The hygiene theatre persiste et signe

I think that the french expression in the title is the best adapted one.  If I were really forbidden to use anything but english what I would have opted for is "The hygiene theatre is alive and well". Be that as it may what I am going to write about here are the ridiculous lengths to which the IOC is willing to go in order to respect totally unfounded infection-avoiding directives. 

I have written already in my article, where I was wondering whether the Games were going to be held, about the laughable World Athletics rules, with their obsession on cleaning, among which one find gems like 

the use of hand sanitiser should be recommended before each attempt in vertical jumps

But this time the instructions come form the very summit of the olympic hierarchy. 

“The medals will not be given around the neck. They will be presented to the athlete on a tray and then the athlete will take the medal him or herself", said IOC president T. Bach during a conference in Tokyo. And he segued, "It will be made sure that the person who will put the medals on the tray will do so only with disinfected gloves, so that the athlete can be sure that nobody touched them before”.

And he confirmed that “there will be no handshakes and there will be no hugs during the ceremony”.

What utter nonsense!

It has been known almost since the outset of the epidemic that the probability of being infected by touching a contaminated surface is trifling. In my article cited above I linked to the piece by D. Thompson in The Atlantic on "the hygiene theatre". He writes, epigrammatically, "People are power scrubbing their way to a false sense of security". How true! Thompson links to an article of E. Goldman, a professor at Rutgers, published in the Lancet, where the author debunks the myth of fomite (i.e. contaminated object) Covid transmission. Even if you do not have scientific training I suggest that you track down the article of Goldman and read it (it's just one page long). After that you will avoid the absurd, obsessive gel hand cleaning.

The Tokyo podia are particularly large so as to ensure distancing between the medalists!

So now, in the name of a derisory practice, the athletes will be deprived of that unique experience of the medal award ceremony. They will not be allowed to share a few moments of camaraderie, of those moments where they can share a feeling of having reached their objective.

But, not to worry. The IOC, mindful of the depressing atmosphere of the deserted stadia, is going to feed into the arena crowd noise recorded from each event at previous Olympics. I don't know why, but this reminds me of the canned laughs of american comedies of the early tv days. But perhaps this is it: the Olympics have become a huge (money-motivated) comedy. I think that it is high time they bowed out. 

Richardson will not run in Tokyo

It's final. Richardson will not run at all in Tokyo. But let's start at the beginning.

Sha'Carri Richardson became internationally known when she ran a fantastic 10.75 s at just 19 years of age, winning the 2019 NCAA championships. She made the WA list of rising stars that year. I did not include her in mine since her participation in the US Trials was less than satisfactory. I was certainly wrong, since Richardson was undoubtedly a rising star (and I did include her in my 2020 list). 

This year, after a series of superb races, she dominated the 100 m in the US Trials, head and shoulders. She started with a 10.84 in the heats, followed by a wind-assisted (2.6 m/s) 10.64 in the semis and winning the final with a spectacular acceleration in 10.86 s (into a -1 m/s headwind). Her personal best is 10.72 s, form April.

And then disaster struck. She was tested positive for THC, which is the main psychoactive component found in cannabis. In short, she smoked a marijuana joint. Now it happens that THC is in the list of forbidden substances of the World Anti-Doping Code. However THC is neither performance enhancing nor a masking agent.

After learning of her biological mother’s death, Richardson used marijuana in Oregon, where it is fully legalised. And because of the moralistic view of WADA (who classifies it as a substance of abuse) Richardson's results in the Trials were invalidated. She did not mount a defence. She took responsibility and apologised. After successfully completing a counselling program, she accepted a one-month period of ineligibility. And she made a heartbreaking plea: "Please do not judge me. I am human. I just happen to run a little faster".

Jerry Brewer in the Washington Post wrote: "WADA may think it is keeping order. In Richardson’s situation, however, it robbed a 21-year-old of her joy during a difficult time and reintroduced us to the long, racist history of cannabis being used as a tool to demonise black people". 

D. Pound, who was the first president of WADA, recalled the rationale: the WADA people gave in to pressure from the US who forced the inclusion of recreational drugs in the list of prohibited substances. Over the years the governments' attitudes started changing but the WADA rules did not. The only thing they did was to reduce the punishment, down to a ridiculous low of a one-month suspension. This is pure hypocrisy: they simply do not dare come out and say "we do not penalise marijuana anymore".

In the case of Richardson the situation was complicated by the rigid and antiquated rule of qualifications through the US Trials. Having been disqualified in the Trials she cannot run the 100 m in Tokyo. On the other hand, concerning the relay, there are two discretionary positions (apart from the first four of the Trials) which can be filled by the choice of the team coaches. So, Richardson could have been allowed to run in the 4x100 m. But, no!

To tell the truth, I will not be very happy to see Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce win once more. Somehow I do not like her and I was looking forward to Sha'Carri Richardson deposing her. I guess that will have to wait till 2022 and the World Championships in Eugene.

PS There will be quite a few other absences from the Olympics. Most prominent are those of 400 m world champion S.E. Naser (whereabout violation) and 100 m hurdles world and olympic champion B. McNeal (tampering within the results management process). I will not miss them a lot (and the fact that Naser is absent will push S. Miller to double 200-400 m).

The two namibian 400 m prodigies C. Mboma and B. Masilingi have withdrawn from the 400 m, but remain entered into the 200 m. The reason is that they do not meet the WA eligibility regulations for female classification (meaning that their testosterone concentration is too high).

And this brings us inescapably to C. Semenya. She is pursuing her legal battle hoping to convince some court that she be allowed to compete against women. But the probability is slim and time is running against her (she's 30 this year). As far as the other two Rio 800 m medalists are concerned, M. Wambui has not been seen since 2019, but F. Niyonsaba moved to longer distances and will probably participate in the 5000 and 10000 m in Tokyo.

But the one I will really miss is O. McLeod. To my eyes he is one of the greatest hurdlers ever. He is definitely the fastest, although his technique is not up to par. As a consequence, frequently, he is out of a race, hitting hurdles hard or even falling. This time he crashed out in the finals of the Jamaican Trials, after having registered the best time in the semis. And, since, unfortunately, the jamaicans are mimicking the stupid US qualification procedure, McLeod will have to watch the Tokyo Olympics on his tv. 

Gwen Berry does it again

I have already written about Gwendolyn Berry and her protest on the podium of the 2019 PanAmerican Games in Lima. She had won the gold medal and while the US anthem played Berry raised her fist into the air.

The reactions were swift. Officially she was reprimanded with a 12 month probation. The author of the letter was none other than the president of the US Olympic Committee. Hate mail was even swifter.

"If you don't love the USA, then represent some commie country instead of leeching off a host you despise to get your 'moment in the sun'", tweeted somebody. She was called a traitor and a 'pathetic joke'.

Now it turns out that Berry's father has fought for the US, being an Iraq veteran. And he  made clear that he was in total support of his daughter, explaining that

"For her to do that on the podium is more American than anything, if you ask me. "Because that's what our country is founded on: freedom of expression, freedom of speech".

G. Berry, herself, explained her gesture as being due to her "awakening into the history of African Americans in the US, a strengthening of her identity as a black woman". It was a protest against a broken system and a tribute the sacrifices of her community.

After the things settled down The USOC reconsidered and ended by issuing new guidelines in order to allow peaceful expressions of protest “in support of racial and social justice for all human beings". And they did (privately) apologise to Berry.

And then Berry did it again.

She was third in the US Trials for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (yes, they are the 2020 Olympics despite being held in 2021). And on the podium she turned away from the US flag during the national anthem. In fact Berry had not planned a protest. In principle the anthem does play for every podium of the national championships, but only once a day. But, it happened to play during the women's hammer podium. 

In Berry's own words this looked like a setup. She did not anticipate protesting, but once there she had to do something as she remains committed to her using sport to advance her cause.

“It’s really important for me and my community just to be able to represent. Being able to represent my communities and my people and those who have died at the hands of police brutality, those who have died to this systemic racism, I feel like that’s the important part", she said.

Reactions burst forth. Some white politician demanded her removal from the US Olympic team. Clearly he does not realise the absurdity the situation, when he suggested that a black protester must be sanctioned for anti-americanism. “We don’t need any more activist athletes", he said. I beg to differ. More activist athletes is precisely what we need.

Berry will be on a larger stage at the Tokyo Olympics. and it just happens that the IOC is discussing granting athletes permission to demonstrate, before their competition (although they remain banned from demonstrating on the podium). Berry has said she will not back down in Tokyo, regardless of the rules in place. She has not decided how she will demonstrate.“When I get there, I’ll figure out something to do”, she said. 

So, I cross my fingers for Berry to win a medal in Tokyo.