The Olympics pose monumental risks to everyone unfortunate enough to be in their orbit, and this is true especially for workers – either workers who help make the games happen (construction, service industry, volunteers) to the athletes themselves. Labor exploitation and the Olympics are synonymous, and we’ve charted this history of rampant harm – everything from wage theft to psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse – in the modern Olympics, even the beloved 1984 games.

For episode 8 of the Rings of Hell podcast, we’re joined by members of DSA Los Angeles’ Labor and Healthcare committees to explore how the Olympics are always sold as being “good for labor,” while the receipts show the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.

For this episode, we invited Olympic author and expert Jules Boykoff to call in and give us a broad look at how the modern Olympics came into being, how their power is structured, and how they’ve evolved over the decades, growing more insidious at every turn. The Olympic machine has been around since the late 1800s and operated as a sort of sideshow. To this day the IOC still feels like it’s being led by carnival barkers trying to hook the next gullible sucker, and this conversation tracks how they’ve managed to stay alive and where they’re potentially vulnerable.

To read more by Jules Boykoff: julesboykoff.org

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.