Five women’s soccer teams took a knee ahead of their opening matches at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympic games.
Great Britain and Chile teams took a knee on the pitch before their match at the Olympic games.
Similaraly, the United States and Sweden teams knelt in a pre-planned demonstration against racism and discrimination ahead of their match on Wednesday, July 21.
“For us, it feels right to stand up for human rights. There was communication with the US team,” Swedish defender, Amanda Ilestedt said after the match, where America took a stunning loss against Sweden.
“It feels good to do that. It is something we stand for as a team.”
so, who is accumulating the people claiming they’re glad the USWNT lost after having whined about how little they care about women’s soccer when the team was kneeling for the ssb?
the venn diagram is a circle.
— *extreme superhero voice* I AM HERE↙️↙️↙️ (@LoonyShark) July 21, 2021
While the US team has received backlash online from far-right trolls concerned with ‘neo-Marxist propaganda’ for kneeling, and then losing the game.
Yeah, because the Olympic Games have always existed in an abstract, apolitical bubble… smh.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand women’s soccer team took a knee before their opening match against Australia.
Australia, however, remained standing with their arms locked together, instead, posing for a pregame picture with the country’s indigenous flag.
Aussie midfielder, Tameka Yallop told the press after the match that the team is against racism but wanted to show support to the “broader Indigenous Australians.”
The Australian women’s soccer team includes Indigenous players, Kyah Simon and Lydia Williams.
“We are obviously in support of no racism, we definitely wanted to take a stand and show our support of that, and we also wanted to represent not just Kyah Simon and Lydia Williams within our team, but the broader Indigenous Australians, and give our own Australian flare to shed light on that aspect of it as well,” she said.
“We just wanted to stand together for the Australian culture and the Indigenous side of us.”
The decision to protest from the American, Chilean, Swedish and UK’s soccer team’s raised questions about whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would take action, after the committee announced in May that athletes were
prohibited from ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstrations in Tokyo.
The IOC announced their intention to enforce ‘Rule 50’, an archaic rule that intends to: “keep the venues, the Olympic Village and the podium neutral and free from any form of political, religious or ethnic demonstrations.”
“If an athlete or participant is in breach of Rule 50 and the Olympic Charter, each incident will be evaluated by their respective National Olympic Committee, International Federation and the IOC, and disciplinary action will be taken on a case-by-case basis as necessary,” the IOC said.
There are people in my city who believe the US women’s soccer team lost because god is punishing them for kneeling. FFS Y’ALL
— spacemomsdaughter (@spacemomsdaugh3) July 22, 2021
The IOC previously said that they would not sanction protest-actions, such as raising fists in solidarity or kneeling on the medals stand at the Tokyo games.
On Wednesday, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach confirmed that kneeling did not violate the organization’s rules against protesting.
“It is allowed, it is not a violation of the rules,” he said.
Activists and athletes criticised the decision from the IOC to ban BLM protests, pointing to the fact that banning protesting is a political act in itself, making clear that athletes should be seen, not heard.
