Shownotes
In Part 2 of our roundtable on the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Paralympian athlete Fadi Deeb discusses being the only Palestinian member of the Olympic delegation from Gaza and how an Israeli airstrike just killed his best friend in a school bombing. We also speak with CBC Sports contributor Shireen Ahmed about how Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the Olympic gold medal in a major victory for the athlete, who competed while facing a torrent of abuse, including from high-profile transphobic observers such as Donald Trump and author J.K. Rowling, who falsely claimed Khelif was a trans athlete and should be banned from competing. At the first-ever Olympic breakdancing competition of the games, a member of the Olympic Refugee Team from Afghanistan known as “b-girl Talash” was disqualified when she wore a cape that said “Free Afghan Women.” “It’s the suppression of athlete activism and voices that is so troubling, particularly with women, who are too often excluded and silenced in sport,” notes Ahmed. We are also joined by Dave Zirin, sports writer for The Nation, who discusses the “social cleansing” of unhoused people ahead of the games in Paris, and activism leading up to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.