Friday, July 26 marked the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris—the 33rd Olympic games since the modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896. This year’s event is the first Olympics for which Google has been named the official search AI partner of Team USA—and the first Olympics where commentators will be using artificial intelligence (AI) in their broadcasts. Through its incorporation of AI, the 2024 Olympics reflects the growing prevalence of the technology today—and in the decades to come.
As is the case with the Paris Olympics’ use of AI, changes in the Olympics often coincide with broader changes in the world at large. With this in mind, we’ll highlight four key Olympic moments and what they can tell us about the world at the time—and today, with insights from Steve Wyett, BOK Financial® chief investment strategist.
1904: First use of gold Olympic medals
Competing in the Olympics has become almost synonymous with “going for the gold,” but it wasn’t always that way. In the 1896 Olympics, only silver and bronze medals were awarded to the first- and second-place winners. The gold medal wasn’t introduced until the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, and it became the first-place award because gold is the scarcest of the three metals.
At the time, the average price of gold was $18.96 per ounce, according to the National Mining Association. That’s around $671 in today’s dollars. By comparison, now gold is around $2,400 an ounce, as of July 18. On a year-over-year basis, the price of gold is up nearly 20%, having hit an all-time high in mid-July. This rally is due to inflation spiking after the pandemic and the Federal Reserve having to raise interest rates—but the rally won’t last forever, Wyett explained. “If inflation continues to cool, gold prices might take a breather as well.”
Meanwhile, another factor is that global central banks have “turned from sellers of gold to buyers of gold over the last couple of years,” he noted. This shift has been to diversify their reserves, so that their currencies aren’t as vulnerable to shifts in value from perceived weakness or strength in their economies.
1936: Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics
Jesse Owens’ success at the 1936 Summer Olympics represented more than just personal achievement—or even national achievement, for that matter. As a Black man competing at the event, his triumphs flew in the face of Adolf Hitler’s theories about race. However, afterwards, Owens’ and other African-American Olympians’ successes tended to be downplayed or ignored in the U.S., where racial discrimination persisted.
Since then, as efforts to reduce racial discrimination in the U.S. continue, so has the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) efforts to foster better inclusion through sports. In 2021, the USOPC created a created a new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy that includes incorporating athlete expression, thought and participation into DEI practice. The USOPC also has a Diversity and Inclusion Council and keeps track of diversity within each sport; for example, nearly 35% of athletes on the 2023 U.S. National Team for gymnastics are people of color.
Across the U.S., corporate investment in DEI surged in 2020 and 2021 but dropped slightly in 2022, according to company benefit reviews on Glassdoor. Then, in 2023, a number of tech giants, including Meta and Google, made some cuts to their DEI programs as they doubled down on investments in AI. And so, why cut investment in DEI, despite some of these companies’ public stances affirming their commitment to it? “For some companies, it can be difficult to quantify the financial impacts of DEI programs, making them subject to shifts in sentiment within corporate budgets. However, other companies have found that a strong DEI program can broaden their customer base, reduce turnover, and increase innovation and access to talent,” Wyett explained.
1980: The U.S. boycotts the Moscow Olympics
As the Cold War was in full swing, the U.S. was one of 65 nations that refused to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympic games held in Moscow. The boycott was in protest to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and was meant to pressure the USSR to withdraw its army. Instead, the Soviet-Afghan War continued until 1989, and the Soviets reacted to the Moscow Olympics boycott by leading a communist-bloc boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Russia’s and Belarus’s national teams are not allowed to compete because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s decision to allow Russia to use its territory to carry out attacks. However, athletes from the two countries are allowed to compete in the games as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” Under the guidelines, a competing Russian or Belarusian athlete can’t display their nation’s flag, anthem, colors or any other identifying characteristics of the country. Through these decisions, the International Olympic Committee is taking a stance on geopolitics, reflecting the broad global sentiment against Russia’s invasion.
2012: First time female athletes compete from every country
Although women have competed in the modern Olympics since 1900, it wasn’t until 2012 that female athletes competed from every participating country. Up until that point, the number of countries that refused to send female athletes had been dwindling over time, until only three countries—Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar—remained. At the 2012 London Olympics, these countries finally sent both men and women, which was seen as a stride towards better inclusion of women in sports.
And it’s not just the athletes who have become more diverse. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, 40% of commentators are female, representing a nearly 80% increase from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a more than 200% increase from the Rio 2016 Olympics. Additionally, with the addition of Snoop Dogg and members of the “Saturday Night Live” cast to the Olympics broadcast team, organizers are trying to attract a younger, more diverse audience than in the past.
Meanwhile, across the globe, women are becoming better represented in traditionally male-dominated fields among continued efforts to increase the number of women in those fields. Take, tech fields, for example. Women made up only around one-third of the workforces at large global technology firms in 2022; however, initiatives and nonprofits like Oklahoma Women in Tech aim to grow those numbers. Across all organizations and industries, having a more diverse workforce helps employers and employees alike, Wyett said. “Having diverse perspectives helps companies make decisions which are more inclusive and maximizes their economic opportunities,” he explained.
To be sure, as members of Team USA compete, it’s unlikely that they’re thinking about the price of gold or these other moments in the Olympics’ storied past. However, the fact is: the trends and events that are shaping the globe are shaping the Olympics, too. Underneath the pomp and athleticism, the Olympics are a mirror for the world at large.
Top of page photo: Pascal Le Segretain - Getty Staff
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