The International Olympic Committee (IOC) half-opened this Tuesday three days before the start of the Tokyo Games, the door to the political activism of sportsmen.
Indeed, the members of the IOC validated the extension of the freedom of expression of the sportsmen, envisaged at the beginning of July by the executive board, crucial subject taking into account the movement “Black Lives Matter” and the debates which agitated the recent Euro of football.
Article 50 of the Olympic Charter had hitherto banned any “demonstration or political propaganda”, and had served in particular to punish American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos for having brandished their black-gloved fists on the podium in the 200m of the J0s. -1968 from Mexico.
Do not target specific people, countries or organizations
Games participants will now be able to express themselves on political or societal issues when speaking to the media, during team meetings, on social networks and even just before the start of their events.
But the door opened by the Olympic body is still equipped with a peephole.
Because the IOC still prohibits demonstrating during the events, on the podiums, during the anthems or in the Olympic Village, or to "target people in particular, countries, organizations and touch people in their dignity", under penalty of sanction.
It remains to be seen if the participants in the Games will respect these limits, as the American sprinter Gwen Berry recently turned her back on the American flag during the US anthem during the "trials" of Eurgene, where she won her qualification for Tokyo.
Sport
Winter Olympics: Ski mountaineering, a new Olympic discipline at the Milan Games, in 2026
Sport
Olympic Games Tokyo 2021: Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, "remains on alert" but is confident before the Games
Sport
Olympic Games
Tokyo Olympics 2021
Black Lives Matter
Freedom of expression