– Nikki Hillz she is a Californian athlete who identifies as gender fluid. I mean, she doesn’t even know it well. And she wants to let it be known that she runs the 1500 for the Lgbtxyz community. Legitimate. The point is that Nikki obviously doesn’t understand the paradox of her condition: she doesn’t feel like a “woman”, but rather fluid, but she decides to compete with women. Why? If she feels “transgender and non-binary”, as she claims, she should ask to transition to men (which, obviously, isn’t convenient for her: she wouldn’t even see the track). Nikki is actually confirming to us that the sexes, net of various borderline situations, such as disorders of sexual development, are two: male and female. Then you are free to perceive yourself as you prefer, obviously. But you are a woman and you will remain so.
– In Germany a pro-Palestinian activist risks up to 3 years in prison for shouting the slogan “from the river to the sea”. Now, this is a hateful battle cry since it presumes the non-existence of Israel. But sentencing a person to three years in prison for having supported a thesis, however bizarre, is outside our conception of democratic liberalism. Because today they apply it to pro-Pal, but tomorrow they could do it with those who claim that the sea is blue. Be careful, because it’s a short step.
– Some reason, Carlo Calendarhe has it when he claims that “if Matteo Renzi tomorrow he has to make an alliance with Casa Pound” because it suits him for some reason, “then he does it”. As if to say: dear Elly, don’t trust the former scrap dealer who is only interested in what can be most useful to him.
– The Seine It’s that miraculous river where free practice is forbidden but magically cleans up in time for the races. Pathetic.
– The Iba repeats that Imane Khalif And Lin Yu-Ting according to two tests “they are not men”. Or at least they present anomalies that call into question the legitimacy of their participation in the women’s Olympic competitions. How will we get out of this? We will never get out of this. And for a simple reason: neither the IBA nor the IOC can release medical data for privacy reasons, unless the two athletes give their consent. And I doubt they will. So we find ourselves in the paradoxical situation where one world federation supports the masculinity of the two boxers and another the opposite. Meanwhile, the media is divided between those who support the IOC and those who support the IBA, described by most as an organization dedicated to corruption and scandals. Therefore not reliable. True? Of course. But if this is the yardstick, then we should take into account the many scandals that have affected the IOC over the years, especially regarding the assignment of the Olympic Games to this or that country. Just to mention a historical fact: in 1998, the former IOC vice-president said that between 5% and 7% of the Committee members were involved in acts of corruption since the time of the elections for the editions of Atlanta (1996), Nagano (1998) and Sydney (2000).
– Yesterday the IOC said that DNA tests are not considered valid because “it is a question of human rights: they are illegal tests and conducted arbitrarily”. Hold back. It is one thing to claim that DNA tests were conducted poorly or rigged, it is another to claim that the chromosomes of female athletes should not be checked. Because if it is based only on the document (which can be modified) and on testosterone (which can be lowered), then I do not agree. Because the case of Imane Khelif must not open the doors to those men who in their countries can undergo hormonal or surgical transition, lower their testosterone levels and perhaps have their name changed on their documents. It would be unacceptable.
– Something doesn’t seem right to me in the statement of Thomas Bachthe IOC’s top boss, on the Imane Khelif case. He says: “A woman who was born, raised, competed and has a woman’s passport, how can she not be considered a woman?”. Be careful, because here the question of whether or not she is “intersex” disappears. I mean: if the issue is all in the passport (“she was born a woman and it’s written on her identity card”), then it doesn’t even make sense to put limits on testosterone: according to this theory, which we don’t share, if a DSD woman produces more male hormones than others she should be considered just blessed by mother nature. No one would ever have dared to disqualify Usain Bolt just because he had longer legs than average, right? Here. The point is that here we are not talking about gender transition or identity written on documents. Here we are faced with the hypothesis that the two athletes may have a particular medical condition (intersex? hyperandrogyny? XY chromosomes? internal testicles?) that cannot fail to be analyzed scientifically. The IOC does not have to tell us whether the DNA tests of Imane and Yu-Ting are “legitimate” or “arbitrary,” but whether they are “valid.” That is, whether they have a scientific basis. Based on this, and only this, we can discuss the rules: given that World Athletics is not a group of fascists but has imposed much more rigid limits than the IOC, and in fact they excluded Semenya without too many compliments, it is legitimate to ask whether the Committee on DSD athletes is a little too “inclusive.” I repeat: if a swimmer was born with three arms, wouldn’t we ask ourselves whether it is right or wrong for him to compete with someone who can only move water with two hands?
– Says the Greek doctor John Philippatusobstetrician-gynecologist and former president of the IBA medical commission: “The medical blood results told us that these boxers are men. I wasn’t there the day they were born. The laboratory results show that they have male karyotypes”. I don’t know if he’s right. But I also don’t understand why he should be wrong out of prejudice. For years we’ve given credence to every type of virologist, even when they were wrong, and this time we don’t give a damn about a doctor who should know his stuff?
– The problem is not finding worms in the fish at the Olympic Village canteen, as denounced today by the British swimmer Adam Peaty. It can happen even in the best restaurants. The tragedy is that in the name of sustainability, it was arbitrarily decided to reduce the amount of meat and proteins, even though everyone knows that an athlete’s first ally is the energy he ingests at lunch and dinner. Now. Put together the food that athletes don’t appreciate, the lack of air conditioning, the cardboard beds and ask yourself: what’s the point of making the Olympics “green” in this way, given that it is a polluting event in itself? I mean: hundreds of planes will have taken off to bring delegations from all over the world. To broadcast the event, hundreds of workers have been mobilized, crews that travel from one place to another by car, broadcasts that consume energy, lights on 24 hours a day, irrigation of the stadium lawn, data consumption for streaming, etc. etc. etc. Every single second of these Olympics has “polluted” the planet. What is the point, then, of persisting and trying to reduce the carbon footprint of the Olympic village? There is no reason at all: the environmental impact of Paris 2024, if all goes well, will be 0.000001% of global pollution in these two weeks. It is called greenwashing, but it is done at the expense of athletes who trained for four years to find themselves, on the most important days of their lives, sleeping in the garden. But ultimately it perfectly represents the European approach to the issue: cutting off one’s legs in the name of sustainability, even if the real advantage at a global level is close to zero.
– The world upside down Roberto Vannacci it also becomes “political reality”. Does this mean that the General will create a party? It is too early to say. But we can already easily say that it would be a suicidal project. Starting a party from scratch is a very complicated thing: you need money (much more than 30 euros per person who signs up) and above all contacts in the area, that is, people who already know about politics and who decide to help you in the enterprise. I do not believe that the generalissimo, however brilliant, has the strength to complete such a complicated mission.
– The debate on the less “bad” Italian Olympic athletes is involving our fencers and intellectuals of the calibre of Aldo Cock. In this case the latter is right. There are two different categories of sport: the one you do for fun and to keep fit, called “amateur”; and the professional one, which is a job in all respects. The professional must aspire with all his strength to victory, always and in any case. If this natural obsession with the podium makes you “suffer” psychologically and the athlete doesn’t have fun, then it’s his problem and maybe he should choose to change profession. But if you want to be a “champion” you have to show ferocity. Otherwise you won’t get far.
– The coach of Marcell Jacobs, Reider Frog, he was expelled from the 2024 Paris Olympics after being accused of sexual and emotional abuse by three women. The same argument applies to him as to many other similar cases: since he was not caught red-handed, but only because they were complaints, however hateful, he must be considered innocent. Therefore, revoking his pass now is a foolish thing. Do you remember the case of Fausto Brizzi? They lynched him, then two years later the court closed the whole thing “because the fact does not exist”. Be careful about creating monsters.
– Nothing. Republic he still hasn’t understood that Atreju’s Facebook page is satire.
How can we explain this to him?
– If you go to Moscow and with Russia at war you fly a drone near the Kremlin, whatever your objective, you are a bit of an idiot. Doesn’t it occur to you that you risk being arrested?