Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS / EFE
Joe Biden inaugurated his presidency at the beginning of this 2021, a year that has had many other protagonists In America, as Elon Musk championing the cryptocurrency fever, the singer Britney Spears fighting for her emancipation or the gymnast Simone Biles focusing on mental health.
These are the ten protagonists of 2021 chosen by EFE:
JOE BIDEN
The premiere of Joe Biden as US president was more turbulent than expected. He took office before a stunned country by the assault on the Capitol on January 6 and with the purpose of closing the wounds left by the mandate of his predecessor, Donald Trump, while leading the economic recovery during the coronavirus pandemic .
Your challenge has been altered by a wave of job abandonments, the slow vaccination campaign against Covid – 19, the failure to withdraw from Afghanistan and rampant inflation, which have led to its approval is at all-time lows as it fights with its own party to pass its most important measures.
SIMONE BILES
In a time fraught with tension for millions of people, Simone Biles, the star of the Olympic gymnastics team , lit up the co Conversation about the importance of mental health when decided to withdraw from the competition due to psychological problems during the last Tokyo Games.
Biles, winner of five Olympic medals in 2016 and victim of sexual abuse by her Coach, came to the competition under enormous pressure : “There were a couple of days when everyone was tweeting at you and you felt the weight of the world. We are not just athletes. We are people after all, “said Bile after the abandonment.
FRANCES HAUGEN
His name jumped at the first line when he revealed his identity in a television interview. Frances Haugen was the woman behind the leak of documents in which Facebook admitted that its social networks enhance hatred, misinformation and are harmful to the mental health of young people.
The revelations of Haugen, who collected all the information when he worked on the company, have intensified the debate on the limits of the internet and the enormous power of a handful of companies in a industry that has gone from being admired to being questioned to the same extent as the tobacco companies of the last century.
ELON MUSK
Elon Musk is the “Person of the Year” according to Time magazine and the richest man in the world according to the Forbes list. The tycoon dominates the future of motorsports with Tesla and his other company, SpaceX, won an exclusive contract with NASA to return to take US astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
Musk, who does not miss the opportunity to be the center of attention, has capitalized on the fever for investing in cryptocurrencies and is capable of causing rises and falls of the New York Stock Exchange with a simple comment.
JEROME POWELL
Jerome Powell leads the Federal Reserve (Fed) since 2018, but the world has never been more aware of him than in 2021. When the US has the highest inflation at almost 40 years, Powell is the head of the institution that puts a price on money.
Powell has always insisted that inflation is “transitory” although he has also come to question whether that is the appropriate term at the moment. In any case, he has defended ending stimulus gradually and waiting for the recovery to consolidate before raising interest rates, something that everyone expects next year.
BRITNEY SPEARS
Icon of the decade of the 2000 and eternal “princess of pop”, Britney Spears made headlines again when she said this summer that she was not “happy” and that she came to work against his will for legal guardianship that has allowed his father to control all the decisions of his life for more than 13 years.
In November he achieved her long-awaited freedom, but the case questioned the treatment Spears received by justice, the media and the public when I barely had 20 years. Up to four documentaries have been released that provide a disturbing view of her fame and the constant scrutiny to which she was subjected.
TIGER WOODS
When the vehicle that Tiger Woods was driving collided with an embankment and rolled down the slope last February in Los Angeles, few imagined that less than a year later the golfer, of 45 years, I would return to competition.
Ten months after the accident, Woods returned to action with a second place finish alongside his son Charlie, from 12 years, at the PNC Championship . “A great day, with the family. I’ve had a great time. My son and I have had a great time playing together. Charlie didn’t seem nervous and I can still put a couple in there, ”he said during the tournament.
JOE MANCHIN
Rarely a senator acquires as much prominence as Joe Manchi n. Before a Senate split in half between progressives and conservatives, your vote is essential to approve Biden’s plans, but the politician draws his own line and tends to distance himself from the Democrats.
Senator from West Virginia, Manchin has been juggling his survival as an elected Democratic office for over ten years in one of the most conservative states in the country and now, with his negative vote, he threatens to overturn the ambitious social spending plan drawn up by Biden. There are days when all of Washington depends on him.
KEVIN DURANT
With three Olympic medals, the last as captain of the US basketball team , Kevin Durant is one of the most complete players in the NBA and the main candidate to win the MVP of the season.
The forward returned to the field after recovering from a serious injury to the Achilles tendon and led his team, the Brooklyn Nets, to the top of the rankings as the top scorer of the year .
OLIVIA RODRIGO
The rise to stardom of Olivia Rodrigo has been fulminating. With 18 years went from being a child actress to writing the most listened song of the year, “Driver’s License”, which in just five months surpassed the 750 millions of plays on Spotify.
Gen Z icon, Rodrigo was invited to the White House to promote the vaccine among young people and has received nominations in the four most important categories of the Grammy for “Sour”, the best album of the year for media such as Rolling Stone and Billboard, which also has gold and platinum certification in a dozen countries.
By Javier Romualdo