Andscape at the Olympics is an ongoing series exploring the Black athletes and culture around the 2024 Paris Games.
PARIS — The U.S. women’s basketball team completed a dominating Olympic performance on Sunday, narrowly defeating France 67-66.
This was the eighth straight Olympic gold medal for the women’s team, which has not lost at the Olympics since 1992. Sunday’s victory was also the 61st consecutive Olympic win in 32 years.
In a city where an African American woman, dancer-singer Josephine Baker, became a legend, the team’s performance completed a display of might by women in general and particularly Black American women.
Team USA forward A’ja Wilson, who scored a game-high 21 points, said she expected nothing less.
“I’m not surprised at all because, when it comes to getting the work done and the job done, a woman’s gonna always step up to the plate and get it done,” she said. “When it’s time to shine bright under these big lights, we’re gonna always prevail in that because we’re used to this.”
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The dominance of Team USA women was a testament to that power.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won two gold medals and broke her own Olympic record in the 400-meter hurdles. Sprinter Gabby Thomas won the 200 meters and was on the winning 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams, becoming the second U.S. runner to win three gold medals at an Olympics since Allyson Felix in 2012. Tara Davis-Woodhall won gold in the long jump. Sha’Carri Richardson won silver in the 100 meters and ran a thunderous anchor leg to help the women’s 4×100 relay team win gold. The women’s 4×400 relay team almost set a world record. Lauren Scruggs made history by becoming the first Black American to win an individual fencing medal. The women’s gymnastics team, led by the sensational Simone Biles, showed its dominance by winning gold in the team final and winning seven combined medals in individual events.
At a moment in American history when a Black woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, is seeking to become president of the United States, will the spectacular performances — particularly of Black women at the Olympics — help momentum for Harris back in the States? If you think athletes aren’t paying attention to the political winds back home, you’re fooling yourself.
All you had to do was read Biles’ social media post last week after she won her individual gold medal. Biles posted, “I love my black job,” on Aug. 2 with a heart emoji. The post was a not-so-subtle shot at former President Donald Trump, who was heavily criticized for saying that “Black jobs” were being taken by undocumented immigrants.
Before Olympic competition began, Team USA men’s basketball guard Stephen Curry spoke of his support for Harris. Curry and Biles are reminders that athletes tap into a crucial young demographic of voters and potential voters. Female athletes could play a larger-than-expected role in voter registration drives and creating excitement, especially for Harris.
Racism and misogyny are very much alive and well in the United States. This was no more evident than in the reaction to gymnast Jordan Chiles winning an individual bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise after an on-floor appeal by Team USA coach Cecile Landi elevated her from fifth place to third (the International Olympic Committee has since announced it is reallocating the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu of Romania, which U.S. Olympics officials are appealing). The Chiles episode was a multifaceted comedy of errors that resulted in mistakes that broke the hearts of two deserving young ladies — first Barbosu and now Chiles, who was the victim of judging error.
The second and more disturbing element was the race- and gender-based venom directed at Chiles on social media. The venom was so vicious that Chiles was compelled to get off of social media for the sake of her mental health.
The Olympics will be the last semblance of global unity and certainly unity in the United States heading into what is surely to be a divisive election campaign between Trump and Harris. The former president has already telegraphed his intention to lean into racist tropes and tap into misogyny.
“This election is going to boil down to gender,” said Nadia Rawlinson, co-owner of the WNBA Chicago Sky. “Are you going to be supportive or are you only going to give lip service because it feels like the appropriate thing to do, especially for men who do feel disempowered and challenged by women having this kind of agency?”
Kamil Krzaczynski/NBAE via Getty Images
I ran into Rawlinson on Sunday on the way to the women’s basketball gold medal game. While she is an ardent Harris supporter, Rawlinson is a larger supporter of women, women’s empowerment, and women in power, all of which will be in play during the upcoming election.
“I care a lot about women. I care a lot about Black people winning,” she said. “I care a lot about creating opportunity and access. And that can be in multiple platforms.”
Rawlinson attended Stanford for undergrad and received her MBA from Harvard. She worked in Silicon Valley technology. At Slack Technologies, Inc., she was part of the management team that received a buyout in a $27.7 billion sale to Salesforce in 2021, “which allowed me to have the capital to say, ‘Where can I make an impact that’s bigger than myself?’ ” she said.
She looked at the WNBA, which historically has been in the forefront of social justice and activation initiatives. Rawlinson believed the WNBA was where she could make a difference.
“Eighty percent of the people on the court are African American women,” she said. “A large number of those people identify as LGBTQIA. The very predicate of the league is around equality, access opportunity, fighting for justice, getting space at the table. I think bringing my business expertise to sports can be a one plus one equals five.”
The WNBA is surging. Women’s sports are surging. That power was on display during the Olympics. Will it be on display during a presidential campaign when racial identity and issues will be front and center?
Rawlinson, 45, is headed back to Illinois, where the Democratic National Convention is set to begin in Chicago on Aug. 19, a day after the WNBA resumes its schedule. She hopes that the energy created in Paris by so many women and Black women will carry over into the election season.
She cannot tell players who to vote for, but the organization can create an atmosphere where voting is desirable.
“What we’re doing is having a huge drive and push for our players and front office, everyone in the organization, to just know about the ability to vote, how do they get registered if they’re not, encouraging them to take time off to do so,” she said.
“So, it’s very much of, ‘Do you even know the power you have?’ ”
They do.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Before she left the podium Sunday, Wilson, asked about the dominance of women at the Olympics, and gave an eloquent explanation for what the world just saw.
Women power.
“It’s nothing. We have women that have birthed children. There’s actually someone who was, like, six months pregnant here, crushing it,” she said.
“So, when it comes to showing up and showing out, I’m always putting my money on women, because we’re just phenomenal. The things that we go through, the weight that we carry, the mental aspect that we approach things in life — it’s not a lot of people that can crush it the way we do. So, shout-out to all the women that’s going out there.”
In an election campaign where gender will be front and center, that’s quite an endorsement.
-----------------------
By: William C. Rhoden
Title: At the Paris Olympics, power of Black women displayed at important time
Sourced From: andscape.com/features/at-the-paris-olympics-power-of-black-women-displayed-at-important-time/
Published Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2024 14:56:11 +0000
