Swim Poll of the Week: Is it a Political Protest or Human Right to Take a Stand on the Podium?
Channel: swimmingworldtv
Date: 2020-01-23

This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Thursday January 23, 2020, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products and TYR Sport. In our last poll, we wanted to know: Is it a political protest or a human right to take a stand against an issue on the Olympic podium?

Australia's Mack Horton and Great Britain's Duncan Scott became famous this summer at the World Championships when they took turns taking a stand against Chinese freestyler Sun Yang for the lack of punishment he had faced for his actions during a doping test in September 2018. Horton and Scott, as well as Sun, were issued warnings from FINA for their actions on the podium in Gwangju.

Outside of the sport of swimming, fencer Race Imboden and thrower Gwen Berry performed protests on the podium at the Pan American Games in regards to social issues going on in the United States. They were both reprimanded by US Olympic officials.

Since then, the International Olympic Committee placed a ban on all kinds of podium protests at the upcoming Olympic Games. This raises the question: is it a political protest or a human right to take a stand against an issue on the Olympic podium?