Tokyo Olympics: will activist athletes test the rules by protesting on podiums?

The International Olympic Committee remains opposed to any kind of protest on podiums but US athletes in particular are poised to make anti-racism statements

If athletes protest, it is unclear how they might be sanctioned, as the rules state only that disciplinary action will be ‘proportionate to the level of disruption’

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US hammer thrower Gwen Berry (left) turned away while the national anthem played at the Olympic trials. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:17pm, 14 Jul 2021Updated: 12:27pm, 14 Jul 2021

Fifty-three years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s medal podium protest in Mexico City, a new generation of activist athletes is poised to take centre stage at the Tokyo Olympics.

US sprinters Smith and Carlos faced the ultimate sanction for their black-gloved salute of defiance in 1968, expelled from the Games in disgrace and returning home to be greeted by widespread opprobrium.

But while attitudes to Smith and Carlos have shifted over time – the duo are now celebrated as civil rights heroes – the International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains opposed to any kind of protest on medal podiums.

It means that US athletes determined to use their platform to draw attention to racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder last year are on a collision course with Olympic chiefs.

For years, the IOC has been guided by Rule 50 of its Olympic Charter, which dictates that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious, or racial propaganda” is permitted in Olympic sites or venues.

Yet that principle came under severe scrutiny during the tumult of 2020 and became viewed by critics as an outdated relic of a bygone era as athletes around the world showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.