Tag: olimpiadas

This movie follows the most dramatic moment in Olympic history and now you can watch it streaming

The Olympics are about brotherhood, human achievement, and celebrating the will of the human spirit. Unfortunately, it is also the perfect occasion to perpetrate notorious acts of terrorism. With basically all the countries of the world represented there, with the best athletes in the world gathered in one place, there is no moment when more people will be looking at a single point at a given time than during the Olympics. And everyone knows that. A questionable massacre This became evident during the Munich massacre, during the 1982 Olympic Games. The terrorist group […]

The Olympics are about brotherhood, human achievement, and celebrating the will of the human spirit. Unfortunately, it is also the perfect occasion to perpetrate notorious acts of terrorism. With basically every country in the world represented there, and the best athletes in the world gathered in one place, there is no moment when more people will be looking at a single point at a given time than during the Olympics. And everyone knows that.

A Questionable Massacre

This became evident during the Munich massacre, during the 1982 Olympic Games. The terrorist group Black September, a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, kidnapped several Israeli athletes demanding the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as the founders of the Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, imprisoned in West Germany.

The rescue attempt was an absolute disaster. With eleven athletes and coaches dead, a fallen police officer, and five of the eight members of Black September killed, the police operation was an absolute disaster. And the reprisals from the state of Israel, in their own way, were not much better, organizing Operation Spring of Youth and Operation God’s Wrath, where hundreds of Palestinians died.

This context is important because it arrives on streaming September 5. A film that narrates these events, choosing a very particular point of view: that of the ABC Sports news team that decided to cover the kidnapping and the resulting police operation minute by minute.

Using many archival images from ABC itself, the film contemplates the limits of journalistic information. And it does so with actors in a state of grace. Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch are some of those involved in the film, giving a more than evident weight to a movie very aware of the gravity of the events. And they are walking in the footsteps of a previous film: Munich, by Steven Spielberg, released in 2005.

The difference between both films is that, while Spielberg was more interested in the political side of it, Tim Fehlbaum, director of September 5, is more interested in the journalistic aspect. Without judging or wanting to weigh in on the motivations of the terrorists or the state of Israel, it invites us to think about what the role of journalism should be in these dramatic moments of history.

The Perspective of Journalism

Considering how the situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened and the relations between Palestine and Israel, the film is not only more relevant now than at the time of its release on August 29, but it also serves to reflect on the role of journalism regarding the current conflict. If there is really good work being done in how the acts of terrorism from Palestine are covered, but also the reprisals, in the form of state terrorism and, probably, genocide in the face of history, of the nation of Israel.

September 5 is a tough but tremendously interesting film that is now available for streaming on Paramount. And you shouldn’t miss the opportunity because few films have managed to better capture the underlying conflict in all journalistic work between the duty to inform and the awareness that, perhaps, what is being done is part of the problem.

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Paramount+ is the app for the streaming platform of the same name from ViacomCBS. It offers hundreds of episodes of TV series, shows, and movies of all genres.

Now video games are sports, which electronic sports are more likely to be seen at the 2025 Olympic Games?

The esports Olympics are now official, but we don’t know which games will be the lucky ones. However, we decided to speculate a bit about it.

If there was one thing we didn’t expect from 2024 it was the announcement of esports Olympics. Starting in 2025 and taking place over several years, they won’t be traditional Olympics, as they have hinted. The problem is that they haven’t provided many details about it. That has led us to speculate. What games should we expect to see in these Olympics?

Before going into details, it is important to clarify that the IOC has already explored the idea of organizing the Olympic Games for electronic sports. In 2023, they organized a week of the Olympic Games for electronic sports, where they selected a series of games in which the athletes competed. That’s where we’ll start. We will discuss the games that participated during that week and speculate which ones are likely to be included, and then we will mention those that do not seem to be aligned with the spirit that the IOC seeks, but that should still be included. After all, they will be part of the Olympic Games, although electronic sports are a very specific phenomenon. Whether the IOC likes it or not.

As mentioned, during 2023 an esports week was held as part of the Olympic Games. Represented through a series of virtual sports, it is expected that these sports will return again for the 2025 Olympic Games. However, we warn that they may not be the games that most people would expect.

Divided among archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, driving, sailing, shooting, taekwondo, and tennis, the chosen video games to represent these sports are, to say the least, peculiar. Tic Tac Bow, WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS, Chess.com, Zwift, Just Dance, Gran Turismo, Virtual Regatta, an unnamed game created for the occasion, Virtual Taekwondo, and Tennis Clash were the chosen ones. Perhaps representing the Olympic spirit, but not so much the spirit of eSports.

Following what we have already seen, it is expected that more sports that are already common within the Olympic Games will be added. We will probably see basketball, swimming, soccer, gymnastics, athletics, and all kinds of ball games. Now, which games will they choose to represent them?

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In another time it would have been a big problem, but it is true that right now there is practically a monopoly within each sport. In football we have EA Sports FC 25. In basketball we have NBA 2K25. In American football we have NFL 2K5. And there is no alternative. While for other sports, you can always resort to mobile games, or perhaps less known titles outside their particular niches.

The problem, once again, is that while this may feel Olympic, it hardly feels like an eSport. After all, when we talk about eSport, we are not talking about competing in Zwift or Just Dance. Even if it is perfectly legitimate for them to be considered as such. We are talking about a different kind of games that, due to their competitive scene, have become games that have attracted a whole competitive scene around them. And those are the ones that the IOC should not forget if they want to succeed.

Among these games, we would love to see competitions of StarCraft 2, Counter-Strike 2, Valorant. Clan of Clash already has a vibrant competitive scene from which to take advantage of its structure. There is a whole array of fighting games to choose from, but not having at least Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 represented would feel like it’s not an eSports event at all. And although this generates obvious logistical problems, League of Legends and DOTA 2 events, even in parallel, could be the icing on the cake.

This is what remains to be seen if the IOC understands. That esports are not just video games that adapt sports. They are also video games that are sports in themselves. Like chess, being a sport, whether digitalized or not.

They haven’t clarified much about how they plan to manage all of this. It’s not just that everything is open, it’s perfectly possible that they have already thought about it. In any case, this is what we wish and hope they are aware of. Let the IOC know that sports and esports are different things. And if they want to turn esports into an Olympic event, treat them with the dignity they deserve.

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The first Esports Olympics will take place in 2025

The International Olympic Committee announced the creation of the Esports Olympics, but they have left us with more questions than answers.

Are video games sports? The most common argument is that if chess can be considered a sport, albeit an intellectual one, video games should not be excluded from that definition. Even less so when there are more and more games where physical fitness plays an important role. Competition has always been a key element in many video games. What we didn’t expect is that the IOC would have the same opinion.

The International Olympic Committee has voted in favor of the creation of the Esports Olympic Games. This event will take place over the next twelve years, with regular events during that period of time. It has not yet been clarified which video games will be played, what the conditions for participation will be, or even what determines if a video game can be considered a sport or not. What they have announced, before everything else, is the date and location where they will take place: in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.

The fact that Saudi Arabia is behind this perfectly explains the speed with which it has unfolded. It also shows how they have managed to get the IOC to approve this idea. Taking over as many important events as possible is a way to legitimize their country and their regime. They have been harshly criticized in the past for attempting similar campaigns with events related to professional soccer or WWE Wrestling.

Without any details beyond the event being slated for next year, it seems unlikely that organizers will be able to pull this off. It feels completely unfeasible that an entire lineup of sponsors and qualifiers can be put in place, as more than a century of Olympics have shown to be necessary. If we add in the fact that Saudi Arabia is an unfriendly country for women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals, it is likely that representation in certain esports will be greatly affected, unless boycotts are threatened in this regard.

Although it is possible that the organizers may have already considered all of this, but not made its considerations public yet, it seems unlikely that the IOC has planned a well-structured event. It only just stated that it would study the possibility of hosting this type of Olympics in 2023. Therefore, while we still need to see all the information about this event, the initial news does not make us optimistic. Not because this event doesn’t make sense or is impossible, but because it doesn’t seem to have been created with the care or intentions it deserves.

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