Simone Biles, Sha鈥機arri Richardson, and How the Olympics Failed Black Women
August 12, 2021
Every two years the Olympic Games promise to be historic. Athletes defy odds, break records, and achieve feats unimaginable to most of us. But the 2020 games have consistently made headlines for the wrong reasons, particularly for the US Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee鈥檚 poor treatment and discrimination of athletes, especially Black women athletes. From Sha鈥機arri Richardson鈥檚 pre-Olympic suspension for smoking legal marijuana to the International Federation鈥檚 ban on swim caps designed for natural Black hair, or from the testosterone testing of two Namibian runners to the decades long abuse, lack of accountability, and disregard towards the mental health of athletes.
The stories are almost too many to keep track of, but thankfully Ria Tabacco Mar, the Director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Rights Project helps us parse through what we鈥檝e watched unfold.
In this episode
Molly Kaplan
Former Host of At Liberty, 老澳门开奖结果
Ria Tabacco Mar
Director, Women鈥檚 Rights Project