The Duck of Minerva

Outrage Blogging Continues: Aliya Mustafina

by Dan Nexon

3 August 2012, 2049 EDT

Andrew Sullivan’s blog has been running a series of reader reactions on the subject of the Olympics and nationalism. A recent entry:

Gabby Douglas’ gold medal is being hailed all over the place as a first for an African-American gymnast. But I believe it’s actually much more than that: Gabby is the first black athlete from anywhere to win the title, and one of very few to compete for it. I’m a good liberal, and all for the term “African-American” in its proper context, but in this case it seems to shrink the scale of Ms. Douglas’s first – and America’s. (Afro.com covers it here.) The fact that our country, while imperfect, is one where a traditionally elite (and still of course expensive) sport is open to anyone with the chops to win, gives me enormous pride. Seeing our multi-hued team of talented, determined young women – their families must have originally come here from all over the place – take apart the monochromatic, over-made-up, bawling Russians – that’s where I get my Olympic jingoism on. America f[–]k yeah.

Monochromatic? I guess “they” all look alike, eh? The Russian team captain, Aliya Mustafina, as her name makes clear, is ethnically Tatar. Recall that the Russian Federation is a multiethnic political community. Indeed, the Tatar’s faced significant discrimination and oppression during periods of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and continue to face hurdles outside of the Republic of Tatarstan–although, I should note, Mutafina’s father and sister are also successful elite athletes.

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

12 Comments

  1. Patricia
    Patricia on 4 August 2012 at 01.15 EDT

    Mustafina behaved like a spoiled brat … rude, pouty, sulky and, worst of all,  dismissive  to her coach.  She was an embarrassment to her country.  

    Miss Mustafina  should embrace the  wisdom of sportsmanship, courtesy and graciousness.  

    She demonstrated appalling behaviour in the 2012 Olympic Games.  

    • dnexon
      dnexon on 4 August 2012 at 01.37 EDT

      And this is relevant because….?

      Anyway, try watching the complete coverage without the commentary and editing. Ignore the fact that the only “humanization” you get is of the athletes from your side. If you do that, and forget the drama created by the networks….

      You’ll see a teenage girl frustrated with her performance in a high-stress situation who didn’t want to be consoled and shrugged her coach off. The horror.

      You’ll also see a lot of nice interaction among the girls from the different teams that was edited out.

      • Strelitzia1
        Strelitzia1 on 4 August 2012 at 02.08 EDT

        My “side” was not represented in the coverage  available to me  … Canada, if that was what  was  you were referring to.     

        Being an Olympian demands a degree of sportsmanship that transcends “teenage frustration”.    

        The network did not have to create drama … it was there, for millions to observe.  

        • dnexon
          dnexon on 4 August 2012 at 02.16 EDT

          Regardless, this is relevant because? I didn’t say she was a nice person, just thar the Russian team isn’t ethnically homogenous. There are plenty of places on the web to bash teenage athletes for not meeting your standards of proper conduct.

        • dnexon
          dnexon on 4 August 2012 at 02.44 EDT

          PS: I apologize for being caustic about this.

          I just am not that interested in getting outraged about the behavior of athletes who aren’t even out of their teens. And I don’t know why people get angry over this kind of stuff. My daughter competes in trampoline and tumbling — not at this kind of level, but she’s good enough to place at regional tournaments and she went to national junior olympics this year — and I’ve seen a range of behaviors from kids… who are dealing with much less pressure and much lower expectations, and some of them can’t hold it together.

          There’s some interesting commentary at https://www.thecouchgymnast.com/ and an article in particular about whether there are double standards for Russians here. Might be a better place to discuss your views.

    • Steve
      Steve on 4 August 2012 at 05.36 EDT

      Shes competitive,  im sure her coaches understand it and accept it. they probably love that quality about her, she will stop at nothing to be the best. maybe why she got bronze after tearing her ACL only a year ago..

  2. Andrew
    Andrew on 4 August 2012 at 20.36 EDT

    So the Russian team is not completely ethnically homogeneous. Hooray. I’d still bet the US (or, I don’t know, maybe Canada?) has the most ethnically diverse team in the Olympics, and I like the fact that my country represents itself in that manner.

    • Anthonyxb
      Anthonyxb on 4 August 2012 at 21.38 EDT

      Stop being commonsensical. Nexon wants to get his self-righteousness on. Someone dared root for/against someone…horrors! (and I say that as no particular fan of Olympic nationalism.)

      • dnexon
        dnexon on 4 August 2012 at 21.42 EDT

        The cheering was pretty intense in my household when the US won, thank you very much. But yes, I don’t think much of routing for your team by (1) painting the opposition as evil incarnate and (2) getting your facts wrong in doing so.

        Patriotism? Sure. Nationalism? Ok. Stupid nationalism? Meh.

        • Anthonyxb
          Anthonyxb on 4 August 2012 at 22.11 EDT

          Agreed on patriotism vs stupid nationalism. And you’re certainly right the Russian team isn’t monochromatic as the article you quoted had it.  “Over made-up and bawling” are the other insults from the author of that comment. 

          Perhaps it’s a biiiit of an overstatement to say that together those three terms equal “painting the opposition as evil incarnate?” 

          Or perhaps it wasn’t more than a bit of self-confessed jingoism?In any case, enjoy the games as they continue…. 

          • dnexon
            dnexon on 4 August 2012 at 22.19 EDT

            Fair enough; how about “being unnecessarily nasty about the other side and getting your facts wrong in the process?”

          • Anthonyxb
            Anthonyxb on 5 August 2012 at 02.22 EDT

            done!