Are the Olympics Still Relevant?

Jul 5, 2024

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, and in the French capital are ironically seeing plummeting sales as tourists avoid the predictable frenzy. The Olympics, held every four years, were last scheduled to be held in the early months of the global COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo before being by a year. And, four years hence, they will arrive in . Some critics, such as Olympics expert , are questioning the premise of the games entirely.

Boykoff is a professor of politics and government at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, and a former professional soccer player who has written several books about the Olympics, including . His latest book is titled He spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about whether the Olympics are relevant in today鈥檚 world of climate chaos, genocides, and global political instability.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.