a> can span from being mentally healthy, to daily mental distresses, to mental health problems or mental illnesses. </p>
<p>We all experience daily mental distresses like failing at our jobs, pressures from school work or having a disagreement with someone close to us. When faced with these challenges, we are generally able to cope and adjust, and eventually return ourselves to a state of good mental health.</p>
<p>Mental health problem are moments in life when we are faced with substantial challenges that are difficult to manage — the loss of a loved one, a sexual assault or a divorce. These can be prolonged, but they are not a mental disorder. A <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness">mental illness</a> is a clinically diagnosed mental disorder like depression or bipolar disorder, resulting in distress or problems with functioning. </p>
<p>Mental performance is concerned with the psychology of sport performance, whereby optimal performance and the well-being of athletes are addressed using mental skills training.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Dealing with the terminal illness of his coach, Pete Sampras fights back tears at the 1995 Australian Open._</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sport psychology is integral</h2>
<p>The ultimate goal of mental skills training is self-regulation, meaning athletes understand the conditions that they perform at their best, the conditions where they don’t and how they are able to adapt and adjust themselves to be in a state for optimal performance.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1037/1089-2680.1.2.145?journalCode=rgpa">Research has shown</a> that when an individual’s self-esteem is threatened and they experience emotional distress, self-regulation and coping efforts can fail. </p>
<p>Mental skills training helps athletes effectively cope and return to a state of mental health quickly when they’re in mental distress. Athletes proficient in self-regulation can adapt and adjust themselves mentally when they are not in their desired mental state to still deliver a great performance.</p>
<p>Many athletes and coaches will work with a registered <a href="https://www.cspa-acps.com/">mental performance consultant</a> to develop these mental skills. But only over the last two decades, as sport began to really embrace mental training as an integral component in an integrated support team, has this practice become popular. </p>
<p>The problem with mental performance is that it is intangible. It’s easy to see physical improvements, like with strength training, but it’s much more difficult to see improvements in confidence or mental resilience.</p>
<p>While most athletes and coaches do acknowledge sport psychology as critical to performance, it often receives the least amount of attention in training. Mental skills have been found to be a defining factor that <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=82D85D4CACC1C385E575CB132FA503A2?doi=10.1.1.461.2209&rep=rep1&type=pdf">distinguishes successful Olympians from less successful Olympians</a>. </p>
<h2>Starting a conversation</h2>
<p>When athletes perform under pressure and deliver incredible performances, they are lauded as being mentally tough. However, if they struggle or choke under pressure, they may be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-australia-robbins-idUSSP34181920080501">called mentally weak</a>. </p>
<p>While we tend to be more accepting of someone battling mental health issues, we are less accepting of athletes battling mental performance issues. Both should be accepted and supported, as the Tokyo Games are illustrating.</p>
<p>Biles and Osaka have demonstrated to the world that only the athlete ever truly knows what is going on and only they are capable of making decisions that serves their best interests. Biles and Osaka have also assisted in encouraging discussions of mental health and mental performance. </p>
<p>While mental performance and mental health are not necessarily mutually exclusive, struggling with a mental performance does not automatically mean an athlete is having a mental health problem. It also doesn’t mean an athlete is mentally weak. </p>
<p>But one takeaway from these Olympics should be the importance of sport psychology. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, the father of self-actualization, estimated <a href="https://psycnet-apa-org.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/record/2013-21499-004">less than one per cent of the adult population</a> would ever realize their full potential.</p>
<p>As we explore the <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/8dbe0078-836e-5c4a-a4e3-49c07a5f207b/60f911e726930a00130eb7e1">human potential in sport</a>, it’s time to realize that mental training is just as important as physical training to achieve incredible performances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole W. Forrester does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two of the world’s top athletes have raised awareness of mental health issues on the Olympic stage. An Olympian explains why mental training can be as important as physical training.Nicole W. Forrester, Assistant Professor, School of Media, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653182021-07-30T02:32:21Z2021-07-30T02:32:21ZThe power of no: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Black women’s resistance<p>Simone Biles, the US gymnast widely considered “the greatest of all time”, withdrew from the Olympic finals this week, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57982665">saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have to focus on my mental health […] We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Biles joins other Black women like Naomi Osaka and Meghan Markle who have chosen to forgo medals, trophies and royalty to prioritise their mental well-being. </p>
<p>In a recent Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/28/simone-biles-naomi-osaka-great-refusal-no">article</a> about “the rise of the great refusal” author Casey Gerald argued “Biles did not simply quit. She <em>refused</em>”. </p>
<p>There is immense power in refusal. These women have awoken something in those of us who struggle to say “no” or who blindly serve institutions that do not have our best interest at heart. They challenge us to erect boundaries to protect our well-being.</p>
<p>Pressure to take on ever more work and ever more responsibility is familiar to many. But saying “no” can present unique difficulties for people from racially minoritised backgrounds.</p>
<p>Setting professional boundaries can be deeply challenging in the face of pressure, discrimination and adverse mental health impacts.</p>
<h2>Pressure to take on ever more work</h2>
<p>In academia, this pressure persists. Research by colleagues and I (Kathomi Gatwiri) shows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09518398.2019.1693068">academics from minoritised backgrounds</a> continue to have radically different experiences to their colleagues. We argue that academics from minoritised backgrounds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>are often expected to be grateful, likeable, and […] to provide extensive pastoral care so as to maintain student happiness. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>They are also exposed to more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2021.1890560?src=recsys">severe hostility and punishments</a> through flawed tools of measuring performance such as Student Evaluations of Teaching if they choose not to perform this extra labour.
This causes extended emotional overload for many teachers and can be especially damaging to their mental well-being.</p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315852164-10/cultural-taxation-commitment-service-predominantly-white-institutions-marjorie-shavers-yasmine-butler-james-moore-iii">have written</a> about the pressure of Black tenure-track academics “to engage in service activities that are not expected of their White counterparts” such as doing extra mentoring and joining more committees:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When Black faculty members face enormous requests for service, White colleagues often advise and encourage Black faculty to “just say no”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, just saying “no” does not always work to their best interest and can lead to institutional punishment, which can derail career progress.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1420815251587715083"}"></div></p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883941720306063?casa_token=qmnJd6BhyvAAAAAA:zc11Q733iqaFVgXGvzwMZqfMRktowkKigoYQMZF2eBIlKvjCHwmddf8-GJ34wfNek7xKH7HcSg">paper</a> which looked at how Black American women contend with the pressure to take on ever more responsibilities, noted “some women talked about the difficulty of saying no […] yet others talked about the empowerment of saying no.” One interviewee said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t know how to say no […] I feel I have an issue with saying no. I will spread myself like peanut butter out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our own research on the pressures faced by Black African professionals in the workplace in Australia, <a href="https://theconversation.com/battlegrounds-highly-skilled-black-african-professionals-on-racial-microaggressions-at-work-149169">participants</a> reported feeling the workplace was a site of constant surveillance and scrutiny, where they were often assumed to be “out of place”. This increases the burden of having to work “twice as hard” to prove themselves worthy, which can result in an inability to say “no” at work.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/battlegrounds-highly-skilled-black-african-professionals-on-racial-microaggressions-at-work-149169">Battlegrounds: highly skilled Black African professionals on racial microaggressions at work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The power of ‘no’</h2>
<p>Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the Olympics might, in retrospect, become one of her greatest achievement of all time. She has since received widespread support from those who view her decision as an incredibly powerful message for all who are burdened with societal pressures and expectations. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1420561448883802118"}"></div></p>
<p>Black and Indigenous peoples have engaged in the power and politics of <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609-1865/essays/slaveresist.htm">refusal and resistance</a> for centuries — a refusal to lend their bodies, time, expertise and talent to institutions that are violent and abusive. </p>
<p>In ordinary, everyday lives however, people who exercise this kind of resistance might be ostracised. They may lack the necessary support to bolster their decision to “opt out” or just rest. </p>
<p>Biles’ withdrawal came soon after three Black players on the England national football team were subjected to a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/12/racist-abuse-targeted-at-black-england-players-denounced-by-uks-boris-johnson-fa-and-prince-william/?sh=cce0a1a1b65f">torrent of extreme racial abuse</a> after the team’s loss at the recent Euro finals with Italy. </p>
<p>Many Black people reflected on social media they <em>already</em> knew that if they lost the game, the outcome would be racial abuse. And so the pressure to win, might be intensified by the fear of the resulting abuse if they lose. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1420798758124666885"}"></div></p>
<h2>Sport, pressure and abuse</h2>
<p>People’s discomfort with athletes expressing vulnerability or anything but <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/tokyo-olympics/tokyo-olympics-simone-biles-bailing-out-ignites-toxic-debate-in-us-about-what-is-strength-in-sports/articleshow/84833074.cms">toughness and strength</a> can influence the athletes’ complicity in their own harm. </p>
<p>Research by one of us (<a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.scu.edu.au/doi/full/10.1177/1012690215608517">McPherson and colleagues</a>) investigating the experiences of Australian children in elite sport showed more than 50% also reported negative experiences, including emotional and physical harm and sexual harassment. Emotional and physical abuse was enacted through racial vilification, humiliation, bullying, being shouted or sworn at, have things thrown at them or being told they were worthless or weak. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-abuse-is-rife-in-junior-sports-and-little-is-being-done-to-address-it-118589">Racial abuse is rife in junior sports – and little is being done to address it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/files/2018/04/Kids-of-Color-2016.pdf">research</a> has identified how various minoritised subpopulations of elite athletes, including those with disabilities or from racially minoritised backgrounds, may be more vulnerable to harm in sport.</p>
<h2>The liberation of ‘no’</h2>
<p>Biles’ refusal to compete citing mental health has resonated widely. </p>
<p>Many struggle to say “no” for a variety of reasons including fear of rejection, a feeling that saying “yes” is the safest option or feeling they will be construed as “rebellious” or “difficult” if they say “no”. Fear of disappointing others or feeling their reason for saying “no” is “not good enough” also plays a part.</p>
<p>Biles, Osaka and others may serve as inspiration. Practising the liberation of turning down invites, relationships, extra work and high pressure is part of maintaining good mental health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pressure to take on ever more high pressure work and ever more responsibility is familiar to many. But saying ‘no’ can be especially difficult for people from racially minoritised backgrounds.Kathomi Gatwiri PhD, Senior lecturer, Southern Cross UniversityLynne McPherson, Associate Professor, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652132021-07-29T17:40:10Z2021-07-29T17:40:10ZWhy women are owning the podium for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413902/original/file-20210730-15-15u6fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C34%2C5758%2C3375&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada’s Lisa Roman, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Christine Roper, Andrea Proske, Susanne Grainger, Madison Mailey, Sydney Payne, Avalon Wasteneys and Kristen Kit celebrate on the podium after winning the gold medal in women’s eight rowing competition at the Tokyo Olympics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld </span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-women-are-owning-the-podium-for-canada-at-the-tokyo-olympics" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Margaret Mac Neil. Kylie Masse. The women’s softball team. Maude Charron. The women’s 4x100-metre freestyle swimming team. Jennifer Abel and Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu. Jessica Klimkait. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens. Penny Oleksiak. The women’s eight rowing crew.</p>
<p>Canadian women are owning the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. But why?</p>
<p>One week into the Tokyo Olympics, Canada has won 11 medals — all by women. Swimmer Penny Oleksiak became Canada’s most decorated Summer Olympian when she won a silver and bronze in the pool this week to go along with a gold, two silvers and a bronze from the 2016 Rio Games.</p>
<p>Part of the story of the success by the Canadian women could be gender parity — Tokyo 2020 has been lauded as <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/tokyo-2020-first-ever-gender-balanced-games-record-number-of-competitors-para">the first gender-balanced Olympic Games in history</a>. Yet Canadian women also outperformed our men at Rio 2016 where they returned with 16 of 22 medals. Things have been more balanced in other recent Summer and Winter Olympics.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman holding a bouquet of flowers beams from behind a medical face mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413632/original/file-20210728-13-1fmd6om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Penny Oleksiak became the most decorated Canadian summer Olympian of all time with her bronze medal win in the women’s 200-meter freestyle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Only three Canadians have won four Olympic golds — women again: hockey legends Caroline Oulette, Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser. A total medal count puts Cindy Klassen, Clara Hughes and now Oleksiak at the top, with six each.</p>
<p>The emergence of Oleksiak, Wickenheiser, Klassen, Hughes and others, like soccer superstar Christine Sinclair, as household names speaks to the cultural impact of elite women’s sport in Canada. This is a good thing — for many reasons.</p>
<h2>Why we need this boost</h2>
<p>A 2020 Canadian Women in Sport <a href="https://womenandsport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Canadian-Women-Sport_The-Rally-Report.pdf">report found</a> that one in three girls will leave sport by age 16 compared to one in 10 boys. A 2021 <a href="https://womenandsport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/COVID-Alert-final-English-July-2021.pdf">followup report</a> lays bare yet another devastating gut punch to women’s well-being: one in four girls are not committed to return to sport post-pandemic. That means an additional 350,000 girls sitting on the sidelines. Seeing Canadian female athletes shine at the Olympics provides a much-needed morale boost.</p>
<p>Media coverage in Canada is rightly celebrating this female athlete success. The absence of male medallists — so far — while not a desirable outcome in itself, gives both young girls and boys the chance to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2014.997581">be inspired by female role models</a> succeeding at the highest level of sport.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman standing behind weightlifting barbell covers the lower half of her face, looking overcome with emotion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413635/original/file-20210728-27-x6677z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maude Charron won Canada’s second gold medal at the Tokyo Games in the women’s 64-kilogram weightlifting competition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, changing male perceptions of traditional gender roles <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-11235-001">could save lives</a>, according to a 2017 European study. Given a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10896-011-9375-3">startling 2017 finding</a> that unsupported female empowerment could actually increase rates of domestic violence, transforming boys and men into allies is vital. It may prove to play a key role in ending the so-called “<a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19">shadow pandemic</a>” of domestic violence that has raged throughout COVID-19 lockdowns.</p>
<h2>Sport is good – really good – for health</h2>
<p>Sport can provide mental and physical health benefits, social connection, confidence and leadership skills. It’s a big problem that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian-Janssen/publication/322295083_Physical_activity_of_Canadian_children_and_youth_2007_to_2015/links/5a5f5ab7aca27273524361a5/Physical-activity-of-Canadian-children-and-youth-2007-to-2015.pdf">only seven per cent of Canadian youth</a> are meeting national physical activity guidelines for health. Olympic inspiration can change that. </p>
<p>I should know. As a sedentary teenager in New Brunswick, I turned on the small TV in the convenience store where I worked and watched the Olympics for the first time. I saw rowing legends Silken Laumann, Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle winning medals for Canada.</p>
<p>It was the first time I made the connection between the exceptional performances I saw on TV with the rowers I watched drift serenely by each morning on the vast expanse that is the Saint John River. I suddenly realized Canadians were really good at this. Soon after, I joined a learn-to-row program and my own Olympic journey began.</p>
<p>In other words — you have to see it to be it.</p>
<h2>Why we must go further</h2>
<p>Women are finding their voices, now more than ever. We see it in the realization of gender parity for the first time at an Olympic Games, in the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/gymnastics/gymnastics-germany-unitards-sexualization-1.6116621">German Olympic gymnastics</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/norway-shorts-instead-of-bikini-handball-fine-1.6110921">Norwegian national beach handball</a> teams speaking out against hypersexualization by refusing to wear “regulation” uniforms in the face of financial sanctions, and in new mothers refusing to be separated from their nursing infants to attend the Olympics or standing up to skeptical sponsors who cut their funding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman in full unitard doing a split jump in midair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413636/original/file-20210728-19-13t2r04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The German gymnastics team wore full-legged unitards that went down to their ankles, eschewing the traditional bikini cut that ends high on the hip. The athletes said they were trying to combat the sexualization of young women and girls in their sport, which is trying to recover from a decades-long sexual abuse scandal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are all positive signs of a broader cultural shift in our collective perceptions of women in sport and society. Despite these major strides — equal representation, autonomy of clothing choice, freedom to have a family and compete — women remain underfunded and underrepresented in sport policy, sport science <a href="https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-019-0224-x">and sport medicine</a>.</p>
<p>With so many women in the limelight like never before, it’s time for policy-makers, clinicians, sport scientists and researchers to step up and meet the challenge of not only keeping our Canadian women on the podium, but ensuring that all Canadian athletes are fairly reflected in sport policy, science and medicine. </p>
<p>The tension is building — and it’s good. Canadian women are defying the rules of age, motherhood and funding. Now it’s time we ensure women enjoy the same fundamental supports as men in every way.</p>
<p>Soak it in. Celebrate it. Promote it. Lifting up Canadian women’s success in sport bodes well not only for our future generations of athletes, but for our nation as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Thornton receives funding as a Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health. She receives an honorarium as Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></em></p>Canadian women’s success at the Tokyo Games bodes well not only for our future generations of athletes, but for our nation as a whole.Jane Thornton, Clinician Scientist, Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health, Sport Medicine Physician, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651422021-07-29T12:16:38Z2021-07-29T12:16:38ZThe politics of the Olympics: How a counter-movement in 1963 changed the Games forever<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413573/original/file-20210728-13-izw15r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2384%2C1349&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo banned all athletes who took part in a counter-competition a year earlier called the Games of the New Emerging Forces, which were dubbed the left-wing Olympics </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-politics-of-the-olympics--how-a-counter-movement-in-1963-changed-the-games-forever" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Olympic Charter states one of the fundamental principles of Olympism is that “<a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf?_ga=2.207253267.1863595436.1627389884-1889120417.1624282455">sports organizations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality</a>.” In reality, the Olympics and politics are inseparable — and a movement in Asia almost 60 years ago has had a lasting impact on how the Olympics have become heavily politicized. </p>
<p>In the 1960s, some 36 countries embraced a new counter-Olympics: <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26549192">GANEFO, the Games of the New Emerging Forces</a>. GANEFO formed to challenge the International Olympic Committee, “a tool of the imperialists and colonialists,” in the words of then Indonesian president Sukarno. After GANEFO, the IOC was forced to accept that sports were often political. There was no going back. </p>
<p>GANEFO presented the IOC with an unprecedented challenge. “Sports cannot be separated from politics,” Sukarno declared. <a href="https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/40898/the-olympic-movement-s-response-to-the-challenge-of-emerging-nationalism-in-sport-an-historical-reco?_lg=en-GB">IOC President Avery Brundage deplored</a> this “challenge to all international amateur sports organizations, which cannot very well be ignored.” There was “such a thing as rules and regulations,” he sniffed. </p>
<p>GANEFO, not the <a href="https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/tokyo-1964">Tokyo Olympics of 1964</a>, was the first major global sporting event held in Asia. While Japan threw a “coming out” party that symbolized its return to the global stage after the Second World War as a rules-abiding country, Indonesia and its GANEFO allies (initially Cambodia, China, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Mali, Pakistan, Vietnam, and the Soviet Union) rejected the rules of the game. </p>
<p>GANEFO posed a new way for the world to organize and understand global sports. Its origins lie in the Asian Games, a regional competition held every four years between the Summer Olympics.</p>
<p>Eleven national teams took part in the <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/1951-first-asian-games-in-india/285751">first Asian Games</a> in 1951, with Japan topping the medal count. The host, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=JWmHDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">identified a very political goal</a>: sports “bring together the youth of many countries and thus help, to some extent, in promoting international friendship and cooperation.” Subsequent Asian Games in Manila and Tokyo embraced Olympian language of friendly competition along with promotion of the host country’s global role. </p>
<p>That changed when the <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1068999/controversy-ruled-the-last-time-jakarta-hosted-the-asian-games-in-1962">Third Asian Games</a> opened in Indonesia in 1962. Sukarno’s government refused admission to Israel and Taiwan in response to the wishes of the Arab states and China. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A poster showing an arm holding a torch with GAMEFO at the top of the poster." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413403/original/file-20210727-19-1sx10qp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster from the 1963 Games of the New Emerging Forces.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consequently, the IOC refused to recognize the Games. With athletes and national delegations already in Jakarta, they went ahead regardless. Hometown fans thrilled at the sight of Indonesia finishing second to Japan in the medal count. The IOC expelled Indonesia. </p>
<p>Brundage was furious. “Are governments going to expand the Cold War onto playing fields?” he asked. Sukarno shot back that the IOC was already political, a Cold War organization that excluded China and North Vietnam because both were under Communist rule. </p>
<p>That was when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26549192">Sukarno called the IOC</a> “a tool of the imperialists and colonialists” that betrayed the founding Olympics ideals and falsely claimed to keep sports and politics separate, while in fact imposing an anti-Communist purity test. So he called for another sporting event, GANEFO, in 1963. </p>
<p>It was, he argued, a way to even the playing field for the athletes and aspirations of Third World nations, and a chance for Indonesia to use sports as a way to build national infrastructure and national swagger. “Boy, what kind of a nation do they think we are?” Sukarno asked of the IOC. “I have repeatedly said that we are not a bean-cake nation!” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cartoon that shows a steam roller chasing members of the IOC." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413406/original/file-20210727-13-zf3azw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Indonesian political cartoon shows the conflict between the organizers of GANEFO and the International Olympic Committee.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Opinions differ on the GANEFO’s success. Most athletes came unofficially, and the event featured almost as many dancers and musicians as athletes. China led the Soviet Union and Indonesia atop the medal table. What GANEFO did achieve, however, was its goal of nation-building through sports. </p>
<p>Indonesia did not prevail in its challenge, but it did not suffer any damage. It gained readmission to the IOC in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics — but <a href="http://www.olympedia.org/definitions/57">chose to boycott the Games</a> after the IOC refused to allow athletes who competed at GANEFO to take part in the ’64 Olympics.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the rules of global sports were changing. It would be difficult to pretend that international sports were apolitical after this point. </p>
<p>The IOC <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/18/newsid_3547000/3547872.stm">barred South Africa</a> from the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and sports <a href="https://www.universal-rights.org/by-invitation/from-apartheid-south-africa-to-the-euro-2020-football-championship-how-sport-and-human-rights-make-for-natural-teammates/">boycotts of South Africa</a> played a role in mounting global pressure to end apartheid.</p>
<p>The Olympics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/england-v-south-africa-a-history-of-tough-tackling-and-political-turmoil-126148">rugby and other sports</a> would become arenas of international political confrontation and boycotts on a regular basis, nearly derailing, for instance, the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/sports/montreal-olympics-african-boycott-of-1976-games-changed-the-world">1976 Olympics</a> in Montréal. Indigenous peoples continually point out the troubles with “apolitical” framing of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.46.2.0224">Winter Olympics held in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Organizers awarded the second GANEFO to Egypt, but had to cancel the event as war with Israel loomed. Instead, Cambodia hosted an “Asian GANEFO” in 1966. The <a href="https://youtu.be/sTbZOPFnXqI">opening ceremonies</a> attempted to evoke the same nation-building efforts as Indonesia’s GANEFO.</p>
<p>With the end of this last hurrah, GANEFO faded from the scene. One can see its legacy, however, in the way that Third World governments would subsequently use sports as one avenue to pursue international political goals. In this sense, GANEFO won the day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Webster does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Olympics claim not to be political, but in the 1960s a counter movement organized by left-leaning countries put politics front and centre.David Webster, Associate Professor of History / Professeur Agrégé, Département d’Histoire, Bishop's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1648752021-07-28T14:40:22Z2021-07-28T14:40:22Z3,600 microphones and counting: how the sound of the Olympics is created<p>The modern-era Olympics are among the largest sporting events in the world – but relatively few people actually get to watch the action live and in person. So the four-yearly Games have proved to be an important driver for <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=17606">audiovisual progress</a>.</p>
<p>The Tokyo 1964 Games were the first to be <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/legacy/tokyo-1964/technological-innovations-at-the-olympic-games-tokyo-1964">broadcast internationally</a>. More than 14 hours of black and white footage was transmitted to the first geostationary satellite and, from there, to 23 countries around the world. </p>
<p>The Syncom 3 satellite had been launched only <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-047A">two months prior</a>, which made the broadcast a remarkable achievement. But the challenges didn’t stop there. </p>
<p>In late 1963, acoustics experts in Tokyo had discovered that the sound system at the new Yoyogi National Stadium had <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=1199">major issues</a>. The main stand was covered by architect Kenzo Tange’s sweeping tent-like roof which – although an instant architectural classic – proved a headache for sound designers. The canopy reflected the sound beneath it, creating a low-pitched boom. Delays from the speakers meant that people’s amplified voices were almost unintelligible at the back of the stadium. And the speakers themselves had a very limited frequency response, eliminating almost everything that was outside of the range of the adult human voice.</p>
<h2>Olympic sound design</h2>
<p>The Tokyo 1964 opening ceremony involved more than 900 musicians and singers. To amplify the music, 20 microphones were placed around the band and performers. Delays were introduced to the speakers so that the audience in the stadium heard the sound in time with what they saw happening further away on the field. Pre-recorded sound effects, such as the ringing of Japanese temple bells, were mixed in with live sounds for radio and TV broadcast. </p>
<p>The set up had its limitations. Microphones were required at useful locations – the ceremonial platform, the royal box, the orchestra, the control room – in order to pick up interviews and announcements. But these microphones were fixed in place. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JOIYgXzMSC4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The opening ceremony of the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That meant, among other things, that there were restrictions on speaker placements and levels, too, in order to avoid the howling sound loops of <a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/preventing-acoustic-feedback-stage">acoustic feedback</a>, which happen when a microphone placed too near to a speaker picks up too much of its own sound output being amplified and played back.</p>
<p>As the audiences for subsequent Olympics have grown, we’ve gone from wanting to hear the action, to wanting to feel as if we’re in the front row, to now wanting to feel as if we’re in the <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/2018/02/20/live-from-pyeongchang-karl-malone-nbcs-director-of-sound-design-on-the-2018-games/">middle of the action</a>. And each innovation at one Olympics has become the baseline expectation for the next one.</p>
<p>At the 1984 summer Games, sound engineers pioneered <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=11606">acoustic simulation</a> to model the acoustics of the main venue, the <a href="https://www.lacoliseum.com/coliseum-history/">Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum</a>, which was then used to predict sound characteristics everywhere in the stadium. This led to advanced modelling of the acoustic properties of <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=4632">every venue</a> at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Seoul. </p>
<p>Sydney 2000 saw the introduction of <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=9962">Digital audio networking</a>, the <a href="https://www.systemsintegrationasia.com/tech-talk-what-is-audio-networking/">transmission of high-quality uncompressed audio</a> over the internet without significant losses or delays – a new technology at the time. Now it can be found in studios, music venues, schools and meeting centres all over the world. </p>
<h2>Sound in COVID times</h2>
<p>COVID has completely changed Olympic sound design. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-the-ancient-greeks-think-of-an-olympics-with-no-fans-164038">lack of spectators</a> means that the roar of the crowd is entirely absent. This alters the acoustics of the space. Sound echoes around a stadium <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/acoustics-in-architecture/">very differently</a> when there are no bodies and clothing to absorb the sound. And with relative silence compared to the constant high volume of tens of thousands of people, we end up hearing cicadas buzzing, lights humming and camera shutters clicking.</p>
<p>This is addressed partly by <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/psychologylse/2021/01/28/the-psychology-of-fake-crowd-noise/">fake crowd noise</a>. Customised recordings of cheering at similar events at previous Olympics are being played out of the speakers around the stadium. </p>
<p>Many sports broadcasters have also been overlaying what they call an <a href="https://talksport.com/football/717733/will-they-have-fake-noise-crowd-in-premier-league-stadiums/">audio carpet</a>, which is ambient sound of a full stadium when there is no action taking place. But canned crowd noise comes with challenges of its own as it clashes completely with the visuals of empty seats. </p>
<p>From a sound design perspective, however, having empty stadiums is not all bad. Sometimes, it’s just different. Microphones are still placed very close to a sound source to capture just that sound. And with even less background noise, these spot mics are able to better capture impact sounds – the crack, slap and thump associated with rackets, wheels, bodies and earth colliding. We can hear more clearly the coaching on the sidelines and the shouting between players on a team. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that we <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003682X14000802/pdfft?casa_token=JmRELbd9LGIAAAAA:1i2wXVVJZaYR5po3jTfC20SzEQc8eX-LiUC7cEWtOTSLE1ghYz5pUWXGMkdr3_Oa11MgegY&md5=f83ef0a9ad5632f913d4735df4fd40f9&pid=1-s2.0-S0003682X14000802-main.pdf">expect such sounds</a> to be present in a believable sound scene. The lack of such nuances can affect how <a href="https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/%7Ejosh/documents/2018/Moffat%20ACM%20TAP%20-%202018.pdf">realistic</a> we perceive a recording to be. </p>
<p>New methods for capturing, rendering and even enhancing the sounds of Tokyo 2020 had specialists <a href="https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/post-and-broadcast/immersive-audio-at-the-tokyo-2020-olympics">excited</a> well before COVID hit. <a href="https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/olympic-games-to-debut-immersive-sound">More than ever before</a>, these Olympics are being delivered in what is known as <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/12/05/tech-focus-immersive-sound-part-1-the-technology-is-increasingly-integrated-into-broadcast-sports/">immersive audio</a>. </p>
<p>Microphones – <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/07/23/obs-audio-for-the-tokyo-olympics-to-feature-immersive-sound-augmented-crowd-noise/">3,600 of them</a> – have been deployed all over, hung from closed-venue ceilings, embedded in rock-climbing walls and placed on waterpolo goalposts. The variety of sounds they capture are mixed and broadcast in such a way that viewers hear what the athletes might hear and more. </p>
<p>The Olympics are, once again, at the forefront of sound design innovation. As Nuno Duarte, senior manager of audio for the Olympic Broadcasting Services <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/07/23/obs-audio-for-the-tokyo-olympics-to-feature-immersive-sound-augmented-crowd-noise/">recently put it</a>: “We don’t see problems; we see challenges, and we also see opportunities.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Reiss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Audiovisual innovation at the Olympics has gone from documenting the event to placing the viewer in the heat of the actionJoshua Reiss, Professor, Queen Mary University of London / Co-founder, Nemisindo, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1636232021-07-27T12:25:43Z2021-07-27T12:25:43ZRecord-setting performances at the Tokyo Olympics come after months of pandemic-induced stress<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413204/original/file-20210726-27-b9urys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C4757%2C3064&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada's Margaret Mac Neil swims to a gold medal in the women's 100 metre butterfly final during at the Tokyo Olympics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn </span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/record-setting-performances-at-the-tokyo-olympics-come-after-months-of-pandemic-induced-stress" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The first week of the Tokyo Olympics has already produced some incredible athletic performances — Maggie Mac Neil <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/aquatics/swimming/olympics-swimming-day-3-finals-heroux-1.6116932">won a gold medal for Canada</a> in the 100-metre butterfly and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/article-canadas-catherine-beauchemin-pinard-wins-canadas-second-judo-bronze/">Canadian women have made the medal podium for the first time in judo</a> — at a competition that has presented unprecedented challenges for all Olympians.</p>
<p>Much has been made about the lack of spectators at these pandemic Olympics, as well as the dangers of putting thousands of athletes together in close proximity while Tokyo is under a state of emergency because of COVID-19 transmission concerns. But there have been other challenges facing the athletes that may not be apparent.</p>
<p>As someone who competed at the 1984 Summer Games, I understand the preparation that’s needed to make it to the Olympics — and the pressure to perform once you get there. But what makes these Olympics more remarkable is the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on athletes over the last 18 months — not just on their physical training, but their mental well-being as well.</p>
<h2>Anxiety and uncertainty</h2>
<p>The sense of uncertainty and the unforeseeable future because of the pandemic has contributed to significant psychological distress in athletes. <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/a327df7798a0b17e5ccda2433b703fb9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=27519">Elite athletes reported</a> uncertainty about their future, decreased income, modified university teaching procedures, unavailable facilities and cancelled competition as the leading psychological stressors.</p>
<p>Clarisse Agbegnenou of France, a silver medallist in judo at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/how-has-covid-19-affected-the-mental-health-of-athletes">told Eurosport</a>: “The uncertainty about when we will be able to train and compete is very difficult to handle….I like to schedule things in advance. Being in the fog really turned me down.” In the same article, sport psychologist Makis Chamalidis said the combination of social isolation and anxiety led to feelings of withdrawal and depression in athletes.</p>
<p>A report by <a href="https://www.fifpro.org/en/health/coronavirus-covid-19-page/coronavirus-shutdown-sharp-rise-in-players-reporting-depression-symptoms">FIFPro, the organization that represents 65,000 professional footballers</a>, found that anxiety and depressive symptoms in footballers had doubled since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2020. The leading contributing factor was worry over one’s future in football. </p>
<p>Other factors, like being housebound with minimal training equipment, having no time frame for returning to their sport and social isolation, resulted in many athletes expressing their anxiety and stress online and in interviews.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard raises her right fist in victory while her opponent is on the mat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413340/original/file-20210727-19-15fxy2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, right, of Canada reacts after defeating Anriquelis Barrios of Venezuela to win the bronze medal in the women’s judo 63kg competition at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7201218/">increased emotional distress</a> has been correlated with the lack of communication and support from coaches, fans, media and others. In fact, during the pandemic, sports psychologists reported increased demands for online counselling, in addition to increased diagnoses of psychological disorders among athletes.</p>
<h2>Time is crucial to athletes’ careers</h2>
<p>The postponement or cancellation of seasons and qualifying events <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1941738120918876">resulted in</a> “significant grief, stress, anxiety, and sadness” in athletes. </p>
<p>Sport’Aide, a <a href="https://sportaide.ca/en/home/">non-profit organization</a> aiming to eliminate violence and abuse in sports that affect young athletes, notes that time is crucial to athletes’ careers. The majority only compete in one Olympic Games and it’s highly unlikely for athletes to compete past the age of 40. The postponement of the Olympic Games can have <a href="https://sportaide.ca/en/blog/2020/03/27/little-known-consequences-of-covid-19-on-athletes/">dire consequences</a> for athletes given the limited longevity of an athlete’s career.</p>
<p><a href="https://sportaide.ca/en/blog/2020/03/27/little-known-consequences-of-covid-19-on-athletes/">Sport’Aide found</a>) that the sudden free time, isolation and increased levels of inactivity, in addition to the feelings of disappointment and uncertainty regarding the postponement of the Games, caused anxiety, psychological distress and depressive symptoms in athletes.</p>
<p>The athletes attributed the lack of physical activity during quarantine as the main reason for the decline in mental well-being. Furthermore, since Olympic athletes spend the majority of the time training, the decrease in physical activity may have led to a deficit in dopamine and endorphins, resulting in diminished feelings of pleasure and happiness.</p>
<h2>Coping mechanisms</h2>
<p>Each athlete responded to the pandemic differently, determined mostly by each individual’s resilience and coping methods.</p>
<p>Initially, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1612197X.2020.1754616">it was found</a> that mental-health professionals working with athletes encouraged them to seek support from family and friends. Doing so improved things such as healthy living, eating, sleeping and reflective thinking. </p>
<p>After the official postponement of the Olympic Games, as athletes felt that all their hard work and planning became uncertain, recommendations changed to encourage athletes to work on strengthening their existing weaknesses.</p>
<p>Interventions such as mindfulness, goal-setting and reframing were encouraged through video and teleconsulting means. However, not all athletes could make use of these suggestions because some didn’t have the necessary support. As a result, some athletes became inactive and directionless and suffered from substantial psychological stress.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two divers are about to enter the water simultaneously." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413212/original/file-20210726-21-1tmnkc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini Beaulieu of Canada compete during their silver medal performance in women’s synchronized 3-metre springboard diving at the Tokyo Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One study found that <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8385">social media can promote wellness</a> by spreading positive messages, encouraging healthy behaviours at home and encouraging athletes to connect with family, friends and coaches virtually. But there are also downsides. In particular, there has been a lot of negative news coverage of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7219846/">resulting in negative emotions</a>, poor sleep and mental distress. </p>
<h2>Finances and funding</h2>
<p>Olympic athletes train non-stop for four years before competing in the Olympic Games. Usually, athletes split up their funding over those four years, but the postponement of the Tokyo Games put many athletes <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/the-price-of-delaying-the-olympic-dream-the-cost-of-wildfires-and-why-we-re-hoarding-cash-1.5661507/olympics-delayed-means-finances-frayed-for-many-athletes-1.5661556">in a difficult financial situation</a>, resulting in many of them being short one year of funding. </p>
<p>It’s a common misconception that Olympic athletes are financially well off. The truth is that <a href="http://vocatio.com/2018/02/21/the-olympics-is-a-side-gig-these-olympians-have-day-jobs/">most Olympians do not have sufficient financial support</a> and find themselves working side jobs.</p>
<p>So as we all continue to watch and cheer for those competing in Tokyo, keep in mind what these athletes have had to endure over the last 18 months just to make it to these unique Olympic Games.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Schneider receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>The past 18 months have tested the mental and physical limits of Olympic athletes in their pursuit of the Tokyo Games. That’s what makes the performances during these Olympics even more remarkable.Angela Schneider, Director, The International Centre for Olympic Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1618832021-07-25T19:57:04Z2021-07-25T19:57:04Z‘Girls please stay in the kitchen’ — as skateboarding debuts at the Olympics, beware of the lurking misogyny<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412578/original/file-20210722-25-cil5nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keith Birmingham/AP/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut this year at the Tokyo Games. </p>
<p>The women’s and men’s competitions will both involve park and street events. In each, athletes perform optional skill sets within a time limit and are judged based on the combined difficulty and execution shown, similar to diving or gymnastics. </p>
<p>Skateboarding has been included <a href="https://olympics.com/en/sports/skateboarding/">at Tokyo</a> for the first time as part of a bid to make the games “more youthful, more urban [and] include more women”.</p>
<p>But gender equality in sports is not as simple as just scheduling a women’s competition. </p>
<p>My research suggests female athletes in Tokyo are likely to cop sexist abuse online, especially if they are competing in traditionally male events. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alt-goes-mainstream-how-surfing-skateboarding-bmx-and-sport-climbing-became-olympic-events-164158">Alt goes mainstream: how surfing, skateboarding, BMX and sport climbing became Olympic events</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>My research</h2>
<p>In my recently published <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XA3MGPJWNHQXHGA6ZAQD/full">research</a>, I examined nearly 4,000 comments posted to YouTube about women’s skateboarding competitions. The comments were collected from 14 competition live streams, from 2017 to the end of 2019. The competitions selected were high-profile skateboarding events with large prizes. </p>
<p>Given that YouTube comments can be added, edited or removed at any time, all comments were extracted at the beginning of the study to create a stable data set.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PpDJVGx0yqE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How Olympic skateboarding works.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Welcome to womanhoodsville’</h2>
<p>Of the comments examined, 17% of those made on street skating competitions contained misogyny or abuse. While <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16138171.2018.1452870">recent studies</a> have found sportswomen to be individual targets of online abuse, I also found frequent gender discrimination targeting women skaters collectively. This was often expressed through gendered gate-keeping of both skateboarding and sport. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Girls, please stay in the kitchen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many comments used aggressive language that dehumanised and sexualised women.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Give the bitches armor [sic] so they don’t skate like pussies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There were also frequent anti-feminist sentiments posted, suggesting women were being granted a free ride for the sake of equality. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Welcome to womanhoodsville, where you get 1000x the attention with a 1000th of the effort.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interestingly — and disturbingly — some of the abusive comments we observed seemed to suggest women’s inclusion comes at the cost of men. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>These hoe’s [sic] should be greatful [sic] that men did all the work so they can just go around doing flatground kickflips and missing 5050s for $20,000.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Dude culture</h2>
<p>Despite women’s sustained participation, skateboarding has long been perceived as a “dude” culture. The new TV series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/29/betty-review-hbo-female-skateboarders-freewheeling-comedy">Betty</a>, based on its actors’ real-life experiences, highlights the macho monopolisation of skate spaces. As creator Crystal Moselle <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/1008304555/hbos-betty-highlights-the-lives-of-women-skateboarders-during-the-pandemic">explains</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] skateboarding for so long has been set up as a male sport. So even just, like, going to the store to set up a board is intimidating. It’s a lot of intimidation.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman competes in a pre-Olympic skateboarding competition." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412579/original/file-20210722-13-1jbjsvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women have had to fight to be included in elite skateboarding events.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riccardo Antimiani /EPA/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women have also had to fight for competitive opportunities, including the sport’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/12/billie-jean-king-tennis-equality-battle-of-the-sexes">Billie Jean King moment</a>”, when women threatened to boycott the 2005 X Games to gain better access to practice time, coverage and prize money. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, some major skate events have only recently included <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dew-tour-adds-womens-skateboard-street-and-park-competitions-to-its-summer-event-300639546.html">full women’s programs</a> in the course of becoming Olympic qualifying competitions.</p>
<h2>Beyond skateboarding</h2>
<p>This is not just a skateboarding problem, unfortunately. There is a wider problem with misogyny in sport. The uninhibited online abuse we observed is similar to the explosion of sexist commentary that occurred around the formation of the women’s AFL league. </p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-20/tayla-harris-felt-sexually-abused-aflw-photo-trolls-seven/10919008">trolls</a> flocked to an image of AFL player Tayla Harris kicking a football. The following year, the Herald Sun <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/aflw/the-herald-sun-explains-its-decision-to-close-comments-on-afl-womens-stories/news-story/8a07790b3de1e21eba7b2325ea7a0371">attributed</a> their decision to close comments on their coverage to “constant trolling, harassment and disgraceful commentary”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1107933757976117249"}"></div></p>
<p>And of course, sadly, it’s not just athletes — women working in sports journalism <a href="https://www.genvic.org.au/media-releases/the-horrendous-online-abuse-a-female-sports-journalist-received-highlights-dangers-of-media-that-must-change/">face this, too</a>. This year, American sports writer Julie DiCaro published a book, <a href="https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/april-2021/julie-dicaro-sidelined/">Sidelined</a>, about the online vitriol experienced by women working in the field. </p>
<h2>Online abuse is everywhere</h2>
<p>Since this research was undertaken, the vilest comments have been slowly removed from the streams. But this is not enough — online abuse of women is <a href="https://www.plan.org.au/media-centre/social-media-new-frontier-for-gendered-violence-as/">ubiquitous</a>. </p>
<p>And while moderation can remove comments calling women skaters “a bunch of broken dishwashers” or a viewer’s bucket list of sexual acts they’d like an athlete to perform, it can’t change attitudes to women’s participation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tokyo-olympics-are-supposed-to-be-a-landmark-in-gender-equality-are-the-games-really-a-win-for-women-164234">The Tokyo Olympics are supposed to be a 'landmark in gender equality' — are the Games really a win for women?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Abusive, sexist language posted on online spaces where the sport is now consumed by global audiences may also shape perceptions of skateboarding as neither inclusive nor safe for women. And this occurs at a moment when women skaters are poised to become more visible than ever, providing opportunity to inspire further growth at the grassroots level.</p>
<p>My research is yet another example of how social media can reveal the deep entrenchment of misogyny in a society where women are still seen as interlopers and threats to certain areas of public life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161883/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brigid McCarthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo but research shows female athletes are likely to cop abuse online when the competition starts.Brigid McCarthy, Lecturer in Journalism, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646902021-07-23T12:15:09Z2021-07-23T12:15:09ZSurfing makes its Olympic debut – and the waves should be world-class thanks to wind, sand and a typhoon or two<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412283/original/file-20210720-21-1gy3edx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=523%2C0%2C2726%2C2418&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hawaiian surfer John John Florence, seen here competing in Portugal, is one of the favorites to win surfing's first Olympic gold. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PortugalSurf/28db9b5fff044e9186c7db8caa8d855f/photo?Query=surfing%20john%20florence&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=18&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Francisco Seco</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time, <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/surfing/">surfing is on the Olympic stage</a>. </p>
<p>The surfing event will last for three days and has to run within the dates <a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/surfing/">from July 25 to August 1</a>. The reason for this window? Not all waves are created equal, and organizers and surfers will wait for the best day full of the best waves to hold the competition.</p>
<p>As a recreational surfer and <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=6cf46554ff6936fa51d9e22d0414e63798a5c4a1">physical oceanographer</a>, I spend a lot of time thinking about waves. But for many people, this year’s Olympics will be their first time watching the sport. They might be wondering: </p>
<p>What generates the waves that surfers will ride at the Olympics? Where do the waves come from? And why will the new Olympians be surfing at Tsurigasaki Beach?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Lines of waves out to sea with a surfer in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412285/original/file-20210720-13-zkr21h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winds create waves that organize into an evenly spaced swell before breaking on shore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/localsurfer/466383547/in/photolist-bFG8Wn-bqWsc-nYKNvM-qkQpqu-7zJw3K-NHDsdt-2kH5rnb-En7DLm-7zPz51-9oqKbr-adansm-ad7y6H-adamqf-dbdGGh-HdkzD-ad7x9r-2icyHFN-dd2HhH-TTfUEC-dbdNFC-dd2He2-dd2HKd-dbdKMn-adan9d-2kybhqL-fqxGi3-2kvamns-77s3b3-dbdKCZ-fjaWba-dbdNLQ-EFEm8-ztEds-5wsctT-6iVhC7-vCNim-zy8vx">Jon Bowen/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wind creates waves</h2>
<p>Think for a few seconds about what happens when you throw a stone into a serene pond. It creates a ring of waves – depressions and elevations of the water’s surface – that spread out from the center.</p>
<p>Waves in the ocean act similarly by propagating outward from where they are generated. The key difference is that the vast majority of ocean waves are formed by wind. As the wind blows over the surface of the water, some of the energy of the wind is transferred into the water, creating waves. The biggest and most powerful wind-generated waves are produced by <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00361">strong storms</a> that blow for a sustained period of time over a large area of the ocean. </p>
<p>The waves within a storm are usually messy and chaotic, but as they move away from the storm they grow more organized as faster waves outrun slower waves. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1948.0005">organization of the waves</a> creates “swell,” or regularly spaced lines of waves. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sunrise over a beach with a Japanese arch in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412288/original/file-20210720-15-1ja01o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surfers will be competing at Tsurigasaki Beach on the east coast of Japan, where the waves break on sandbars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E9%87%A3%E3%83%B6%E5%B4%8E%E6%B5%B7%E5%B2%B8%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E6%9C%9B%E3%82%80%E6%9D%B1%E6%B5%AA%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%AE%E9%B3%A5%E5%B1%85.jpg#/media/File:%E9%87%A3%E3%83%B6%E5%B4%8E%E6%B5%B7%E5%B2%B8%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E6%9C%9B%E3%82%80%E6%9D%B1%E6%B5%AA%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%AE%E9%B3%A5%E5%B1%85.jpg">Pullwell/WikimediaCommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Seafloors break waves</h2>
<p>As waves travel across the ocean, they don’t actually bring water with them – a wave from a storm 1,000 miles away isn’t made of water from 1,000 miles away. Waves are actually just energy moving from water molecule to water molecule. This energy doesn’t just move through the top layer of the ocean, either. Ocean waves extend far below the surface, sometimes as deep as 500 feet. When waves move into shallower water close to shore, they start to “feel” the seafloor as it pulls and drags on them, slowing them down. As seafloor gets shallower, it pushes upwards against the bottoms of waves, but the energy has to go somewhere, so the waves grow taller.</p>
<p>As the waves move toward shore, the water gets ever more shallow and the waves keep growing until, eventually, they <a href="https://youtu.be/5nCcE-jABSo">become unstable and the wave “breaks”</a> as the crest spills over toward shore.</p>
<p>It is only here, after a wave has traveled perhaps thousands of miles, that the surfing starts. To catch a wave, a surfer paddles toward shore until their speed matches that of the wave. As soon as the wave starts to break, the surfer stands up quickly and maneuvers the surf board with their feet and weight to ride the wave just ahead of the crashing lip. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the Earth showing blue to red lines with a dense red area south of Japan and east of China." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412269/original/file-20210720-17-osib4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This map shows the tracks of all the tropical storms, typhoons and hurricanes that formed from 1945 to 2006. Note the hot spot of frequent, powerful storms south of Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tropical_cyclones_1945_2006_wikicolor.png#/media/File:Tropical_cyclones_1945_2006_wikicolor.png">Citynoise/WikimediaCommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Waves at the Olympics</h2>
<p>The waves that surfers ride at Tsurigasaki Beach for the Olympics will be generated from one of two different types of wind: trade winds and typhoons. </p>
<p>Trade winds consistently blow around 11 to 15 mph (18 to 24 kph) in a band that stretches across the Pacific Ocean from approximately Mexico to the Philippines. These winds generate small “trade swells” that propagate northward toward the east coast of Japan and are usually <a href="https://magicseaweed.com/Shidashita-Surf-Report/2802/Historic/">a few feet tall when they arrive</a>.</p>
<p>But if the surfers and spectators are lucky, a typhoon with wind speeds greater than 74 mph (119 kph) will be supplying powerful waves for the event. Typhoons are what hurricanes are called in much of Asia and are common near Japan and China during summer and fall. Winds in a typhoon are much stronger than the trade winds. Therefore, they generate much bigger waves. Olympic surfers obviously do not want a typhoon to hit Japan. What they want is for a typhoon to form about 500 to 1,500 miles (800 to 2,400 km) to the southeast of Japan and generate big waves that will hit the coast of Japan after traveling across the ocean for one to three days.</p>
<p>Based on the current weather and surf forecasts, it looks like just such a situation will happen. As of July 22, 2021, weather models are predicting that a tropical cyclone or typhoon will <a href="https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/surf-forecast-tokyo-2020-olympics-tropical-cyclone-swell/126332">almost certainly develop</a> to the southeast of Japan over the next few days, and the winds from this storm will send a powerful swell to the Olympics. Currently, models are predicting that the waves <a href="https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/surf-forecast-tokyo-2020-olympics-tropical-cyclone-swell/126332">could be 7 feet (2.1 m) at Tsurigasaki Beach</a>, just in time for the surfing event to start.</p>
<p>Once the swell from the trade winds or a far-off typhoon reaches Tsurigasaki Beach, it is the seafloor that will determine where the waves break. Tsurigasaki Beach is a “beach break,” which means that the seafloor is sand, rather than rocks or coral reef. There are a series of human-made rock walls, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/groins-and-jetties.htm">called groins</a>, sticking out perpendicularly from the beach. These have been engineered to prevent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784400890.097">sand from moving along the beach</a> and are meant to slow erosion. These groins <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article/42/2/401/96528/Coastal-processes-and-nearshore-sand-bars">create shallow sandbars a few hundred yards from shore</a> that incoming waves will break on. This is where the athletes will surf.</p>
<p>When you tune in to watch the surfing competition at the Olympics, marvel at the amazing skills of elite surfers, but remember too the far-off storms and the underwater sandbars that come together to create the beautiful waves.</p>
<p><em>Portions of this article originally appeared in an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-the-worlds-biggest-surfable-waves-150600">article</a> published on Dec. 3, 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Warner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Olympic surfers are coming from around the world to compete in surfing’s Olympic debut. But where will the waves come from?Sally Warner, Assistant Professor of Climate Science, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642172021-07-22T18:20:19Z2021-07-22T18:20:19ZIn the wake of Indian Residential School findings, how can we cheer for Canada at the Olympics?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412870/original/file-20210723-19-nhxjqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3544%2C2344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Team Canada flag-bearers Miranda Ayim and Nathan Hirayama carry the Canadian flag at the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Olympics offer Canadians an opportunity to experience a collective sense of national unity and pride. But in the wake of discoveries of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-saskatchewan-first-nation-discovers-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-at/">thousands of unmarked graves</a> at former Indian Residential Schools across the country, this year’s Olympics will feel undeniably different for many Canadians. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-more-shocking-residential-schools-discoveries-non-indigenous-people-must-take-action-161965">Amid more shocking residential schools discoveries, non-Indigenous people must take action</a>
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<p>Canadians will watch the Tokyo Games on television less than a month after <a href="https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/shame-on-canada-thousands-attend-cancel-canada-day-rally-on-parliament-hill-1.5493234">many participated</a> in “Cancel Canada Day” rallies and protesters tore down statues of colonial figures in <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/renewed-calls-to-cancel-canada-day-in-wake-of-residential-school-gravesite-discovery-1.5459568">Toronto</a>, <a href="https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/victoria-statue-of-captain-cook-pulled-down-thrown-into-harbour-1.5494067">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57693683">Winnipeg.</a> </p>
<p>In the wake of all this, settlers such as myself must ask ourselves: How can we cheer for our country after all that’s been happening? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Headless statue lying on the ground covered in protest signs and red paint" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of Queen Victoria in Winnipeg was overturned and vandalized on Canada Day during demonstrations concerning Indigenous children who died at residential schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Geraldine Malone)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Audiences should use the Tokyo Games to confront the <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">history and persistence of colonialism in Canada</a>. Expressions of patriotism in Canada cannot be neatly separated from <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/society/article/download/34003/26078/">ongoing colonization and systemic racism</a>, except through feats of mental gymnastics.</p>
<p>Let’s leave the gymnastics to the athletes competing in Tokyo and, instead, pay attention to the displays of settler colonialism that will happen during the Games.</p>
<p>My research investigates how Canadian-hosted sporting events, like the Olympics, shape national identity. I am currently writing a book, <em>Commodifying the Nation: Sport, Commercialism and Settler Colonialism in Canada</em>. In it, I argue that settlers often avoid recognizing uncomfortable truths about the nation when they express their patriotism. These truths include the mistreatment and assimilation of Indigenous children in residential schools. </p>
<h2>Reminders of settler colonialism</h2>
<p>There is a tendency to focus on large, highly visible objects that represent Canada’s colonial identity, like the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/egerton-ryerson-statue-caledonia-land-back-lane-1.6059513">recently toppled statue of Egerton Ryerson</a>, who played a major role in the establishment of the residential school system in Canada. But this identity is also recalled in the various ways settler Canadians express their pride at international sporting events. </p>
<p>One reminder of colonialism will be embodied — literally — by Canadian athletes at the Games who will be wearing outfits designed by the <a href="https://olympic.ca/2020/08/10/team-canada-and-hudsons-bay-unveil-tokyo-2020-kit-2/">Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)</a>, which has been the Canadian Olympic team’s <a href="http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/social-history/hbc-and-sports">official outfitter</a> since 2013.</p>
<p>Besides Team Canada’s outfits being created by the company, its iconic “point blanket” logo featuring coloured stripes appears on the outfits, along with national symbols like the maple leaf.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Waist-up shot of two women wearing red zip-up jackets with CANADA spelled across the front." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gymnast Ellie Black, left, and Brooklyn Moors wear their official Olympic jackets during an event presenting the Canadian Olympic Artistic Gymnastics team for the Tokyo 2020 games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>HBC’s logo calls attention to its historical contributions to settler nation-building practices in Canada. Created by royal charter in 1670, King Charles II of England <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP6CH1PA5LE.html">gave HBC the authority</a> to trade and negotiate treaties with Indigenous groups and to defend territory from them.</p>
<p>Employees exchanged point blankets for beaver pelts supplied by Indigenous peoples, making them important items of the early fur trade. By conflating Team Canada’s outfits with HBC merchandise, this creates an association between the company and patriotic sentiments. It also contributes to the erasure of the nation’s history of colonialism. </p>
<p>Activists drew attention to this history in 2010 when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. They argued that Canadians who wore the HBC-produced Team Canada red and white mittens had “<a href="https://web.resist.ca/%7Etarsandsfreebc/downloads/hbc.pdf">blood on their hands</a>” and were “wearing Canada’s history of colonialism.” </p>
<p>The ubiquity of HBC-branded Olympic clothing can productively draw attention to the history activists called on audiences to recognize back in 2010. </p>
<h2>The present day</h2>
<p>It would be a mistake to think that only the past is being obscured in collective displays of patriotism. </p>
<p>The reality that settler colonialism persists in Canada is too easily disavowed in celebratory representations of the nation. Disavowal is a particular type of forgetting. It involves knowing facts but failing to recognize the full significance or meaning of such facts. </p>
<p>When we disavow the injustices occurring around us, we fail to stop them from continuing. The example of anti-Olympic activists who protested the 2010 Games is once again instructive. They made it impossible to completely disavow the fact that the Games were being held on unceded Indigenous territory that is not governed by treaty. </p>
<p>Presently, we must not forget that the Canadian government and institutions continue to engage in practices that disadvantage Indigenous peoples and infringe upon their rights, such as the federal government’s <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/about-us">chronic under-funding of Indigenous child and family services</a> that’s led to an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/08/canada-indigenous-children-deaths-residential-schools">over-representation of Indigenous children</a> in the child welfare system and the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-its-all-too-common-for-indigenous-patients-to-face-racism-and-neglect/">sytemic racism</a> present in Canada’s health-care system. </p>
<h2>What to do while cheering on Team Canada</h2>
<p>I am not calling for settlers to wallow in guilt. Now is not the time to focus on how settlers feel. It is instead time to confront the reality of the consequences of residential schools and the <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/sixties_scoop/">‘60s Scoop.</a> </p>
<p>Land dispossession and systemic racism continue to exist and the historic mistreatment of Indigenous peoples is still ongoing.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-canadians-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-lasting-effects-of-residential-schools-161968">Why many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools</a>
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<p>Canadians should start by holding our governments and institutions accountable, and encourage the implementation of the <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Michael Linklater stands for a photograph at a outdoor basketball court near his home in Saskatoon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">No self-identified Indigenous athletes will be competing for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics. For years, Nehiyaw (Cree) athlete Michael Linklater of Saskatoon was one of the country’s top 3x3 basketball players. While 3x3 basketball is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo, Canada failed to qualify. Linklater will be a basketball analyst for CBC’s Olympic coverage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards</span></span>
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<p>Calls 87-91 include telling the national story of Indigenous athletes and supporting Indigenous athletes’ development. </p>
<p>As settlers tune in to watch Canadian athletes compete in Tokyo this summer, they can seek out stories about Indigenous athleticism and leadership in sport because they won’t find any on their screens. No self-identified Indigenous athlete is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/indigenous-athletes-barriers-olympics-1.6061509">competing for Canada this year</a>.</p>
<p>As you wear your red and white and cheer for Canada from the comfort of your home, remember the history this patriotism was built on — and the ongoing colonialism that helps solidify it.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Estee Fresco does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can settler-Canadians cheer for their country at the Tokyo Olympics after the recent discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves of children who attended Indian Residential Schools?Estee Fresco, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.