The inherent unfairness of the Olympics

The Olympics can hardly fail to be the greatest show on Earth. For the last two weeks, the world has been transfixed by sports which attract little interest at any other time. From beach volleyball to BMX bike racing to obscure forms of wrestling – all, briefly, seem to be vitally important, such is the prestige of winning a gold medal.

Yet at the same time there is something rotten about the modern Games. Their pretension to moral virtue is too often at odds with reality. They impose such a burden on their host cities that only a few countries in the world are capable of staging them.

The 2024 and 2028 Games were apportioned between the only two cities, Paris and Los Angeles, left standing after others, including Boston, Budapest and Rome, withdrew their bids. For a sporting event which claims to be bringing the world together, it ought to be an embarrassment that we are unlikely to see the Games hosted in a developing country again, after Rio de Janeiro struggled to cope in 2016.

There are many moments from Paris 2024 that will live on in the public imagination, not least the closest men’s 100 metres finals in history. Yet for many people one of the most memorable images will be of the Italian boxer Angela Carini falling to her knees after receiving a beating from the Algerian Imane Khelif, who last year was disqualified from the women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association after tests showed her to have male chromosomes. Carini, who lasted only 46 seconds in the ring, said she had never been hit nearly so hard in her life.