olympiad

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Let’s face it: the Olympic Games are a pretty tight affair on an official level. The organization is accompanied by strict rules. In order to make it possible to organize the giant event with the minimum amount of chaos. Also because it is required by the Olympic Charter, i.e. the Olympic Constitution, which describes in detail what is and is not desirable and allowed.

In the Czech version, the charter has 64 pages. “Olympism is a philosophy of life, elevating and balancing the fitness of the body, will and spirit into one whole,” he doesn’t skimp on big words here. “The goal of Olympism is to engage sport in the service of the harmonious development of humanity with the aim of creating a peaceful society that cares about the preservation of human dignity.”

Another thing follows from this: if you release an “Olympic jester” into this dignified or deadly serious environment, success is practically guaranteed. Especially if, pardon the simile, the jester in the royal court of the Olympiad plays his part as it should be played. And the rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg, who is being talked about here, obviously played in Paris.

Measured by the viewership of NBC television, in whose services he was accredited as a fan-reporter, and measured by the impact on social networks, where he reaped millions of views a day, Snoop Dogg fairly decently stole the Olympic show.

Of course, nothing is more important at the Olympics than real winners with medals around their necks. But he became one of the phenomena of the games. The audience appreciated that, in addition to the planned fights and unplanned emotions, another “alien element” was mixed into them.

But that too is under control. Snoop Dogg, known as a long-time recreational user of marijuana, ruled out in advance that he would consume cannabis in Paris. (By the way, it’s not legal in France.) He behaved in an orderly manner, as befits and belongs to the Olympics.

But that didn’t prevent him from becoming a shareholder of one of Amsterdam’s during the Games coffee shop. It’s named after his song Smoke Weed Every Day (SWED) and so everyone knows where the wind is blowing from, there’s a sign above the entrance that says “a Snoop Dogg Store.”

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That a celebrity, for whom THC is part of the lifestyle and artistic image, has become involved in the Olympics makes Snoop Dogg’s show an even more “alien element”. After all, sport (and especially the Olympic Games) must be clean. Marijuana and hashish are on the list of prohibited substances. Spending at Snoop Dogg’s coffee shop would practically rule out a negative doping test. The Olympic Charter would cry.

Even that “forbidden fruit” vibe will be one of the things people enjoy about it all. Relax, cheer for Snoop Dogg -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, but you definitely don’t have to imitate him just yet. There is nothing admirable about smoking weed, just like drinking alcohol. Stay awake.

Snoop Dogg at the Olympics, it’s a win-win-win after all.

The first victory is for the Olympiad: She gained a new source and angle of audience attention, another “dimension” of her show. Snoop Dogg’s character helps her escape the contradiction of “serious entertainment”. Simple joy is enough. It’s just a sport.

The second victory belongs to the fifty-two-year-old artist himself: This is, at least commercially and in terms of the number of fans, an important success of his career.

The third “win” would still have to be confirmed in practice, and it is a long non-Olympic race: Marijuana is a drug, but it is also and will be widely distributed. A prominent “hustler” in the role of a top celebrity of the Olympic auditorium sends a message that the way is sensibly controlled legalization, not criminalization.

Olympics 2024 in Paris