For decades, Rule 50 of the Olympic charter has prohibited athletes from protesting or other politically motivated demonstrations during the Games. Many, including the U.S., have called for its repeal. However, in a press release Wednesday, the IOC reinforced protests would be banned at Tokyo Games.
For decades, Rule 50 of the Olympic charter has prohibited athletes from protesting or other politically motivated demonstrations during the Games. It states, in part, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” In January 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) clarified that Rule 50 prohibits “hand gestures or kneeling,” as well as political messaging like signs or armbands. That June, as social justice demonstrations took place around the globe in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s athlete council called on the IOC to abolish Rule 50 and develop a new policy, with athlete collaboration, that protects athletes’ freedom of expression. In a letter, the athletes—including sprinter John Carlos, who raised his fist on the podium at the 1968 Games and was subsequently expelled from Olympic competition—wrote, “Athletes will no longer be silenced.” However, in a press release Wednesday, the IOC doubled down on Rule 50, indicating that it would accept recommendations from its Athletes’ Commission (AC) to “protect the field of play, official ceremonies and podium” by upholding the ban on protests in these venues. According to the IOC, a quantitative survey which started in June 2020 and involved more than 3,500 athletes representing 185 different nations and all 41 Olympic sports found that “a clear majority of athletes said that it is not appropriate to demonstrate or express their views on the field of play (70% of respondents), at official ceremonies (70% of respondents) or on the podium (67% of respondents).
