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The Winter Olympics started this week and I always find them to be difficult. Because as much as the Games want to tout themselves as being apolitical, we all know they are not. They’re not apolitical from a sporting standpoint, including who gets to compete. They’re not apolitical from a geopolitical standpoint, including which countries get sanctions and which do not. They’re not apolitical from a standpoint of how they impact the residents and citizens of the host countries. They’re not apolitical in terms of how climate change is impacting these sports (here is a petition asking organized skiing and snowboarding to stop promoting fossil fuels, which are the primary drivers of global warming), or in terms of who has historically had access to winter sports (hint: white, wealthy, Western people).

They’re certainly not apolitical this year, either. They’re not apolitical when NBC pulls Olympic ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis from Milan coverage citing a “conflict of interest” following the publishing of her recent memoir, in which she alleges controlling behavior and abuse at the hands of her former skating partner. They’re not apolitical when the IOC makes the Haitian athletes remove an image of Toussaint Louverture from their uniforms, which paid homage to the leader of the successful slave uprising that led to Haiti’s independence in 1804 (the IOC rules bar “political symbolism,” as if flags are somehow not political symbolism but ok!). And they’re absolutely not apolitical when the United States is deploying ICE agents to “support U.S. security operations” in Milan, to the ire of local officials (and forcing the U.S. to rename the hospitality center for their ice skating athletes from The Ice House to The Winter House out of fear of protest).

They’re also not apolitical when Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are being shown on the NBC broadcast sitting rinkside at a U.S. women’s hockey game, seated next to former Olympians (and anti-trans advocates) the Lamoureux twins, while anti-trans Team USA member Britta Curl is on the ice, just weeks after the public discovered that U.S. Hockey quietly banned trans athletes at all levels of sport. Earlier this week, I had an editor ask me to remove a quote from a story I was writing because she believes “politics are tangential to sports” and I need you to know they are absolutely not and this little rinkside photo-op is a show of power and intimidation from the anti-trans faction. It was a victory lap. And it was political as hell.

Before I was a sports writer I was a community organizer who helped defeat the Boston bid for the 2024 Olympics.

If you, like me, struggle to watch sports free from the broader context in which they exist, then this reading list is for you.

A new book published just last month, The Moscow Playlist examines the intersection of Russian sports and geopolitics, from the dominant Soviet teams of past Olympics to recent doping scandals and international sanctions. In light of conversations around whether Heated Rivalry is whitewashing Russia’s use of sports through the character of Ilya Rozanov, this book sheds light on that history (see also: The Plot to Kill The Olympics). Russian athletes will participate at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games under a neutral flag, maintaining sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While these measures may send a message to the international community, Berglund cautions that they have a limited impact domestically.

“Contrary to what the [International Olympic Committee] thinks, there is no such thing as an Individual Neutral Athlete,” he said in a press release. “In Russia, the political impact will be that each competitor cleared for the Games, even with neutral status, will be celebrated for defending the nation against an unjust, discriminatory punishment. ”

A collection of essays that profiles the wide range of activists and social movements that have historically organized against the Winter Olympics.

From the description: “If you don't recall the 1976 Denver Olympic Games, it's because they never happened. The Mile-High City won the right to host the winter games and then was forced by Colorado citizens to back away from its successful Olympic bid through a statewide ballot initiative. Adam Berg details the powerful Colorado regime that gained the games for Denver and the grassroots activism that brought down its Olympic dreams, and he explores the legacy of this milestone moment for the games and politics in the United States.”

Friend-of-the-newsletter Michael Waters has written one of the most important sports books out there, imo. “Waters’s book is as relevant today as it would have been during the events it chronicles,” I wrote in the intro to my interview with Waters in Baffler Magazine. “In fact, it’s eerie how the debates Waters recounts mirror the ones we’re currently having. In showing us our history, Waters’s book seems to suggest, we will perhaps not be doomed to repeat it.” And yes, I blurbed the book so you know I mean it.

Written by Harrison Browne, the first pro hockey player to come out as trans, and his sister, journalist Rachel Browne, Let Us Play benefits from Harrison’s lived experience combined with Rachel’s reporting chops. It’s accessible but thorough, and goes beyond just defining the problem with trans exclusionary sports policies; it gives us a path to victory in defeating them.

Better Faster Farther is the book about women’s running that I feel like I’ve been waiting for someone to write. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and provide a blurb for the book and I’ll let that endorsement speak for itself: “With her evocative prose and ever-present attention to detail, Maggie Mertens has written a much-needed examination of women's running. BETTER FASTER FARTHER is a thorough and blistering examination of how sexism, racism, and transphobia have so deeply impacted a sport that should be the ultimate democratizer. This book has the potential to change the sport as we know it, in all of the best and most necessary ways.”

Barbassa is a Rio de Janeiro native who tells the story of Rio de Janeiro’s journey to make itself presentable on the global stage of the Summer Olympics, combining history with interviews to present a full picture that is rooted in humanity.

Fun fact: I first met Dave Zirin long before I was a sports writer. When I was organizing against the Boston Olympic bid, Dave flew up on his own dime to speak at an event we hosted. Dave has been doing this work a long time and his book on the impact of two sporting mega-events on Brazil and Brazilians is a must-read.

I also recommend Boykoff’s Nolympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond. Check out this great interview that did with Boykoff ahead of the Paris Games.

This book is harder to find (hence the Amazon link) but is worth it if you’re really wanted to go down the rabbit hole of IOC corruption and peel back the argument of how apolitical the organization is (remember: it’s not).

John Carlos, an Olympian and an icon who even today is still at the forefront of sports activism (he spearheaded the #AthletesForCeasefire letter). His story and his words should be required reading for all fans of the Games.

If you want to know how we got where we are today when it comes to sex testing and exclusionary policies, this is the book. Pieper is an academic so it’s weedsy but is the most complete picture of the history of these policies out there. You can also listen to Reo Eveleth’s podcast, “Tested,” which brings the conversation to the present day (full disclosure: I appear in episode 6).