As if hurling an 8.8-pound shot put 64 feet and 11 inches to win a silver medal at this year’s Tokyo Olympics weren’t impressive enough, Charleston, South Carolina’s Raven Saunders has also become one of the few medalists (so far) to use their time on the podium to call attention to matters of social justice and political reform.
Doha Madani of NBC News has reported that the American athlete “used her second-place win in Tokyo to speak up for the ‘oppressed,’ she said, likely violating Olympics rules on political protest during the games.”
“Saunders, 25, raised her hands in an ‘X’ formation above her head on Sunday during a photo op at the podium following the medal ceremony where she accepted the silver [medal] for the women’s shot put event,” Madani said. “When asked what the symbol meant, she told the Associated Press, ‘It’s the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.’”
