"Drama" and tears galore at the Winter Olympics

 

As if we don’t live in a world with enough trouble to deal with, like one country under threat of invasion simply for being, and working class people everywhere just trying to get by, there has been nothing but self-centered “drama” at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. Of course it all began when judges were accused of cheating to help the host Chinese, and since then it has been a free-for-all of anger, accusations and many tears from female participants. In fact this Winter Olympics has had more “drama” than any sporting event in memory, and being “sporting” is hard to locate.

Most recently the German cross country ski team was accused of using the recently banned fluorinated wax on their skis—not necessarily because it gave them a competitive advantage, but simply because it was supposedly environmentally “unsafe” and they are not supposed to be using it. Of course the Germans reacted in “dramatic” fashion, claiming it was “all lies.” The Germans were already in the doghouse after the anger aroused when a Swiss skier was stripped of her bronze medal and it was awarded to a German skier after it was ruled that the Swiss skier, Fanny Smith, had “intentionally” made contact with the German. Smith responded to the decision with some “dramatic” language worthy of a sailor.

From the very beginning the “drama” seemed pre-ordained. Like most “host” countries, China expected to receive some favorable calls, and they did. After both an American and Russian skater were both disqualified for “impeding” a Chinese skater in the speed-skating mixed relay race—allowing the Chinese to advance to the finals and win the gold—it couldn’t pass without further “drama” when a Chinese skater was clearly more guilty of obstructing a Hungarian skater to win that gold medal.

The Chinese were most “dramatically” accused by the South Koreans for being the subject of favorable treatment by judges. Two members of the favored South Korean team, Hwang Daeheon and Lee Juneseo, were disqualified in the men's 1000 metres speed-skating race, which a Chinese skater, Ren Ziwei, would win the gold. Angry Koreans lodged a formal protest, and Korean media was wondering “Just let China take all the medals.”

As if there wasn’t enough “drama” in speed-skating, another Chinese skater, Fan Kexin, was accused of “flicking” a marker into the skates of Canadian Alyson Charles, knocking her out of the race. One observer on Reddit wrote that “Took me several views to see that the hand throwing the puck actually belongs to the skater on the outside, snaking an arm past the Canadian skater on the inside of the turn. Gotta say, the cheating shows amazing precision and coordination. Truly Olympic level cheat.”

But none of this “competes” with the “drama” you typically see in figure skating. Of course we remember the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding episode, but there are others that I am surprised inspired “positive” drama rather than the negative kind. Oksana Baiul won the gold in the 1994 in controversial fashion after she was given “Olympic-approved anesthetics,” which must have been pretty powerful stuff, which allowed her to compete just days after a seemingly competition-ending injury sustained when she collided with another skater during a practice session. Kerrigan had apparently won the gold after her long program, but an apparent “change” by the German scorer allowed Baiul to win. However, Baiul was treated with more “sympathy” than Kerrigan, who the U.S. Oylmpic Committee deemed ready to compete despite not qualifying technically after the attack on her.

In this Olympics, we saw some of that kind of “drama” some of us remember from Martina Hingis in the 1999 French Open tennis finals against Steffi Graf. Many people were shocked that Russian skater and gold medal favorite Kamila Valieva was permitted to continue skating despite news of her failing a banned substance test from December. The International Olympic Committee disagreed with the ruling and threatened to ban a medal ceremony if Valieva placed in the top-three. As we recall, Russian athletes have been banned from competing under the Russian national flag following findings of state-sponsored doping, and are competing under for the "Russian Olympic Committee," which everyone suspects is a distinction without a difference.

Valieva’s free skate was a disaster, as she fell twice and did not cleanly complete a move at least three other times, and in the process fell from first to fourth. 

 

 

Of course she returned to the cry area with plenty of tears for everyone, and an amazing amount of sympathy was directed toward her, even from those who were outraged that she had been allowed to skate at all. The “adults” in the room were blamed for taking advantage of a 15-year-old “minor” who couldn’t think for herself and wasn’t good enough to win unless she was “doped.” I’m sure that most 15-year-olds don’t think of themselves as “minor”—just three years from being an “adult” themselves—and might even think themselves “smarter” than their parents and teachers. Valieva, as young as she was, was smart enough to know she couldn’t compete with a heart condition unless she took a substance that was banned.

But Valieva wasn’t the only one crying. Her teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, won the gold and silver medals, but they seemed to find little “joy” in it. Trusova especially whined that she should have won the gold medal. When her score was read out, she raged “Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me. I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport. I will never skate again. Never. It’s impossible. That’s not how it should be.” 

 

 

For a few moments it appeared that the Russian skaters would refuse to attend the medal awards ceremony, but they were persuaded to do so; I’m sure others would have been more appreciative of their good luck—which is what the Russian skaters should be thankful for if they are not stripped of their team medals if Valieva is sanctioned and suspended as she should have been.

Well, we’ll see. This Olympics is not over yet, so we’ll probably hear more ridiculous “drama” before it’s over, as if we don’t have better things to do than feel “sorry” for these divas and narcissists.