Living like God in France: IOC personality cult
A cult of personality has ruled the IOC since 2013. Now God, some call him Louis Quatorze, is holding court in France. One of the most important questions of these Games in Paris: will IOC's propaganda department produce even more images of God than at the current record in Rio de Janeiro 2016?
Dear readers, my Olympic coverage starts tomorrow in this theatre. Almost four weeks of daily coverage From Paris with Love! There will be almost exclusively German articles here, next door at THE INQUISITOR the coverage will be in English. If you haven't subscribed yet, you should do so – it's worth it:
The Paris Games will be my ninth Summer Games since 1992, and I will be attending my 32nd IOC Session in Paris, having reported on 15 others from my desk. This experience will feed into my reporting, it will be enlightening and entertaining – stay tuned.
If you are still not familiar with my work, please have a look here.
IOC President Jacques Rogge once called me "The best documented
Olympic journalist."
Husain Al-Musallam, the dubious president of World Aquatics, who is still not in prison, told me some time ago: "I give a shit on you! I shit on German media!"
The truth lies somewhere in between, I think.
Detailed information about the Paris coverage (in the style of my Olympic coverage from Beijing, London, Rio, PyeongChang, Tokyo et al ...) will be available tomorrow, Friday, including the first articles from the Olympic History Channel. (Deutsche Leser mochten das immer sehr, Traditionen sind wichtig!)
In the meantime, have fun with this little reminder of the previous IOC God photo record in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, which Thomas Bach has never visited since (you know why, if you don't know you should ask Pat & Carlos). We'll see what's brewing in Paris. We will be following God closely during the Olympic Games – although we will be denied access to the IOC hotel. God doesn't like to be disturbed.
The IOC is further restricting freedom of movement + press freedom @Paris2024. The restrictive media policy under IOC Holiness Thomas Bach and chief propagandists Mark Adams/Christian Klaue, who are paid millions during the Olympic cycle, continues ... /1 @AIPSmedia @RSF_inter pic.twitter.com/ZqF9Xm2Pwl
— SPORT & POLITICS (@JensWeinreich) July 15, 2024
Back in Rio, it almost seemed as if the Olympic Games were a one-man show from the point of view of the IOC propaganda directors Mark Adams and Christian Klaue, who both earn much more than two million dollars in the Olympic cycle (i.e. more than all Olympic champions receive from the IOC). Bach's personal photographer Ian Jones probably took all of these photos at the time (there are even more, much much much more, this small selection will suffice for today). So: All credits to IOC and Ian Jones.
