olympics in 1980. or last year when president joe biden staged a diplomatic boycott of the beijing games over human rights abuses in china. of course it s not only committees and countries that make sports political, it s the athletes themselves. in the 1968 mexico city olympics the american track athletes john carlos and tommy schmidt famously stood on the podium after the 200 meter, fists raised in a black power salute. muhammad ali made history when at the prime of his career he took a principle stand against fighting in vietnam saying famously he had no problem with the vietcong. they were not oppressing blacks in america. and collin kaepernick taking a
the american track athletes john carlos and tommy schmidt famously stood on the podium after the 200 meter, fists raised in a black power salute. muhammad ali made history when at the prime of his career he took a principle stand against fighting in vietnam saying famously he had no problem with the vietcong. they were not oppressing blacks in america. and collin kaepernick taking a knee in 2016 to protest police brutality. or the turkish american former center who spoke out against china s treatment of the uighur s. the vast market of basketball fans. many of those actions had serious consequences.