The Kamila Valieva Debacle Reveals What the Olympics Really Care About

The Olympics are undeniably a spectacle. Professional athletes, at the top of their respective fields, spend their lives preparing for a flash of potential glory, and we get to watch them achieve (or tragically miss) those milestones on prime-time television. Yet hard work, inspiration, teamwork, love of sport—the values embodied by the Games, according to countless commercials paid for by major corporations—are, in practice, secondary to the show. The Olympics are a product, and this year, the fact was impossible to ignore. At the Winter Games in Beijing, the women’s figure skating competition became mired in scandal when gold medal-favorite… Read Full Article