Youth Talk

The Games are in full swing! Yes, the controversies over Brazil’s hosting continue but, thankfully, none of that drama prevented Rio from staging a dazzling opening ceremony as shown in last week’s GulfWeekly.

Random bullets may have been found and diving pools might have turned green but none of that have deterred the athletes from continuously delivering stellar performances.

American swimmer Michael Phelps continued to make history, winning his 23rd gold medal at the time of writing. American teenager Katie Ledecky has won four gold medals in swimming. Fiji won its first ever Olympic medal, that too being a gold, for rugby sevens. Debuting country Kosovo reached for the stars by winning a gold in judo. And, of course, being Singapore-born, I have to give a special shout-out to Joseph Schooling. The Singaporean swimmer not only won the first gold medal ever for his country but in doing so set a new Olympic record in the Men’s 100m butterfly.

But it’s not always about the medals and new world records. They say a picture speaks a thousand words and indeed one widely circulated picture taken during the Games has sparked widespread discussion.

The aforementioned picture focuses in on a rally during a game of women’s beach volleyball, with the Egyptian team playing against the Australian women. While the Australians play in the standard bikini the Egyptians are fully covered, with one player choosing to wear a hijab. The stark difference between the two teams has led to many terming the picture as a symbol of cultural diversity.

I’d like to commend the Egyptian team members for not conforming to the norm and choosing to uphold their own personal beliefs. In unstable times such as the present it is important to recognise that while we might all have different beliefs and practices we all must learn to co-exist.

Hats off to the Olympic Games for acting as a bridge between different societies and cultures! On a final note, come on Team Bahrain!