In the past, I’ve been a strong believer that politics and sports do not merge. Politics is one thing, sports are another. In fact, if you had asked 11-year-old me, I would’ve said politics and sports are almost complete opposites.
Since then, I realized that everything has exceptions. When we examine major sporting events, such as the Olympics, it becomes clear that sports and politics are often intertwined. Politics in sports has its own share of controversy caused by national pride, geopolitical tensions, and social issues, which frequently spill onto the playing field.
Recently, during the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, an Ukrainian athlete, skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, was dismissed from the Olympics for wearing a helmet that honored the dead men of his country who fought in the war. This intersection of sports and politics has raised questions: Should athletes be drawn into political discourses, or should their sporting achievements be completely separate from their national identities? After all, there has been so much going on recently that ties sports with politics. The war between Russia and Ukraine, Trump being sexist to the U.S. women’s hockey team, and LGBTQA+ rights and activism.
It’s hard to ignore the importance of international sporting events—they serve as platforms for countries to demonstrate their abilities, and for athletes to show off what they have been training for. Despite performing in these grand competitions, athletes are still real people, and they still experience the same things that we do. Wars, sexism, human rights, these are all interconnected with our everyday lives and show up in politics. And, as it’s vital to incorporate politics in our everyday lives because it allows us to stand up for ourselves, athletes should be allowed to perform the same political duties as us. We have seen athletes use their platforms to advocate for social justice, taking a stand against injustices, or even boycotting events in protest. Each act, however small, contributes to the narrative that sports do matter in discussions of global politics.
