I was also thinking to mention that Japan was having issues with a COVID "surge" and there is a likelihood that the Olympics may not be held this year. But this is a different topic than the subject of this thread... so I let it slide. No matter what year the Olympics are held the IOC is sticking strong to the "no political protests" rules. The penalties are severe including stripping an entire team of medals if a single member makes a protest.
They can not afford any more delays even if its Covid related. The issue I'm raising are the planned protests outside of the Olympic venues and maybe even inside by protestors...not the athletes. Its well known that the Olympics has been a great place to raise human rights issues in many countries plus with the new rising protests about Covid restrictions / lockdown in many countries. Simply, there's a lot of angry people out there...its been a perfect storm for violence / protesting since the start of the Pandemic. The Olympics is a perfect place for continuing such by some individuals even though they're not competing athletes. wrbtrader
I want the whole US Olympic to decimate per usual, them protest en masse, and the IOC to strip hundreds of medals
I think the athletes will be too smart for that... They'll let the none athletes do all the protesting for them and then they'll speak up "after" the conclusion of the Olympics. Using Twitter / Facebook and other social media format to speak out about human rights issues, Covid issues. It will be interesting to see what the IOC does if a Japan athlete protests considering a few have done such in prior Olympics but not involving kneeling...just typical normal protesting. wrbtrader
You are right that the athletes can protest via Twitter and other social media. There is actually no IOC ban of them doing this. The IOC ban only applies to public demonstrations from athletes within the venues.
So if you are the one player on the basketball team which protests and the entire team gets stripped of its medals -- do you think your teammates are going to really appreciate you?
I can see the Basketball players from the United States doing such but only if there's an incident that occurs in the U.S. during the Olympics in Japan. They make multi millions of dollars and already known for the views on injustice issues. If they don't kneel...they'll definitely use Twitter and Facebook. Yet, I'm more worried about terrorist activities than protesting because the protesting outside or within the venues by none athletes is highly likely due to what's been happening in the world since the start of the Pandemic. Simply, I think the IOC are focusing on the wrong people (athletes protesting) when they should be focus on the terrorist potential and the protesting by the none athletes. IOC will be crossing their fingers that the Russian guy on a hunger strike doesn't die, Covid denier bomb makers don't show up, police don't shoot someone or kneel on someone's neck and that Russia doesn't attack the Ukraine, military coup in Myanmar plus many other situations that can cause social unrest. Remember all the worry about the Olympics in Brazil with the Zika virus ? That will look like a walk in the park compare to the Japan Olympics if it occurs. wrbtrader