By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
This edition of Athens Now is understandably “Olympics-centric,” as Paris 2024 has had a considerable amount of “the good, the bad and the ugly,” and it ain’t over yet. Phil Williams’s column on the horrific opening ceremonies says it all, and by contrast the American women’s gymnastic team, led by the resilient Simone Biles took the team gold essentially by a landslide. In every Olympic Games, there will always be stories of triumph and often tragedy. However, let me tell you why I am spending time praying for the athletes and the spectators at this year’s Games.
When I came home from Iraq in the spring of 2007, I went through Europe, and learned something disturbing. There were whole portions of Paris where the police would not enter because they functioned separately under shariah law. Kids wore T-shirts that said, in French, “2030, we take over.” Now, I am not saying that none of this was addressed in the subsequent years leading up to Paris being chosen for the current Olympic Games, I am simply saying that it was an issue that needed to be addressed, and I pray it has been.
I remember all too well the Munich Games of 1972, when the terrorist group Black September killed 11 Israeli Olympians. It was mind-boggling then, and continues to be. No one in the West understood that there were those who truly believed such an act was righteous, let alone that it was their sworn duty to wipe Israel off the map. Set against the backdrop of an athletic event that is supposed to transcend politics, and you have confusion of the highest order.
There was an attack on the rail system in Paris, and allegedly came from those of the far-left persuasion. Some think Russia was to blame, and apparently there is a goodly amount of evidence found in an apartment to suggest that there would have been further events designed to “destabilize the Olympics.”
However, there are two other things that have occurred that have caused me concern. The first being that a man “identifying” as a woman got in the boxing ring and beat the snot out of a female Olympic athlete in the name of transgender inclusion. How in the world does one justify this in an era where it is no longer acceptable for a man to beat a woman in or out of the ring, in the name of sport or not. Supposedly, nothing was caught ahead of the match for the simple reason that the passport used by the man who was a man at birth said “female.” This guy was banned in 2023 for “competing” against women, but was allowed to compete as a woman in the Paris Games.
The second is that a Muslim judo competitor, when competing against an Israeli, finished the match with the famous saying “Allahu Akbar,” which in most people’s book was at the least, in poor taste. Interestingly enough, in the next match he suffered a dislocated shoulder, and was hollerin’ in pain from the mat. All of this brings us to the title of this article, “Olympic Values – Excellence, Respect and Friendship.” Will they ultimately prevail? Let us pray that they do.
September 6, 2024
