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In a still from video, Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych holds up a sign reading “No to war in Ukraine” after finishing his men’s skeleton competition at the Beijing Olympics on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. (NBC via AP)
BEIJING (AP) — Katie Ormerod did a morning workout at the Big Air Shougang, one of the venues hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics. Shortly after, the British stopped in the press area to give some quick interviews.
The issue wasn’t how long Ormerod could spend in the air after jumping off his snowboard, nor what tricks he would look to pull off.
“I’ve been asked a lot of questions about climate change at the Olympics,” said Ormerod, one of several winter athletes who have become activists on the issue. “And I think that’s especially because it’s obvious that a lot of artificial snow is being used for these Games.”
Everywhere, athletes are showing their support for political and social causes. It’s part of a wave of activism in the sport that has blossomed in recent years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during the national anthem before games to protest. against police abuses suffered by blacks in the United States.
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BEIJING-ACTIVIST ATHLETES
The Olympic Games are no exception. Not even here in Beijing, where pro-democracy protests were violently crushed by the government in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and where almost all forms of civil disobedience trigger at least government rejection.
Perhaps the most specific example of activism in these Games is that of the Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych. Competing in the skeleton, Heraskevych held up a banner displaying his country’s flag and the message: “No war in Ukraine,” a reference to Russia’s growing military build-up that has raised fears of impending military conflict.
“I fight for peace,” Heraskevych said.
He added that he had planned to “show the world where he stands” since before the Olympics.
“We’re seeing athletes getting more and more involved throughout sport,” said Noah Hoffman, a one-time US Olympic skier and current member of the global athlete advocacy group Global Athlete. “And yes, I think this is only going to continue to grow.”
Protests have long been restricted by the International Olympic Committee, but rules were relaxed last year to allow limited on-field Olympic activism.
Last year, during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, soccer players went down on one knee as a gesture against racism.
In other competitions, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka and Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton have publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement. Osaka has also spoken out about her emotional health issues, as has legendary American Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom has drawn attention to the situation of Tibetans and the Uyghur ethnic group in China.
Protests at the podium remain prohibited. This means that the probability of repeating the gesture of raised fists, clad in black gloves, made by the American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, is low.
At that time, both were expelled from the Olympic Village and suspended by the IOC.
In Beijing, the activism of the athletes would have been less, due to fears of what the Chinese communist leaders could do to silence criticism of the human rights situation in the country.
A Games Organizing Committee official warned ahead of the Games: “Any conduct or expression against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, will also be subject to certain punishment.”
Human rights organizations responded by advising athletes to remain silent while in China. They mentioned the case of the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai, after she accused a prominent Communist Party member of sexual abuse.
Peng has since reappeared publicly, but has said his accusation was misconstrued. Last week, she was seen at various events in Beijing.
Natalie Geisenberger, a German luge competitor, has said she was undecided about whether to attend the Games, citing various concerns, including those related to human rights.
Hoffman, who was on the cross-country ski teams at the 2014 and ’18 Winter Olympics, has maintained communication with a current member, who refrains from speaking out on political issues before returning to his nation, considering that “it is not worth the It’s worth taking the risk.”
“When athletes are asked to bring phones other than the ones they normally use and to rent computers, they know this is not normal,” Hoffman said. “They have been told that they will not have any privacy, that everything they say will be monitored. So of course they’re not talking, and that’s scary.”
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AP video journalist Brittany Peterson contributed to this report from Copper Mountain, Colorado.