The 2024 Summer Olympics sparked a lot of commotion since it first started in July. However, it wasn’t all for the right reasons. The Olympics have long been known for things not going according to plan, and this year has been no different with various controversies from the beginning to the end. 

Paris’s Preparation

This year’s Olympic games took place in the city of love: Paris, France. However, the city’s love for its locals wasn’t as strong as it was for its incoming athletes. In preparation for the games, hundreds of migrant and homeless Parisians living on the streets of the city were relocated to temporary lodging outside of the city. Although many were happy to have shelter for the time being, some were concerned about what would happen after the games.

A 47-year-old homeless Parisian shared her unease on AP News, “It’s like poker. I don’t know where I will go, or how much time I will stay.”

The flood of homeless people was escorted by heavy police force and created a stir of anger from bystanders as many began to question the intentions of the relocation…Some called it a form of social cleansing. 

Protests became more widespread, and on the eve of the grand opening ceremony of the Olympic games, several protesting associations gathered at Place de la République in central Paris to revolt against the relocation in a demonstration they called “Counter Opening Ceremony.”

AP News also reported on one spokesperson of the associations, Paul Alauzy, who spoke out on the reality he observed, “Even in these past weeks there was an archway under a subway line where people were sleeping and they put a wall of cement to stop people coming back.”

The Seine

E. Coli and dangerous bacteria have been littering Paris’ most famous river since the early 1900s. In fact, swimming in the Seine was banned completely in 1923. While the Parisian government has orchestrated efforts to clean up various canals flowing into the seine since 2016, hosting the Olympics was France’s final push to try to decontaminate the full river in time for the Triathlon and Marathon swimming races. The feat was far from cheap, with the Parisian government paying a total of €1.4 billion, or $1.5 Billion in US dollars. To say the least, local Parisians were not pleased. The mass amount of money spent on the clean-up is a large factor in their displeasure. Only a month before the games, the Seine held extremely high amounts of sewage bacteria despite all the government’s efforts. Locals were also concerned for the athletes since the government continued to insist on the river being swimmable. With underlying concerns about overbearing tourism also affecting their day-to-day lives, many saw this as the perfect opportunity to revolt. Starting with a simple online campaign, Parisians orchestrated a city-wide protest of defecating in the Seine on June 23. The protest sent waves across the internet, worldwide. Eventually, the creator of the site came forward, wishing to stay anonymous, and shared with the French news site, ActuParis, the motivation for the protest.

“The problem is that all the resources that have been invested have not been to resolve all the social problems we have at the moment…We have the feeling of being abandoned. We see where their priority was.”

Despite all of Paris locals’ efforts, the Seine hosted the swimming events, resulting in three German, one Swiss, and one Belgian athlete leaving the Olympics sick.

USA gymnast Stripped of Her Metal

US Gymnast Jordan Chiles was stripped of her first individual medal after her performance on Aug. 5 in the gymnastics women’s floor exercise final. 

In her performance, she rivaled Romania’s Ana Bǎrbosu and her teammate, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea who were tied with a score of 13.700.

After her routine, Chiles was awarded a score of 13.666, placing her in fifth place. 

However, Chiles’s coaches raced to the judges and filed an inquiry on her difficulty score, attempting to make a change to her score. According to the International Gymnastics Federation, coaches are allowed one minute after a score is shown to file a verbal inquiry. Her coaches claimed the judges misjudged the difficulty of their routine, and they accepted the inquiry. 

Chiles was left with a revised score of 3.766, placing her in 3rd place and allowing her to receive a bronze medal. However, the Romanian team did not agree with this revision, leading the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and gymnasts Bǎrbosu and Maneca-Voinea to file an official challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. 

They argue that Chiles’s revised scores should be scrapped and her initial score should be maintained as her coach’s inquiry was filed 4 seconds after the 1-minute period. 

On August 10, a hearing was held where both teams could plead their cases. 

The court concluded that Chiles’s revision was “without effect” and her original score would be absolute. Thus, the winning bronze medal was gifted to Bǎrbosu of Romania.

The results of the trial left Chiles devastated, with her rivaling athletes feeling saddened by the outcome.

“I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” said Chiles via her social media.

She vows to keep fighting but is taking a break from social media to process and heal. 

Algerian Boxer Ridiculed for False Claims

Olympic gold Algerian boxing athlete Imane Khelif faced extreme scrutiny online for false claims of being transgender after a 46-second boxing match with Italian athlete Angela Carini. Carini and Khelif entered the ring in the women’s 66kg preliminary boxing match on Aug. 1. 46 seconds into the fight, Carini conceded in the ring, claiming she was in too much pain to continue to fight. Following this match, the internet began to dig and started sending intense hate mail towards Khelif, claiming she was transgender, and wrongfully competing in a women’s team. 

The original accusations stemmed from Khelif’s disqualification by the International Boxing Association in March 2023. She was disqualified from her matches due to a failed sex testing, claiming she “did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria” and was “found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”

This testing is used in many sports associations, including the IBA, in order to ensure that no athlete has more of an advantage than another. However, it is primarily used for women athletes with differences in sexual development involving hormones, genes, or reproductive organs.

Khelif and her family came out and quickly shut down the claims. 

“I was born a woman. I’ve lived as a woman. I’ve competed as a woman. There is no doubt about that,” said Khelif.

Overall, the Olympics were a mess. It caused a lot of strife among the people involved, as well as an uproar across the internet. But even despite its issues, the Olympics continues to be a great way to bring different countries together and build heartfelt comradery amongst athletes.