Leaders plan to get tough on athletes who protest

Athletes looking to express their political or social views at the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will have to deal with a new set of guidelines covering what is — and is not — allowed.

The “no-no” list includes any signs, armbands and hand gestures. It prohibits taking a knee or otherwise failing to adhere to strict protocol during the medal ceremony. The International Olympic Committee issued the three-page update relating to its Rule 50 during a meeting between the executive board and the athletes’ commission in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.

“Although Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter has been providing a framework to protect the neutrality of sport and the Olympic Games for many years,” the IOC stated, “it was felt that there was a need to provide clear guidelines to athletes as to when and where they could express their views during the Games.”

The clarification drew immediate pushback from the sports world, with critics noting that it would have outlawed an iconic moment at the 1968 Mexico City Games when American sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists on the podium.

“Let’s be clear, the Olympic movement has already politicized sport,” said Global Athlete, a grassroots movement started by Olympians.

Jules Boykoff, a professor who studies the Olympic movement at Pacific University in Oregon, pointed out Olympic leaders have a history of awarding the Games to cities in authoritarian countries accused of humanrights violations. “The bottom line is, the International Olympic Committee specializes in selective ethics,” he said. “This is the next chapter in that.”