The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has responded to calls from American athletes by announcing it won’t sanction them for raising their fists or kneeling on the medals stand at next year’s Tokyo Games and beyond.
It’s a response to a set of recommendations from a USOPC athlete group that seeks changes to the much-maligned Rule 50 of the IOC Olympic Charter, which prohibits inside-the-lines protests at the games.
It was this rule that most famously led to the ouster of U.S. medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City after the sprinters raised their fists on the medals stand to protest racial inequality in the United States.
