Winter Olympics still lacking in color

Summary: The Winter Olympics are primarily filled with white athletes from all over the world. It might not sound like an issue, due to geographical statistics and context, but in reality, winter sports have been limited to black people, and minorities, through gatekeeping tactics such as economic access and general representation.

The Winter Olympics showcases amazing talent from countries all over the world.

There are 2,800 athletes from 91 different countries this year at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Sounds diverse right? Well, it’s not.

As I scroll through Instagram or Twitter on my phone and skim past highlights of the 15 different winter sports athletes are competing in, it’s hard for me to ignore the lack of color on the ski slopes and the ice rink.

It’s though the Olympics are skating on a thin sheet of “black” ice when it comes to diversity — it’s there, but you can hardly see it.

This year, 220 athletes from the United States take the stage with only 11 of those being Black Americans.

Why would this be a problem? Isn’t the NFL made up of around 70% black players?

The lack of diversity in winter sports is different though.

Unlike the NFL and NBA, winter sports are drastically more expensive to participate in and to be at an elite Olympic level, a lot of athletes need to start at a young age.

Ice Hockey can cost up to $7,000 a year on average for kids and teens according to Time magazine. Ice skating can be even more expensive ranging up to $35,000 a year from personal coaching fees, separate choreography fees, competition attire, travel expenses, and much more, according to Kaitlin Muhere’s article on Money.com.

Muhere also mentions that, “It takes gold, to make gold,” and that’s what the Winter Olympics underlying motto seems to be.

With the gateway of accessibility being very limited, it makes it harder for a minority group to engage. Not to mention, if you don’t see someone like you competing in these sports, why would you even consider them?

Another reason we don’t see enough black people in these sports is for geographical reasons. Some areas of the United States, where you can participate in winter sports, might have significantly lower numbers of Black people. And likewise, areas largely populated with Black people might not be near any mountains or winter sports facilities.

While this is true and does add context to these disheartening statistics, it only gives a glimpse into the major economic problems that these sports consist of.

This is where representation comes into play. It’s so important to see people who look like you on big stages like the Winter Olympic Games.

Even if those numbers are small right now, it’s even more important to push for diversity through different outlets to allow for inclusivity and opportunity.

Adding exposure to the sport not only grows the sport, but it also grows it in one of the most positive ways — by including different types of people from different backgrounds and perspectives. Exposure is always good, but retainment is the ultimate goal.

“To become elite, we [black people] need something more than just exposure and that limited access, so that becomes the next barrier,” Kenneth Shropshire, CEO of the Global Sport Institute said.

Currently, there are clubs and organizations in the United States that are trying to bring more people of color to the sport.

The National Brotherhood of Skiers is a non-profit organization doing just that. NBS was founded on the idea to bring people together, especially people of color, and expose them to the world of winter sports. The goal is to not only expose, but to train minorities at an elite level of participation.

Another group in the U.S. making strides like this is the nonprofit organization, Black Hockey Girl Club. Their mission state coincides with the idea of battling exclusion based on race, gender, and sexuality and even more specifically, “financial gatekeeping and program access”. 

Black Hockey Girl Club provides education and scholarship opportunities to help combat the financial restraints that lie within the sport. They do so with a large following of nearly 30,000 people on Twitter.

These kinds of organizations are just the start — they are changing the landscape and stigma that is in winter sports.

The popular snowboarding company Burton features a black man featured on their front page. Now, I’m not saying that one picture solves the issues, or that the issues are even close to being solved, but years ago, there probably wouldn’t have been a black model on any part of the website.

As we start to see improvements within this landscape, there are still bigger issues to battle before we can start to see black people as a normal addition to the Winter Olympics and not so much as an anomaly.

“I think the barriers are too severe for that to happen,” Shropshire said. “But I think that’s a longer-term horizon of addressing racial disparities, economic disparities, in general.”

Progress is slow, but it is happening, and it’s important that it continues to happen and doesn’t slow down at any rate because when I’m older and scrolling through my social media again, I want my feed to be filled with melanin on the ice and the snow.