Tokyo 2020: Olympic protests are part of Games history despite IOC ban
- Mexico 1968’s Black Power salute is the most iconic podium protest but it was far from the first
- From apartheid to Cold War, politicisation of Games has been constant from IOC, countries and athletes
There is a long history of protest around the Olympic Games, experienced by residents who do not want the city to host them, the IOC and governments, as much as the athletes themselves.
Tokyo 2020 is likely to be little different, despite the International Olympic Committee’s announcement of new guidelines banning athletes from making political, religious and ethnic demonstrations.
The first response came from Global Athlete, a group looking to represent Olympians, on Twitter. It called out the IOC’s own politicisation of sport and called for athletes to stand together. “Silencing athletes should never be tolerated,” it said.
US football gold medallist Megan Rapinoe made as much clear when she responded to that news on social media. “We will not be silenced,” she wrote on Instagram along with an image of raised fists within the Olympic rings.
The raised fist is a particularly poignant image as it evokes one of the most iconic photographs in Olympics history, arguably the most defining image of the Games.
That came in Mexico City in 1968, of course, but it was far from the first. Here we take a look at that and other protests that have helped define the Games.
