The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are well underway, with Team USA showing its strength in events from gymnastics to shot put. Throughout the games, a variety of topics have swirled in conversation: How has Paris handled health risks? How do athletes respond to performance challenges? What is the role of Black athletes in the Olympics, both in modern times and historically?
Emory’s experts from across disciplines are leading voices on these topics and more. Discover their thoughts on the foremost questions, impacts and effects of the 2024 Olympics.
Paris as a global city and Olympics host
Sam Cherribi, associate teaching professor of Middle Eastern studies and adjunct professor of economics with Emory College of Arts and Sciences, notes that all eyes are on Paris for the duration of the Games, which lives in the context of both the city’s past and present.
“The Olympics highlight any city, but Paris, with its rich history, revolutionary heritage and strong social model, stands out uniquely,” says Cherribi. “France remains a bastion of democracy and human rights, countering negative narratives with a celebration of its inclusive, cosmopolitan nature. The Games offer a moment for France to reaffirm its dedication to diversity and inclusion. Paris is poised to remind the world of its legacy as a city where everyone, regardless of their national origins, can find a place.”
Staying healthy in the Parisian heat
Arash Harzand is an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology in the Emory School of Medicine. Harzand discusses the impacts of the high temperatures on athletes and fans alike.
“Extreme heat places increased demands on the heart and vascular systems in a few ways. As heat raises overall body temperature, so will the body’s need for more oxygen. The body then also needs to cool down. These increased metabolic demands can place a major burden on the heart to pump more blood to deliver more oxygen to muscles while simultaneously increasing overall circulation to help cool the body down,” says Harzand.
“A healthy person, such as a conditioned athlete, shouldn’t have any problems dealing with this temporary stress on the heart. But there may be an element of the unknown for the risk of heat exhaustion, stroke or even life-threatening cardiac events, especially for anyone with known or undiagnosed heart disease. I think everyone, including athletes, should take general precautions and not let things escalate.”
How athletes respond to and overcome mental and physical challenges
Hillary Rodman, associate professor of psychology at Emory College, notes the critical role of sleep in athletic performance and how mental health is addressed at the Olympic level for athletes.
“There are significant disruptions to sleep and normal daily timing of activity, eating and socializing, and thus the underlying physiological and mental processes. The looming risk of injury — with its implications for both the athlete and their team or country — also takes a mental toll,” says Rodman. “Disruptions to normal circadian rhythms of activity and training are a major stressor for Olympic athletes. In general, athletic performance is at its peak in the evening, when core body temperature is at its peak. However, evening competitions are an added stressor for circadian rhythms and sleep, in part due to the sleep-inhibiting effects of bright stadium lighting, late-night meals and meetings, and enhanced body temperature and cortisol release at a time when these should be ramping down.
“Providing services for athletes’ mental health per se has become a central focus for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, especially given the highly publicized and successful advocacy by American stars such as Simone Biles and Michael Phelps,” Rodman adds. “In addition, there is a clear bidirectional relationship between impaired mental health and injury risk: unsurprisingly, athletic injuries are often followed by depressive episodes, but prior depression and anxiety also predict higher incidence and poorer outcomes for injuries. Knowing about these interactions may help better motivate athletes to prioritize their own mental and emotional wellness.”
History of Black Olympians and the role of race in sports
Carl Suddler, associate professor of history at Emory College, discusss the historical impact of Black athletes at the Olympics and ponders the influence of Black athletes in the 2024 Games.
“Historically, the Olympics have been a stage for Black athletes from the United States to not only demonstrate their exceptional athletic gifts but also an opportunity to bring global awareness to pressing matters of present interest relating to our lived experiences at home,” says Suddler. “Since George Coleman Poage became the first Black athlete to win an Olympic medal for the United States in 1904, Black athletes have regularly been called upon to represent the country’s better interests, even at times when the country did not reciprocate this courtesy.
“From Jesse Owens and his Olympic teammates in 1936 to Alice Coachman and her Olympic teammates in 1948; from Wilma Rudolph and her Olympic teammates in 1960 to John Carlos and, arguably, the most famous team of Olympic athletes in 1968 — the stories really are endless, and I’d encourage people to dive into these pasts,” he says.
“I’m excited about the Black athletes competing for Team USA (and the diverse range of events) in these Olympics in Paris. They will definitely leave their mark on the Olympic medal board, which may inspire the country to keep moving forward.”
Cultural influence of Black athletes at the modern Olympics
Valerie Babb, Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities in African American Studies and English at Emory College, shares on the contradictory roles Black athletes often inhabit when representing their teams at the Olympics.
“Black athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics inherit a paradoxical legacy. Despite their own nation’s uneven recognition of their civil rights, in the visual culture of the global stage they and their predecessors are cast as symbols of America’s equity,” says Babb.
“In 2024, Coco Gauff and LeBron James, the flag bearers for Team USA, are photographed sporting the fashionable Ralph Lauren white jacket of the U.S. team, blue and white striped shirts, jeans and white bucks. In this case, this image represents an equity, a comfort with Black Americanness that hasn’t fully manifested. Contemporary pictures of Black athletes in all-American gear, photographed against the backdrop of the flag convey a racial resolution that is still in the offing.”
In fact, James — the flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony for Team USA — is the subject of Babb’s most recent work “The Book of James: The Power, Politics and Passion of LeBron.”
“As LeBron James carries the flag for the U.S. Olympic team, his Blackness and his Americanness are seamless, and that is the point. No matter what our ethnic backgrounds, our races, genders, sexualities or geographies, America works best when our Americanness and our many lineages are able to exist with the seamlessness James so elegantly displays.”
The role of Black athletes in the fight for equality
Raja Malikah Rahim, a 2023-24 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, notes how Black athletes utilize a world stage to bring race-related struggles to the forefront of conversations.
“The Olympics is — and always has been — the biggest arena to advocate for racial and social justice and to fight for freedom and equality. For prominent Black Olympic athletes, sports and politics have always been intertwined, and challenging the politics of race has always been the struggle,” says Rahim. “On the biggest stage in the world, Black athletes display their political and racial consciousness. They do not ‘shut up and dribble’ or just stick to sports and prove, contrary to white myths, that Black people can swim.
“Simone Manuel, the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming at the Rio Games in 2016, has used the international stage to denounce the prevailing racist stereotypes and rhetoric surrounding Black people and swimming,” Rahim adds. “This is Sha’Carri Richardson’s first Olympics. Despite the backlash that she received following her suspension from Team USA for a positive marijuana test in 2021 and early criticisms regarding her ability to perform, Richardson has retaken to the track with vengeance, reflecting the resilience and self-determination that has been deeply rooted in the Black experience since slavery and Jim Crow segregation.”
Brand sponsorships and advertising at the Olympics
Michael Lewis, professor of marketing at Goizueta Business School and host of the sports analysis podcast Fanalytics, notes the incredibly influential role of advertising in the Olympics.
Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa won a silver medal in women’s gymnastics and, following her win, went viral for a 2021 brand sponsorship campaign with Parmigiano-Reggiano, which featured photos of the gymnast with wheels of cheese.
“The Olympics is always cast as the purest form of human competition. All the countries of the world come together for athletic competition rather than conflict,” says Lewis. “But the Olympics is a bit of a paradox, because it is also an almost entirely pure advertising platform at this point. An Italian gymnast wins a silver medal, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese goes viral.”
To see more of his Olympic commentary, head to the Fanalytics website or TikTok page.