On September 13, 2017, Paris got the green light to host the Olympics.
There were only two bidders.
The other city that bid, Los Angeles, automatically gets the 2028 Games.
Why?
It's not as simple as cities don't want it. Through the years, the mystique of the Olympics has waned. For the athletes, it's still the pinnacle of their careers but in terms of staging it, it's a risk - in a log of aspects.
The 1972 Munich Olympics is the worst reason that comes to mind, but the rest of the hosts have their share of horror stories.
Paris knows this.
2017 is different after the pandemic. The worst thing to happen to a country is their economy. There are a lot of gyms and stadiums that were left abandoned after the World Cup and the Olympics.
I mean, why build a stadium in the middle of the Amazon Jungle?
I bet the flora and fauna out in Brazil are thrilled with the state-of-the-art seating and the larger-than-life aesthetic experience brought by the empty arenas.
So to play it safe, Paris played it cheap. This is why I understand the godawful experience most athletes have in the Olympic Village. Just think of the Olympics as a very organized version of Woodstock. Yes, the water is shitty, the accommodation is questionable, and the food is bad. I mean, why are athletes eating vegan food in the first place? Weightlifters consume a multitude of meals for them to stay optimal.
Also, they should know that city rivers are dirty as hell. Of course, the Pasig River is the best example of this in the Philippines. From romantic scenery to floating poop from all living things every day, we have been trying hard to restore the river to its former beauty.
With that said, it's a city river, and just like the Pasig River, the Seine River is also a cesspool of a lot of shitty things.
So yeah, first-world countries... DEAL WITH IT.
But I guess one of the worst things that Paris brought to the Olympics is how they "woke" things up. There is no better way to say this - but they fumbled the one thing they can control.
Why on earth did they insert politics and religion into the mix?
Angela Carini has since apologized to Imane Khelif, but the damage has been done. Khelif can either win the gold medal much to everyone's dismay or give up on her dreams and miss out on a way out. I mean, I don't know if she's going to win perks because of a gold medal, but I don't think that she'll be left empty-handed if she wins. The last time Algeria won a gold medal was in 2012 and none of their athletes were able to win a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Games. Algeria ranks 71st in terms of all-time medal tally with five golds, four silvers, and eight bronze medals. At the moment, their 45-person delegation has yet to produce a medal and Khelif is the last boxer standing in their 5-person contingent.
But this is not France's fault because it was the IOC who ruled that Khelif must not be discriminated against.
So it's the Opening Ceremony.
The Olympics was supposed to be an event where all athletes are equal and yet, they managed to mess this up by bringing first-world problems to the event. Other countries could care less about what they did to The Last Supper, but I do think they would rather forget about that scene because while Christianity doesn't fight back like Islam does, they can still get offended.
If Ukraine can fight for medals and disregard their country's situation for the time being, then this mindset needs to take a backseat as well.
Hell, I just saw an image of South Koreans and North Koreans taking a freaking groupie!
If they can do it, then why can't them???