IOC Will Still Outlaw & Punish Podium Protests In Tokyo

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will stand by its policies banning protests during medal ceremonies at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Other sports organizations have begun to loosen their rules against protests and demonstrations in the wake of worldwide outcry over the death of George Floyd. Even the NFL reversed its famous stance of not supporting players who took a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence against racial minorities. But the IOC made clear this week that it would still outlaw protests on the podium or medal stand, according to The Telegraph.

Back in January, the IOC released more specific guidelines for Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which prohibits political demonstrations in Olympic sites. The guidelines outlawed any political gestures or messaging on fields of play or during medal ceremonies or opening/closing ceremonies.

Some American football players in the NFL began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games in 2016. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick was one of the higher-profile players to do so. That protest even crossed over into the world of swimming, with Olympic champ Anthony Ervin kneeling during the U.S. national anthem at the Raia Rapida meet in Brazil.

Last summer, Olympic thrower Gwen Berry raised a fist on the podium at the 2019 Pan American Games. She was sent a letter of reprimand by USOPC CEO Sarah Hirschland and put on 12 months of probation. Hirschland has since apologized to Berry.

As protests continue worldwide over the death of George Floyd – a black man in Minneapolis who was taken into police custody and died as a white police officer pressed a knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes – the conversation over sport-based protests has reignited. The IOC’s firm stance against protests, though, is also in response to protests that are more rooted in sports themselves.

At last summer’s FINA World Championships, Australia’s Mack Horton and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott each protested their Chinese rival Sun Yang, who was competing despite a high-profile incident in which Sun challenged credentials of anti-doping agents and refused to provide a urine sample, an altercation that ended with a vial of Sun’s blood being smashed. This winter, Sun was handed an 8-year ban over that incident.

Last summer, Horton refused to take the podium with Sun, and after a different event, Scott refused to shake Sun’s hand on the podium, leading Sun to have a verbal outburst directed at Scott. FINA sent all three athletes warning letters and threatened to revoke medals over podium protests, according to at least one report.

The IOC, as a rule, will outlaw all podium protests for next summer’s Tokyo Olympics, though it’s not clear yet what the punishment would be for such protests.