Satish Sekar

Sport unites but opinions divide. There are many great Olympians – there have to be. Zambia is a very interesting case study. The last time Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games was 1964 and Zambia is a special case and not because I happen to be here again. When the Olympic Games last graced Japan, Northern Rhodesia marched at the Opening Ceremony, but the days of white supremacy in the land of Mosi oa Tunya (‘The Smoke which Thunders,’ as the Victoria Falls should be known,) were numbered.

Sixty years before the Centennial Games of 1996 Jesse Owens overcame horrific racism home and abroad to enter Olympic history. His talent and achievements made a mockery of the Third Reich’s claim to be the Master-Race, but he and his black teammates (18 of them) faced appalling racism in the USA too. President Franklin Roosevelt refused to congratulate Owens or other black medal winners despite their great sporting displays, and they discriminated against American Jewish athletes too.