Breitbart-
DENVER — The letters went to the two protesters. The message was meant for a much wider audience.
The CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee sent letters of reprimand to hammer thrower Gwen Berry and fencer Race Imboden for protesting on the medals stand last week at the Pan American Games, but the 12-month probations that came with the letters also included a none-too-subtle signal for anyone vying for next year’s Olympics.
“It is also important for me to point out that, going forward, issuing a reprimand to other athletes in a similar instance is insufficient,” Sarah Hirshland wrote in the letters sent Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained copies of the documents.
Neither Berry’s raised fist nor Imboden’s kneel-down on the Pan Am medals stand were met with immediate consequences, in part because they happened at the tail end of the games that were wrapping up in Lima, Peru.
Hirshland’s letter was as clear a sign as possible that athletes who try the same next year in Tokyo could face a different reaction.
It’s the IOC’s role to discipline athletes who break rules that forbid political protest at the Olympics — much the way the IOC triggered the ouster of John Carlos and Tommie Smith after their iconic protest in 1968 — though national federations can get into the mix, too. Before going to the Olympics, athletes sign forms stating they’re aware of the rules and won’t break them. more here
Put him on a plane, drop him is Syria and let the chips fall where they may. Maybe he will develop an appreciation for America before they cut his F’ing head off.
If we learned anything since Trump was elected it’s that rules are meaningless without consequences.
IMO, going to international competition to represent your country, and its finest competitors in the sport, then deliberately showing contempt and disrespect for it merits significantly more than just a 12 month probation.
But I’m an insignificant nobody, what do I know?
Can Paralympians stand for the Anthem?
It should have been a one year suspension (or maybe two).
Either you represent the USA or you don’t. Stop with the fake representation if your not sure just what country you want to be from, I don’t want to donate money to a fraud.
12 years would have been better. Enough time to be beyond physical prime, and long past peak honed skill.