The Olympics Have A Racism & Misogyny Problem

The latest injustice against American gymnast Jordan Chiles continues a trend of anti-Black and anti-woman policies that have stained the Olympic Games

There are only two reasons an Olympian is ever stripped of a medal: Doping and cheating. Jordan Chiles did neither, and yet the Olympic committee is stripping her of her hard earned bronze medal anyway. How did this happen? Let’s Address This.

First, let’s quickly review what happened:

• Chiles initially placed 5th in the floor exercise due to a judging error. The judges did not credit her properly for a difficult move she successfully performed.

• Chiles appealed the error. The judges reviewed and realized their error. The judges subsequently awarded her the additional points she deserved. Those additional points elevated Chiles to a bronze medal. Then it got really confusing.

• The Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu who was now rightly bumped into fourth place, protested. Accordingly, the Romanian team appealed on procedural grounds, i.e. that Chiles didn't appeal the judges error fast enough. The judges reviewed the appeal, then reversed again.

• Gymnasts only have 1 minute to review the judge’s scoring, determine if any errors were made, and then appeal those errors. Apparently, Jordan Chiles committed the crime of appealing the judges score in 64 seconds—4 seconds beyond the 60 second limit.

• Upon review, the judges agreed with the Romanian team, and despite Jordan Chiles scoring better than the Romanian gymnast, reversed their decision and stripped Chiles of her bronze medal.

To be clear, Chiles performed better. She legitimately won the bronze. But because the judges screwed up, and Chiles didn’t call out their screw up fast enough—Chiles has to suffer the consequences of the judges and the IOC’s incompetence, and lose her bronze medal.

A troubling pattern of racism and misogyny

This injustice against Jordan Chiles is horrible in its own right. It is also part of a broader disturbing pattern of racism and misogyny at the Olympics—one that we cannot afford to ignore if we want to maintain the sanctity of the Olympic Games. While the Olympics have certainly led in brilliant moments of countering racism (See, e.g. Jesse Owens), the current trends are failing to live up to that standard.

Jordan Chiles—a Black woman—has her Olympic medal stripped despite her superior performance. But, despite a recognized judges error, her medal is instead given to a Romanian athlete Ana Barbosu who underperformed.

Imane Khelif—an Arab woman—is demonized with false allegations about her gender. But instead, the Italian woman Angela Carini she beat gets offered $50,000 from the IBA for quitting the match after 46 seconds. (Fortunately Khelif won gold anyway).

Sha’Carri Richardson—a Black woman—was banned from 2021 Olympics for using marijuana as an anti-depressant after her mother died. But meanwhile Russian athlete Kamila Valieva tested positive for the banned performance enhancing drug Trimetazidine and was still allowed to compete in the Olympics undeterred.

French Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab out of personal modesty are banned from competing in the Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, Alen Hadzic and Steven van de Velde—white men—committed sexual assault and rape of a minor, respectively, in violation of Olympic Ethics rules which ban sexual assault, are still allowed to compete in the Olympics unhindered.

Black people really do need to be twice as good

The systemic racism and discrimination against Black and brown women in the Olympics, combined with the lax standards afforded to white athletes, is clearly upsetting. And far from the above anecdotes, the data backs up the systemic nature of the above injustices. A recent academic study found and quantified this exactly:

For decades, black parents have told their children that in order to succeed despite racial discrimination, they need to be “twice as good”: twice as smart, twice as dependable, twice as talented. This advice can be found in everything from literature to television shows, to day-to-day conversation. Now, a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that when it comes to getting and keeping jobs, that notion might be more than just a platitude.

There’s data that demonstrates the unfortunate reality: Black workers receive extra scrutiny from bosses, which can lead to worse performance reviews, lower wages, and even job loss. The NBER paper, authored by Costas Cavounidis and Kevin Lang, of Boston University, attempts to demonstrate how discrimination factors into company decisions, and creates a feedback loop, resulting in racial gaps in the labor force.

In order to keep a job, black workers also must meet a higher bar. Only in instances where black workers are monitored and displayed a significantly higher skill level than their white counterparts would they stand a significant chance of keeping their jobs for a while, the researchers found. But even in instances where the productivity of black workers far exceeded their white counterparts, there was still evidence that discrimination persisted, which could lead to lower wages or slower promotions.

Likewise numerous studies show (e.g. here, here, and here) that women are promoted less often than men despite similar skill levels. In a near verbatim textbook case of anti-Black discrimination, Jordan Chiles received unwarranted subpar scores from the judges (i.e. bosses), then unwarranted extra scrutiny from the judges via the appeal from the Romanian team, and as a result lost her bronze medal. Meanwhile her white counterpart received less scrutiny, performed worse, and still received a bronze medal despite lacking the talent and skills to win the bronze on merit.

Here’s the bottom line

An Olympics that allows white male rapists to compete unhindered, but bans women of color who choose to observe modesty, that rewards white athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, but bans Black athletes who use marijuana (which is most definitely not performance enhancing), and excuse mediocrity to award white women unearned medals, but conjure up excuses to deny Black women their rightfully earned medals, is an Olympics that betrays the very pillar of fair and just competition that the Olympic Games are supposed to exemplify.

Jordan Chiles earned her bronze medal. She did everything right. The IOC should not only ensure Jordan Chiles retains her rightfully earned bronze medal, but they should also issue an apology for the injustice, humiliation, and disrespect shown to her. Forcing Chiles to suffer the consequences of incompetence from judges is an outrageous proposition. It reeks of racism. And it cannot stand. This unjust act is a stain on the IOC and mandates immediate remediation—that is—if the IOC desires to live up to the Olympic promise of fair and just competition.

Why Your Support Matters: Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of future we want. Help me create a future more committed to justice and universal human rights. Subscribe, and I welcome your thoughts, feedback, and insights. Thank you.