The 2024 Summer Games in Paris were exciting and historic, with many countries bringing home medals for the first time in their nation’s history.
This includes countries like Botswana, which saw sprinting star Letsile Tebogo win Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal after he blazed through the men’s 200m final in 19.46 seconds, the fourth fastest time in history; and Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who overcame humble beginnings and a lack of resources to become the country’s first-ever individual gold medalist.
The Olympics, and this year’s in particular, has always been a place where social issues clash with athletic competition, the former carrying more importance than the latter.
We saw the fight for equality and basic human rights on display through Jesse Owens in 1936 and again in 1968 through Tommy Smith and John Carlos, fights which continued long after the Olympic torch was extinguished.
In 2024, the plights of Palestine, Ukraine and Muslim women in France took centerstage.
The horrific killings of innocents in Palestine have destroyed families and devastated people across the world who continue to plead for the end of the attacks in Gaza.
Russia’s continued attack on Ukraine, which has gone on for over two years now, is still a global crisis that countries and individuals across the globe are trying to find a way to end.
And France’s Islamaphobic rulings that prevented the country’s female Muslim athletes from competing in hijabs was a disgusting decision, one that the IOC should have taken action against before the Games even started.
But the situation in Haiti is one that fell under the radar at the Games, and it’s deserving of much more attention.
Haiti sent seven athletes to Paris to compete in boxing, athletics, gymnastics, swimming and judo. While none won a medal, their participation was something that stood stronger than either gold, silver or bronze.
The country is in the midst of a gang war that has ripped the nation apart, but the commitment of the athletes to compete represents the love they have for their reeling country.
“It’s showing that we are still capable of being on a world stage and being a positive image in spite of all the turmoil and instability that’s going on, to give a beacon of hope to the younger generations, especially young athletes, that they can get to the Olympics as well,” said Haitian swimmer Alexandre Grand’Pierre to The Associated Press.
And just getting to the Olympics was the biggest challenge these athletes, their families and their coaches faced.
Following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, the country was in a state of disarray. Gangs took advantage of the situation and seized control of most of the country.
Now Haiti is basically at a standstill, including the capital of Port-au-Prince.
Gangs have exerted control over daily life, blocking humanitarian aid, looting businesses and buildings, freeing almost 5,000 prisoners and causing chaos across the island.
Haiti’s athletes haven’t been exempt from the devastation, as many have been killed and others, including coaches, have been fleeing the country to avoid the same fate.
Yet this situation didn’t just flare up. Some of it can be blamed on hurricanes that have continued to batter the island and the massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake of 2010 which killed over 200,000 people.
But the roles played by France and the United States in Haiti’s destabilization and demise loom largest.
Haiti was under French rule, but in 1791, slaves revolted and ultimately won the country’s independence in 1804. Afterward, they kicked out the former slaveowners, organized the country and became an independent, Black-led nation.
But France and America, both profiting from slavery, refused to let Haiti stay free or flourish.
So America, angered by slaves daring to fight for their freedom, squeezed the country economically, robbing it of the profits that the country rightfully deserved from the lucrative sugar and coffee trades.
Then France decided to go for the jugular by sending warships to Haiti in 1825, demanding the country pay an outrageous fee of 150 million francs for its independence.
Haiti, of course, didn’t have that money, especially since they were being economically strangled by America. So it was forced to take out loans, from a French bank no less, at exorbitant rates, and over the next 122 years paid an estimated $20 to $30 billion to the country which had once enslaved it.
That essentially kept the country in poverty for over a century.
When you couple economic distress with natural disasters and political turmoil, you get the exploding pressure cooker that Haiti became over the last few years, leading to the state of chaos the country is currently facing.
Yet despite the turmoil and violence, seven athletes did everything they could to prepare and qualify for the Olympics. They gave everything they had to show the world that although it was reeling, Haiti was still a proud nation loved by its people.
The Olympics represented more than just athletic competition to the seven athletes from Haiti.
It was an opportunity for these athletes, who risked their lives and navigated through chaos to train, to show their former oppressors and the world that they were still standing proudly.
And they did it on the very soil of the country that contributed to its current state of chaos.
