Road To Rio, Russia, and The Grief Of The Khans

Edge of Sports

Dave Zirin / The Nation

Sports, History, News, Politics, Sports News

4.8 • 619 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2016

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Olympics are here and as I head to Rio, Edge of Sports has David W. Larkin, an attorney who focuses on the corruption of sports organizations like the International Olympic Committee, about the decision to not suspend Russia from the Olympics. We ask him which is more corrupt: the IOC or FIFA? His analysis may surprise you. We also have some "choice words" about the Rio Olympics - of course - and why ten years ago, almost no one thought having Brazil as a host was a bad idea. But I start the show by speaking about the Khan family, and remember when a Gold Star Mother was attacked ten years ago because she stood up to the war that took her son's life. I speak about Cindy Sheehan. The Just Stand Up award goes to activist WNBA players who refused to bow to NBA and WNBA chiefs Adam Silver and Lisa Borders, and won.David W. Larkin, esq. https://twitter.com/SportCorruptionLarkin’s talk at the American Bar Association Meeting: “Corruption’s New Arena: International Sports in a Post-FIFA World” 3:30 PM Moscone Center West, 3rd Floor, Room 3014, San Francisco, CACourt of Arbitration for Sport http://www.tas-cas.org/en/index.htmlZirin columns:The Last Dance: On Heading to Olympic Rio https://www.thenation.com/article/the-last-dance-on-heading-to-olympic-rio/Budget Failures, Displacement, Zika—Welcome to Rio’s $11.9B Summer Olympics https://www.thenation.com/article/budget-failures-displacement-zika-welcome-to-rios-11-9b-summer-olympics/The Problem With the International Olympic Committee’s Decision on Russia https://www.thenation.com/article/the-problem-with-the-the-international-olympic-committees-decision-on-russia/—This week’s poll question: Are you watching the Olympics this year? Or are the stories about Rio overwhelming your ability to love the events themselves? Call 401-426-EDGE (3343) and leave us a message.—http://edgeofsportspodcast.com | http://twitter.com/edgeofsports | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@slate.com—music: No TV No Radio - Peace https://soundcloud.com/notvnoradio, The Captain - The Bossa Fella's Funk http://thecaptain.it, The Kount - Jupiter https://soundcloud.com/the-kount Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Edge of Sports podcast. I'm Dave Ziron. I am on the road to Rio, heading to Brazil to cover the 2016 summer games.
0:08.9	Today I'll set the stage and speak to one David W. Larkin, an international sports and anti-corruption attorney, about the Russian non-ban put down by the International Olympic Committee and whether this organization can actually be
0:22.9	reformed.
0:27.0	This game is so old, and it's one that Americans don't even slightly understand.
0:33.3	And that is that sport has nothing to do with sport.
0:37.6	Sport is your politics.
0:39.0	Sport is about soft power.
0:44.2	But first, a quick word on this.
0:53.4	Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future.
1:02.0	Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution?
1:10.0	I will read the United States Constitution.
1:20.5	I will gladly lend you my copy.
1:27.3	Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?
1:28.3	Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America.
1:37.3	You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities, you have sacrificed nothing and no one.
1:54.2	I don't think I've breathed since Kizir Khan said this, his wife, Gazala, by his side,
2:07.5	her face, an absolute portrait of grief at having lost her son in Iraq a decade ago.
2:13.5	It was unassailable except for the one person who assails everybody.
2:18.7	And sure enough, remember, this was Donald Trump's response to the Khan's grief.
2:23.8	If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say, you tell me, but plenty of people have written that.
2:28.2	And then he didn't just stop after that. Donald Trump, during a weekend where pretty bad economic news came out about the
2:36.8	country, instead was in a four-day fight with a gold star family. The profound Islamophobia on display,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Zirin / The Nation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Zirin / The Nation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.