Tommie Smith believes the time is right for athletes to protest at Tokyo Olympics

U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, top center, and John Carlos, top right, extend their gloved fists skyward during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968. And that puts the IOC at odds with U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which last year issued a four-page statement that said Rule 50 of the IOC charter, the one that still bans most political gestures, “violate athletes’ rights to free speech and freedom of expression.” As a result Gwen Berry, who finished third in the women’s hammer throw at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore, earning a ticket to Tokyo, was not sanctioned when she turned away from the flag as the national anthem played. At this point in time, given what we’ve seen in terms of George Floyd and others, we need the continuation of massive standing up,” said Vickie Mays, a UCLA professor and director of the school’s center on minority health disparities, comparing the 1968 Mexico City protests with the decisions of WNBA, NBA and Major League Soccer players to support Black Lives Matter protests last summer. “It’s masses of athletes standing up now, backed by teams, backed by leagues to some degree.” Smith, 77, saw his career end when he took his stand at the Olympic Games.