On August 1st, US shot putter, Raven Saunders, made the first podium protest of the Tokyo Olympic Games, per Sky Sports.
The 25-year-old risked disciplinary action after crossing her arms in an "X" gesture during the medal ceremony, where she claimed a silver medal.
Saunders, who is Black, and an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights, asserted that she made the gesture in solidarity with "oppressed people". She added that she wanted to represent "people all around the world who are fighting and don’t have the platform to speak up for themselves."
And so, despite the International Olympic Committee having banned protests of any kind on the medal podium, the Games have a long history of dissent, stretching back to 1906, per USA Today.
Below, we take a look at 5 of the most famous political protests to have taken place at the Olympics...
1. 2021 — Mourad Aliev
On the same day as Saunders' gesture, French super heavyweight boxer, Mourad Aliev, staged a protest following his defeat by Frazer Clarke. He said that he did so because of the "injustice" of his disqualification, ESPN reports.
The 26-year-old sat on the Olympic ring apron in protest for around an hour after he was disqualified from the quarterfinal bout due to an intentional head butt.
Referee, Andy Mustacchio, disqualified Aliev with four seconds left in the second round after he determined that he had intentionally used his head to clash with his British opponent, who was left with cuts above each of his eyes, per BBC.
After the verdict was announced, the boxer sat down on the canvas, and remained unmoving for some time. "This was my way of showing that the decision was so unfair," he said via an interpreter. "I wanted to fight against all that injustice, and honestly today, also my teammates had unfair results. I trained my whole life for this, and I came into here, and because of one referee's decision, I lost. It's over."
After leaving once, and then returning fifteen minutes later, Aliev exited for good.
"I would have won, but it had already been written that I was disqualified," he added. "I prepared my whole life for this, so getting mad about this result is natural."
2. 2004 — Arash Miresemaeili
At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Iranian judoka, controversially refused to fight his Israeli opponent, Ehud Vaks.
Speaking at the time to IRNA, the one-time Iranian world champion said, per TIME: "Although I have trained for months and was in good shape, I refused to fight my Israeli opponent to sympathize with the suffering of the people of Palestine and I do not feel upset at all."
Following the Islamic Revolution back in 1979, Iran has refused to recognise Israel, and have gone so far as to praise athletes who boycott sports competitions with Israeli citizens, Reuters reports.
Per BBC, Iran was banned in October of 2019 by the International Judo Federation (IJF) for four years after they reportedly ordered Saeid Mollaei to withdraw from the World Championships in Japan in 2019, where he was due to face Sagi Muki of Israel. The suspension will run until 2023.
The Iran Judo Foundation has denied that they pressured Mollaei to withdraw from the matches.
3. 1968 — Tommie Smith and John Carlos
At the time of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, racial tensions were high within the USA, partly due to the recent assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
And so, when American runners, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, stood on the podium to receive their respective bronze and gold medals, they made history by raising their fists in a Black Power salute as the national anthem began playing.
Their fellow Australian medalist, Peter Norman, stood in solidarity alongside them, and wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge.
The outcry was intense — Carlos and Smith were removed from the Olympic village, suspended from the US team, and sent home. Norman was also snubbed by the Australian Olympics team in 1972, despite qualifying.
Their careers, sadly, never recovered — but they do not regret their actions. Speaking to the New York Times in 2016, Carlos said: "I'm proud of what we did".
"They never let us forget that we were wrong," Smith corroborated. "We were only ahead of our time."
4. 1968 — Věra Čáslavská
Another significant protest occurred at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when Czechoslovakian gymnast, Věra Čáslavská, took a stand against the Soviet regime.
Two months prior, the Soviets had invaded her country, per BBC, and Čáslavská — who had previously been outspoken about Russian rule — was forced to flee to a forest hideout, which interrupted her training schedule. This meant that she had to practice on homemade apparatus rather than in state-of-the-art facilities.
Čáslavská amazingly went onto win four gold and two silver medals at the games. However, during the ceremony, she turned her head away from the Soviet flag – or what she called the "invaders' representatives" — in a subtle snub to the regime.
She faced significant repercussions. Despite retiring after the Mexico City Olympics, she was prohibited from leading a normal life for the following 20 years — and was barred from coaching.
She was only welcomed back into the world of gymnastics after the fall of the Soviet Union.
5. 1906 — Peter O’Connor
In 1906, at the Olympic Games in Athens, Irish track and field athlete, Peter O'Connor, carried out one of the first, and most significant acts of political protest that the games have ever seen.
At the time, only athletes who were nominated by an Olympic Committee were able to compete, and that year, Ireland did not have a committee of their own.
This led the UK to claim O'Connor, who was outraged. The battle for Irish independence was gaining traction, and as a proud Irishman, the athlete supported the case for Irish self-governance.
In protest, O'Connor proceeded to scale a 20-foot flagpole in the stadium, and waved a green flag, which read "Erin Go Bragh" or "Ireland Forever".
O'Connor was never expelled or put on probation for his actions. In fact, he went onto win gold in three competitions two days later, and he took the opportunity to win his flag after each victory.
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