The performance was intended to represent the Voyager spacecraft golden record (Picture: Zuma)
Russia’s foreign ministry has slammed a key component of the Paris Olympics closing ceremony – calling it ‘obvious Satanism.’
Maria Zakharova made the remarks on her Telegram channel, referencing the ‘Golden Voyager’ performance, which had been intended to represent the gold-plated vinyl record launched on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
Zakharova didn’t see it that way.
She wrote: ‘The only thing worse than the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris could be their closing. France did not miss this chance.
‘Everything is in plain text: a fallen angel turns people into zombies, subjugates humanity to his will, which has less and less time left.
‘It never occurred to anyone to put forward the favorite argument – “you’re all lying” – in response to such obvious Satanism.’
Maria Zakharova thought it had a deeper meaning (Picture: EPA)
The dancers in white may represent the white vinyls France produced for the Voyager space craft (Picture: Reuters)
France helped to produce the blank records which turned into the golden ones on Voyager (Picture: NASA)
The closing ceremony in Paris featured the Golden Voyager segment – included because France produced the blank vinyls which were sent into space with NASA’sVoyager spacecraft in 1977.
For this summer’s Olympics, both Russia and Belarus were banned from sending teams to Paris due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been supported by Belarus.
The athletes from each country who did compete were given the acronym ofAIN, which means Athlete Individuel Neutre, which is French for individual neutral athlete.
At the previous Olympics in Tokyo, Russian athletes were forced to compete under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee – or ROC for short – after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) handed Russia a four-year ban in 2019 for running a state-sponsored doping scheme.
All athletes who were invited to Paris have been checked by an IOC panel to make sure that they had not endorsed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or have any military links.
Russian and Belarusian athletes who competed in Paris will not be able wear their national colours, display their flag or play their anthem.
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