Colin Kaepernick

NIKE

Two years ago Colin Kaepernick sat down during the US national anthem before a pre-season game, afterwards telling reporters: “I’m not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting away with murder.”

In the final pre-season game, instead of sitting, he went down on one knee during the anthem, describing it as a sign of respect as well as a protest on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement. The gesture caught on with other National Football League (NFL) players but it aroused a furious response from the soon-to-be-elected president of the US, Donald Trump, who, once he was in power in 2017, called upon NFL team owners to fire players who followed Kaepernick’s example. Kaepernick was runner-up as Time’s 2017 Person of the Year. Time noted that he was set to become the first star athlete since the Vietnam era to lose his career because of his beliefs.