"I feel heartbroken for the Olympic athletes" - Riley Gaines on the impact of "Last Supper" re-enactment at Paris 2024 opening ceremony

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Jul 29, 2024 04:50 GMT

Riley Gaines has come down harshly on the re-enactment of 'The Last Supper' at the opening ceremony of Paris Olympics. For the unversed, the organizers had put on a re-enactment of 'The Last Supper', which is a holy reference in Christianity. The organizers aimed to make the setting more 'diverse and inclusive', but ended up mocking the entire reference, leading to massive criticism on the social media.

Riley Gaines, who has been consistently vocal on these issues, posted about the same on her X account,

"I feel heartbroken for the Olympic athletes [many of which are friends] who trained their entire lives to compete on that stage but will now have significantly fewer eyes watching and admiring because of the satanic, blasphemous display put on by the Olympic organizers." [via @Riley_Gaines_]

The Paris Olympics' opening ceremony has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. From organizing the parade of nations on the Seine river in drizzling conditions, to introducing South Korea as North Korea, to the Olympic flag being hoisted upside down, nothing was going right for the organizers. Riley Gaines consistently brought forward these blunders to light through her social media accounts, particularly X [formerly Twitter].

However, the re-enactment of 'The Last Supper' was the last straw for almost everyone, including Riley Gaines. Even a last minute clarification by the organizers of Paris Olympics couldn't satiate the anger of the masses.

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Riley Gaines and her persistent criticism of the Paris Olympics

Riley Gaines, an unequivocal advocate of women's rights in sports [Image for Representational Purpose] [Image Source : Getty]

Riley Gaines, who is a competitive swimmer and an advocate for women's rights in sports, has been extremely vocal about her criticism of the way Paris Olympics is being organized since the word go.

A couple of days ago, Riley Gaines had come down harshly on the U.S. Olympic Team for choosing NBA champion LeBron James as one of the flag bearers of the U.S. Olympic Team during the opening ceremony of Paris Olympics.

James kneeling during the anthem [Image Source: Getty]

LeBron James had once knelt down as a part of the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign in 2020. While that was not a matter of controversy, he did that gesture when the American national anthem played before an NBA game, which was criticized by many, including Riley Gaines.

So when LeBron James was chosen as one of the flag bearers, Riley Gaines posted on her X account,

"THIS is who was chosen as the U.S. flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Anyone who has ever knelt for the national anthem should be disqualified from this honor." [via @Riley_Gaines_]

Riley Gaines had competed during the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships, and had ranked fifth in the finals. However, that position was awarded to Lia Thomas, who was a biological male before the gender reassignment surgery.

Since then, Riley Gaines has been a staunch campaigner against inclusion of athletes with dubious backgrounds in women's sports, eventually succeeding to some extent when Lia Thomas and others like 'her' were barred from participating for the Olympic trials.