Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What I Learned Watching the Tokyo Games

As elated as I get watching amazing athletic accomplishments like this, I am more deeply moved by seeing examples of good sportspersonship. It’s easy to be magnanimous and cheerful after winning, but it takes a superior athlete to show grace in losing. When Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar were tied in the high jump, rather than go through a jump-off to determine one winner, they chose to share the gold medal. “This is beyond sport,” Barshim said.

While I don’t take the hyperbole of these discount pundits seriously — because they are, as Alex Jones admitted, “performance artists” paid to act outrageously, not think coherently — we have to acknowledge a certain misconception among the people they perform their clown act for. Some fans prefer their sports heroes to be as personally flawless as their athletic performances — to embody all the sports cliches they’ve seen in every inspirational sports movie.

Transgender athletes have faced a lot of pushback based on junk science and self-righteous moralizing. As at least five states in the U.S. consider laws to ban trans student-athletes from competing in school sports, several trans athletes competed in the Olympics, which has permitted trans participation since 2004. New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did not medal, dispelling the fears of genetic dominance that are contrary to the actual medical facts.

thank god they banned protests. just let people celebrate sport in a unifying way. Instead of hijacking it for selfish purpose & stirring up animosity in the process. BLM have increased racial animosity. It backfired. Not to mention increased black homicides. Blood on your hands

And we learned that Russia is even worse than we thought in regards to how they treat people of color and the LGBTQ community. 😡

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