The International Olympic Committee has taken a stand on political or social statements at the 2020 Japan Olympics. There is to be no kneeling, raising your fist or standing aside or basically anything that can be seen by a camera, but you can still tweet your feelings. But why?

The purpose of the Olympics is basically for the best to compete in a positive way, but not in a positive drug test way. It is meant to show the best we can be, although surely this should include the right to draw attention to the problems that exist around the world and that will still be there long after any one athlete ‘kneels’ down.

The Olympics should be an opportunity for people to see what the world is like especially in countries where freedom of speech is not a right, nor apparent. The most famous Olympic protest was that of Tommie Smith and John Carlos supported by Peter Norman at the 1968 games which drew further attention to an issue surrounding poverty that needed to be addressed.

The need for a visually clean games is also a result of the concerns about political correctness and the worry about offending some country that should be called out for their crimes and human rights violations.

People have a right to speak their mind? This doesn’t seem like a good path to a better world.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia