Americans protest on medals stand at Pan Am Games
support at home to dominate with gold medals and a likely ticket to Tokyo 2020.
Nearly 7,000 athletes competed in the games. A record 21 of the 61 sporting disciplines served as qualifiers for next year’s Olympics. The Americans finished atop the medal standings with 293, followed by Brazil with 171 and Mexico with 136.
The British Virgin Islands and Aruba won their first medals. Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Two Americans used their medal-winning moments at the Pan American Games to draw attention to social issues back home that they feel are spiraling out of control (see photo).
During their medals ceremonies at the multi-sport event in Lima, fencer Race Imboden took a knee and hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised her fist. Both athletes could represent the US less than a year from now at the Tokyo Olympics, where similar protests would be seen by a much wider audience.
“Racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list” of America’s problems, Imboden said in a tweet sent after his team’s foil medals ceremony. “I chose to sacrifice my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed.
“I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change.”
Berry raised her fist as America’s national anthem was played to honor her win in the hammer throw. She called out injustice in America “and a president who’s making it worse.” broke the 40-year-old Pan Am Games 200-metre record and El Salvador flexed its muscles winning both men and women’s categories in the debut of bodybuilding. Colombia’s two-time BMX Olympic gold medalist Mariana Pajon and triple Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist Mijain Lopez from Cuba cemented their legacy in their sports by winning it all.
Fans roared when the Panam Sports president said that they had been “the best Pan American Games
“It’s too important to not say something,” Berry told USA Today. “Something has to be said. If nothing is said, nothing will be done, and nothing will be fixed, and nothing will be changed.”
The history of high-profile protests at the Olympics dates to the 1968 Games in Mexico City, when sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists during the medals ceremony for the 200-metre in history.”
Although the Pan Am Games closed with a grandiose finale, the big bash will be likely followed by a bad hangover. Peru must return to the reality of its political woes. Former President Alejandro Toledo was recently arrested in the US following an extradition request. He’s wanted in Peru on accusations of taking bribes from Odebrecht, a construction Brazilian company at the center of Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal. In April, former dash.
The issues haven’t changed all that much in the ensuing 50 years.
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been out of a job since shortly after he started kneeling during the national anthem before 49ers games in 2016 to protest police brutality and social injustice in America.
Since then, athletes representing the US have faced scrutiny about what, if any, President Alan García mortally wounded himself with a gunshot to his head as officers waited to arrest him in a graft probe linked to the scandal.
Peru’s largest ever sporting event came at price tag of about $1 billion. Organisers said that was about half as much as Toronto 2015 and that the project created world-class infrastructure for the 9 million residents of the Peruvian capital located in a desert across from the Pacific Ocean. signs of protest they might show if they land on the podium at an Olympics or other major event. Among the issues that have been fodder for possible protest have been race relations, the treatment of the LGBT community, social injustice and disagreements with President Donald Trump.
The actions by Berry and Imboden will test the Pan Am Sports Organization and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s resolve to enforce rules that restrict political protests.
The USOPC said in a statement on Sunday that its leadership is reviewing possible consequences. Berry is on the US team that will head to the track and field world championships next month.
“Every athlete competing at the 2019 Pan American Games commits to terms of eligibility, including to refrain from demonstrations that are political in nature,” the statement said. “In these cases, the athletes didn’t adhere to the commitment they made to the organising committee and the USOPC. We respect their rights to express their viewpoints, but we are disappointed that they chose not to honor their commitment.”