U.S. public opinion on protests by Olympic athletes 2021
Olympic origins
The Olympic Games are one of the world's largest international athletic events, comprising summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of competitors from all over the world compete in a range of disciplines. Inspired by sporting events held in ancient Greece, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin oversaw the tournament establishment in 1896 with the objective to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating the population through sport with a spirit of friendship, and fair play, the modern Olympic was designed to link sport with culture and education, with a spirit of friendship, and fair play. In light of this it is not surprising that activist athletes have saw the Olympics as a legitimate forum to promote those values whenever they saw them violated. The first athlete protest within the Olympics reputedly took place during the 1906 Olympics in Athens where the Irish long-jumper Peter O’Connor, climate a flagpole to unfurl a large green flag embroidered with a shamrock, harp and the words “Erin Go Bragh” (Ireland forever), in support of the Irish independence movement.
1968 Olympics ‘Black Power salute’
On October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. The Mexico City Games were the first to be telecast live and were watched by roughly 600 million viewers worldwide. During the medal ceremony of this Summer Olympic Games event, Smith and Carlos, who won gold and bronze respectively within the 200 meter sprint event, turned to the US Flag and maintained lifted their hands until the song was over in a move that has since been regarded as one of the most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympics. In the aftermath of their protest Smith and Carlos were suspended from the national team, expelled from the Olympic village and sent home to the United States. They were largely ostracized by the US sporting establishment; they were subject to criticism and abuse; and alongside their families, received numerous death threats.
Contemporary issues
The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted historic social and economic impact. The recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations have highlighted the need for further progress in the issues surrounding institutional racism, inequality, and police reform and the many ever-present concerns such as anthropogenic environmental change continue to be as unresolved as ever. More than 50 years after the Mexico City Summer Olympics, many Olympians are still prepared to face punishment in order to effect social change and bring attention to many of these ongoing global issues. The digital audience of the 2020 Tokyo Games is projected to be close to 5 billion people making it an extremely attractive platform for social commentary but while the International Olympic Committee IOC has recently amended a regulation that would have prohibited all protests, it still intends to limit athlete activism to before the competitions begin and continues to maintain a ban on protests on the podium.