Did Greece miss potential teachable moment at Olympics?

Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was booted off her country's Olympic team after making a racist comment on Twitter, according to various media reports.

The articles reported that Papachristou said on Twitter: “With so many Africans in Greece … at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food!!!” Though Papachristou later apologized, it is understandable why Greek Olympic leaders removed her from the team.

This decision is not just a golden opportunity lost for Papachristou, but for the fight against racism as well. The Olympics is a venue where athletes of various races, religions, sexual orientations, etc. come together in the spirit of competition at the highest level.

I venture to think that Papachristou interacting with African athletes would be the best chance for her to learn why her words were hurtful and inappropriate. Actually spending time with the people she insulted and learning who they really are is the best antidote to the venom of racism.

And if she changes her views (though to be fair she did say in her apology that she "could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races"), then it is a great story to champion in the fight against bigotry.

This is not to say that Papachristou should not have been sanctioned. But is kicking her off the team creating the best outcome? Perhaps having her perform a public service announcement educating people about the wrongs of racism would have been better. Ills that plague society cannot be swept under the proverbial rug. Rather they must be confronted head on and honestly.

An Olympian telling kids that she made a mistake about making a racist act and telling young people that is it not right to judge people on the color of their skin can be pretty powerful. It can be especially effective if she were to also describe the multitude of athletes she met at the Olympics and how they helped her grow as a person.

I just don’t think society gained too much keeping Papachristou at home. Can we honestly say that she will not harbor any racist thoughts because of this punishment? It is much more likely that if she has any bigoted sentiments she will now just keep them to herself.

 

-- Steve Bien-Aime

UEFA Punishes Fan Behavior at Euro 2012

The London Olympic and Paralympic Games are only a month away, but that would be hard to tell by looking at the European sports media. Now, the eyes are on the European Championships in men’s soccer, which is about to continue today with the quarterfinals. 

Besides the exciting matches in the group round, a few things happened that are worth discussing.

UEFA, the European soccer federation made a commitmentto the fight against racism and seems to be taking action to live up to that commitment. 

Early in the tournament, the black players on the Dutch team were subjected to racist insults. Slowly, but UEFA reacted.

The Croatian fans decided to disregard the UEFA's warnings and instead offered a similarly problematic treatment to the Italian Mario Balotelli. The Croatian Soccer Federation (HNS) is now facing a fine equivalent to more than $100,000 in pounds.

This amount is in addition to the already existing penalty because of the fans who were throwing flares on the field during a match. Croatian team captain, Darijo Srna, attempted to put some sense into his fans down during the match against Spain by running towards the fans and gesturing to them to calm down. Apparently that did not work and now the Croatians will have to compensate the UEFA for the behavior of their fans. 

Croatian fans are not the only ones to cause trouble. England was also fined for their fans’ “inappropriate conduct.”

In the meantime, we are receiving reports about female fans, specifically, who do not need to be violent, racist or inappropriate to get attention. They just need to look good. The Mirror posted a slideshowof “50 stunning female fans.” The article was so popular that they decided to post a “Part II.”

What did NOT happen, at least not up to this point, is a beauty pageant for the players. Last year, during the coverage of the Women’s Soccer World Cup, the commentators on Eurosport television channel were taking votes from viewers for the “hottest player” of the tournament. Besides commenting on the game, they also offered an insightful analysis regarding whom the viewers should consider for that title and encouraged them to vote throughout the tournament’s coverage.

Unsurprisingly, the commenting of the men’s Euro 2012 is much more professional than the women’s World Cup: the focus is on the game itself and the players’ skills. 

At least the male players are not sexualized. But then, why would they be when we have the slide show of the best looking female fans?

I can't help but think that the attitude towards female athletes and the attitude towards female sports fans are somehow related. Both might be a result of a larger gender ideology which positions women to serve one, and only one, purpose in sports: to be looked at.

 -- Dunja Antunovic