(From L) Second-placed USA’s Raven Saunders gestures next to first-placed China’s Gong Lijiao, and third-placed Australia’s Liam Adams after comepeting the women’s shot put event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 1, 2021. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)
US Olympic medalist Raven Saunders protested on the podium after winning the silver medal in the shot put at the Tokyo Olympics. This is a clear violation of Rule 50. Athletes are not allowed to protest on the medal stand.
Saunders didn’t care. She disrespected the Olympic organization and broke the rules.
The International Olympic Committee is looking into the gesture used by U.S. athlete Raven Saunders on the podium after she raised her arms into an X above her head, in one of the most visible individual protests at the #Tokyo2020 Games https://t.co/IVYDfyuxyP pic.twitter.com/1pxLWLBffp
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 2, 2021
Saunders said afterwards that the “X gesture” represented “the intersection where all oppressed people meet.” She’s a victim.
She now risks losing a medal.
What we do know is that if this is allowed we will now have to endure years of woke athletes parading on the medals stand.
Another institution destroyed by the left.
FOX News wrote a fluff piece in defense of Raven Saunders:
Raven Saunders’ “X” gesture during the shot-put medals ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics “was respectful of her competitors and did not violate our rules related to demonstration,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said Monday.
The USOPC said it was “in discussion” with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Athletics, which governs the sport, over the gesture. IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters Monday the organization was in contact with the USOPC over the gesture.
“As with all delegations, Team USA is governed by the Olympic Charter and rules set forth by the IOC for Tokyo 2020,” the USOPC said in a statement, via Reuters.
“Per the USOPC’s delegation terms, the USOPC conducted its own review and determined that Raven Saunders’ peaceful expression in support of racial and social justice that happened at the conclusion of the ceremony was respectful of her competitors and did not violate our rules related to demonstration.”
The IOC had relaxed some of its rules regarding protests and political gestures at the Olympics but still barred demonstrations during medal ceremonies. The USOPC said it would not sanction athletes who demonstrated on the podium.
Saunders dared the IOC to “try and take this medal.”
“Let them try and take this medal. I’m running across the border even though I can’t swim,” she wrote.
“It’s the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet,” she said when asked what her protest meant.
The post No Respect: US Athlete Raven Saunders Risks Losing Medal After Flaunting Olympic Rules with Her Political Protest at Medal Ceremony appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.