An important debate is brewing about free speech at the Olympics. After years of the International Olympic Committee restricting the free expression of athletes at the Games, some prominent athletes are calling for the unlimited right to speak freely 바카라 including the right to protest. (More Sports News)
The advocates include Canadian decathlete Damien Warner, an Olympic bronze medallist in 2016, who has said: 바카라If there바카라s something on their mind, then athletes should be allowed to speak.바카라 The IOC, he said, is 바카라on the wrong side of history.바카라
The US Olympic and Paralympic Olympic Advisory Committee takes a similar view.
In response, the IOC has relaxed its Rule 50 on 바카라advertising, demonstrations and propaganda바카라 to allow free speech in interviews and meetings, but has stood firm on the prohibitions against 바카라political바카라 statements on the field of play and during ceremonies. The committee threatens to punish any athlete who disobeys.
Understanding Rule 50
The IOC Athletes바카라 Commission supports Rule 50, saying it believes 바카라the focus at the Olympic Games must remain on athletes바카라 performances, sport and the international unity and harmony that the Olympic Movement seeks to advance.바카라
But another of the recommendations from the Athletes바카라 Commission, following a survey and consultation process, was to 바카라increase opportunities for athletes바카라 expression during the Games.바카라
"The feedback was that they didn바카라t want it to interfere with the competition itself, so ensuring that the competition itself was protected,바카라 explained Rosie MacLennan, a double gold medallist in the trampoline and chair of Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.
In worldwide polling, Rule 50 has won the support of the majority of athletes for this position. The Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission has reported that 80 per cent of surveyed athletes supported the rule.
Growing Athlete Activism
The push for free speech is an artefact of growing athlete activism in recent years in response to racism in European soccer, the unrelenting police violence against Black people and other minorities in countries like the United States and Chinese human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
At the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, two American athletes, fencer Race Imboden and hammer thrower Gwen Berry, conducted silent protests against 바카라racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate바카라 back home.
For many years, Rule 50 completely prohibited critical athletes바카라 statements or demonstrations at games 바카라 and sporting bodies compelled their athletes to comply and athletes went along with it.
The style was epitomised by basketball superstar Michael Jordan, who famously avoided political statements 바카라because Republicans buy shoes too.바카라
When the Canadian skier Laurie Graham likened herself to a cruise missile flying down the hill to a World Cup victory, I asked her not to use a metaphor of death and destruction for a peaceful activity like sport. She quickly agreed, which thrilled me. But then she said that she didn바카라t want to get in trouble with her sponsors, who told her to avoid controversy.
The Need To Speak Out
As a competitor in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics who wrote a widely syndicated student newspaper column from the Olympic Village, I fully support the right to free speech. I have always believed that athletes should take responsibility for the circumstances and sports in which they are involved and they cannot do that without the right to speak out.
Athletes should be able to wear personal signifiers, such as Indigenous sashes or rainbow fingernail polish, both of which have been allowed or banned from competitions and ceremonies at different times.
Free speech is an internationally established human right. It바카라s not something that should be conferred or denied by a vote. The majority should never be able to silence the minority.
I still subscribe to John Stuart Mills바카라 admonition that 바카라if all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.바카라
The intercultural education cherished by the Olympic Movement would be enhanced by completely free speech. We can바카라t be hectoring others about what we believe, but we do need to be honest about who we are.
I바카라ve spoken in China about athletes바카라 rights. While few agreed with me, no one was shocked. They listened. So did I. The IOC should embrace and support such interactions and tell authoritarian hosts that this is what the Olympics are about.
What Will The Punishment Be?
If some athletes still decide to protest in Tokyo or at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and are punished, that punishment will become the issue. I would be horrified by a repeat of 1968, when the IOC expelled U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos from the Mexico Olympics for protesting against poverty and racism from the victory podium 바카라 in effect banning them for upholding the Olympic aspirations.
With all the challenges facing Tokyo and Beijing, it바카라s unlikely that Rule 50 will be reconsidered before both Games take place. But the issue won바카라t go away, and I would like to think the final restrictions will be abolished by the Paris Olympics in 2024.
In the meantime, athletes like MacLennan, who regularly consults Canadian athletes, should take advantage of the opening provided by the IOC consultation to push for ongoing athlete engagement and athlete-centered reforms on an international basis 바카라 including much more significant athlete voice and vote on decision-making bodies.
Once in-person meetings resume, athletes should revive the former practice of open meetings in the Olympic Village where they can introduce and discuss the issues most on their minds 바카라 including the geo-political issues that buffet the Games.
If there was genuine opportunity for athletes to become involved in sport governance and public policy, there would be far less reason for them to demonstrate.
Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, always saw the Olympics as a pedagogical project and athletes as the self-actualizing subjects of their activity and learning. If athletes are to learn, they need to learn to deal with political and intercultural issues and when and how to speak out.
The IOC should embrace free speech as a contribution to its highest goals.
By Bruce Kidd: Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto
(AP)
