A History of Political Protest at the Olympics

Despite the insistence of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that this year’s tournament will remain apolitical, diplomatic tensions are already rising in Paris. 

In Israel’s soccer match on July 24 against Mali, fans unfurled Palestinian flags and booed during Israel’s anthem. One viral video has shown a fan discussing the match, without mention of politics at first, before he is interrupted by an Israeli fan shouting “no politics here.” The fan proceeds to shout “Free Palestine,” a protest chant, eliciting curse words from the Israeli fans. 

Attendees are polarized over Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, which began as a retaliation to Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, which saw 1,200 people killed and roughly 240 hostages taken. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has created a humanitarian catastrophe, killing more than 39,000 Palestinians in the enclave, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled health ministry, which are deemed credible by the U.S. and the U.N. Many have expressed outrage over Israel’s participation in the Olympics, and called for the IOC to enact similar sanctions that it has placed on Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine.   

In the absence of such a ban, athletes are finding subtle ways to communicate political or humanitarian messaging, or push the boundaries of Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, a policy that forbids any form of “demonstration or political, religious, or racial propaganda.” 

Read More: What Is AIN? How Russians and Belarusians Are Competing at the Olympics

Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal—one of the delegation’s two flag bearers—attended the Opening Ceremony on July 26 in a shirt embroidered with a depiction of children being bombed in Gaza. Meanwhile, Judo’s governing body is investigating Algerian judoka Messaoud Redouane Dris over concerns that he deliberately failed a weigh-in to avoid competing against an Israeli counterpart at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. 

Dris, 22, was scheduled to fight Tohar Butbul of Israel, 30, in the 73 kg category on July 29 but weighed in 400 grams overweight for his category. The Israeli Olympic Committee has alleged that Dris intentionally forfeited the match—in what would constitute a subtle act of personal protest of Israel's on-going military bombardment of Gaza—although Dris has not cited this as his motivation. 

“This kind of incident can occur at any competition,” the International Judo Federation (IJF) said in a statement, adding that four athletes did not pass weight control during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which was held in 2021. “We believe that sport should remain a realm of integrity and fairness, free from the influences of international conflicts. Unfortunately, athletes often become victims of broader political disputes which are against the values of sport.”

The sporting body added that a full review and investigation would be launched into Dris. If Dris’ actions are found to be deliberate, it would not be the first time an Algerian athlete has withdrawn from the Games to avoid Butbal. At the Tokyo Games, Fethi Nourine withdrew to avoid a second-round matchup with Butbul and was hit with a career-altering 10-year suspension from the games.

For decades, the Olympics games has been a hotbed of political activity, including individual athlete protests, strategic boycotts, and street demonstrations.

Here are some of the most notable political protests in 128 years of the modern games.

1906: Long jumper Peter O’Connor climbs a flagpole to raise the Irish flag

In 1906, Irish track and field athlete Peter O’Connor participated in the Athens Games but new regulations compelled him to compete for Great Britain, as Ireland did not yet have its own Olympic Committee to nominate him. The contentious decision came at the height of Ireland’s campaign for self-government, or Home Rule.  

In an act of protest against being considered a British athlete, O’Connor climbed a 20 ft. flagpole in the stadium to raise an Irish flag. The green flag displayed the words “Erin Go Bragh,” or Ireland Forever, and O’Connor waved said flag at each of the three competitions he won gold in. 

O’Connor and his Irish teammate-turned-accomplice Con Leahy did not face any ramifications or penalties. 

1956: Select nations boycott the games for the first time

During the 1956 Melbourne Games, a number of nations chose to opt out of participation in what has been dubbed the first boycotts, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. China decided to boycott the games because the IOC had permitted Taiwan’s inclusion that year. 

Additionally, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland abstained from participation in a show of solidarity with Hungary, following the Soviet Union’s invasion that year. 

To express their opposition to a British-Israel-French backed invasion of the Suez Channel, an Egyptian territory, the nations of Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon also boycotted the Melbourne Games. 

1964: Yoko Ono joins performance artists subtly protesting ahead of the Tokyo Games 

The 1964 Olympics is considered a huge milestone in modern Japanese history, marking the nation’s pivot towards becoming a global economic power and a member of the international community. But Japanese citizens had concerns about this period of change.

Among those demonstrating were performance artists and avant-garde creatives. A film entitled Some Young People, by Chiaki Nagano, was filmed ahead of Tokyo’s hosting duties to demonstrate the “superficial peace and happy atmosphere” emerging in post-war Japan. Hoping to highlight austerity and a lack of housing during that era, artists led performances through the streets, from nude marches to collapsing in the street and crawling. One performance that features in the film shows two male artists, Hiroshi Nakamura and Kôichi Tateishi, later renamed Tiger Tateishi, setting up a table outside the Olympic stadium to eat five doughnuts that symbolized the Olympic rings.  

Artist Yoko Ono can be seen in the film placing chrysanthemums on the ground, one by one, for passersby to notice. 

1968: Black Power symbols have become the most memorable Olympic protests

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, two Black U.S. athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, stood on the podium after winning gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200-m race. The men raised their fists into a Black Power salute during the U.S. national anthem.

The move, with their hands in black gloves, marked a silent expression of Black unity and power. The pair stood without their shoes, wearing only black socks, in a nod to the economic struggle of African-Americans due to structural racism in the U.S. Carlos was also seen wearing a beaded neckplace, which symbolized the lynchings Black Americans experienced in their home nation. 

“It was a cry for freedom and for human rights,” Smith told Smithsonian magazine in 2008. “We had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard.”

Smith and Carlos were condemned by the IOC for what the sporting body called a “deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit.” The athletes were suspended from the games and sent home for their defiant gesture. Their decision to protest would ultimately hinder their sporting careers; the pair was vilified by the media and broadly ostracized by the U.S. sporting community. They also received death threats. Their gesture has been immortalized as an iconic image, synonymous with the Black Power movement. 

1968: Věra Čáslavská turns her head away and down during the Soviet anthem 

1968 was a major year for Olympic protests, with Czechoslovak gymnast Věra Čáslavská also demonstrating against the Soviet regime by turning her head away and down during the Soviet anthem at a medal ceremony. Just two months before the game, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, leaving Čáslavská to flee to a forest in the Jeseník mountains. Here, the athlete trained in hiding, instead of continuing her rigorous training in a professional gymnasium. 

Čáslavská bagged four gold and two silver medals in Mexico, despite the obstacles that she had faced. This small act of protest defined the remainder of her sporting career, and she was banned from coaching. Čáslavská was welcomed back into the fold following the fall of communism in 1989, and she later served as chair of the National Olympic Committee.

1976: African nations boycott the Montreal Games in protest of South Africa's apartheid regime

In a collective show of solidarity, around 28 African countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics over the IOC’s inclusion of New Zealand. The nation’s rugby team broke an international sports embargo when it played a game in Apartheid South Africa, which was expelled from the Olympic committee in 1970. 

African nations refused to compete alongside New Zealand and their boycott condemned nations that were seen to legitimize the racially segregated country. Their movement resulted in a million dollars worth of tourism refunds, per BBC figures, and glaring absence across a number of sports, particularly on the track. 

2004: Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeili binges to miss weight and avoid Israeli Competitor 

In a precursor to Dris’ missed weight this year, Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeili missed weight at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Miresmaeili was found to have binged the night before he was due to fight Ehud Vaks of Israel, and therefore missed weight for his under-66 kg class by more than 2 kg. The forfeit was found to be an act of protest against the IOC’s recognition of the State of Israel, and a deliberate refusal to compete with Vaks. Iran's leaders praised him the "champion" of Athens 2004, and paid him a $115,000 reward, the same sum he would have received as a gold medalist. 

2016: Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa crossed arms to bring attention to protests in Ethiopia 

At the 2016 Rio Games, Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa made a political gesture despite fears it could have resulted in him being killed or imprisoned by the government when he returned home. 

The athlete raised his crossed arms above his head as he reached the finish line, a nod to deadly protests taking place in Oromia, his home region in Ethiopia. The protests pushed back against the nation’s persecution of Oromo people, who make up a third of the country’s population but have faced a history of marginalization. 

Lilesa—who secured second place at the Games—said protesting in Ethiopia is “very dangerous.” Ethiopia’s Communications Minister Getachew Reda told CNN that he is a “hero” who would not be harmed upon returning home.