Hello and welcome to the G0 World Podcast.

This is where you'll find extended versions of my interviews on public television.

I'm Ian Bremmer, and with President Biden's stunning withdrawal from the 2024 race,

Democrats have acted with remarkable speed and solidarity past the torch,

Vice President Kamala Harris.

At the same time, the world's most elite athletes are gathering along the Sen in Paris to light a more literal torch of the Olympic

variety to see what I did there. Look, the U.S. presidential campaign has already had more

twists and turns than the Olympic surfing competition, a new sport this

year, by the way, in the former French colony of Tahiti, of all places, wish I was going,

but the world will keep spinning regardless of what political bombshell drops next in Washington.

So today, I offer you that precious of all gifts, an episode about something other than the

political horse race here at home. But don't think this is going to be some kind of kumbaya.

We are the World Olympics show because geopolitics loom large at this year's games.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Israel, Hamas war, threats of terrorism, disinformation,

and the outcry over the

removal of migrant encampments in Paris all threatened to overshadow the City of Light's

big celebration. And then there's the IOC itself, which has drawn criticism in recent years

for its troubling closeness with authoritarian regimes. They awarded the Games to Russia in 2014, China, in 2008, and again in 2022, despite ongoing

human rights abuses in both countries.

Calls are growing for more transparency in the IOC, which has faced accusations of corruption,

of bribery, and of bid rigging.

Now, the IOC insists the Olympics aren't at all political,

...