US shot putter Raven Saunders in first Olympic podium protest

Athlete known as the ‘Hulk’ crosses arms in an ‘X’ to show support for ‘oppressed people’.

US shot putter Raven Saunders has risked disciplinary action after making the first podium protest of the Olympic Games.

The 25-year-old athlete, who was nicknamed “Hulk” in high school after the Marvel superhero, crossed her arms in an “X” gesture during Sunday’s medal ceremony at the Olympic Stadium after claiming silver in her event on Sunday.

US media outlets reported that Saunders, who is Black and an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights, said her gesture was made in solidarity with “oppressed people”.

After clinching her silver medal, Saunders said she wanted to represent “people all around the world who are fighting and don’t have the platform to speak up for themselves.”

Saunders’s protest is the first test of International Olympic Committee rules which ban protests of any kind on the medal podium at the Olympics.

The IOC tweaked its rules regarding athlete protests ahead of the games, saying that peaceful protests before competition would be allowed.

However the Olympics governing body has maintained a strict rule against protesting on the medal podium.

Let them try and take this medal. I’m running across the border even though I can’t swim 😂 https://t.co/B59N2v9KAk

— Raven HULK Saunders (@GiveMe1Shot) August 1, 2021

It is unclear what sanction, if any, Saunders may face.

Updated IOC guidelines released last month say that disciplinary consequences for protests will be “proportionate to the level of disruption and the degree to which the infraction is not compatible with Olympic values”.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said before the games it will not sanction its athletes for protesting.

The USOPC softened its approach to athletes protesting on the podium after a review of rules following nationwide protests in the United States last year in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

Experts say the IOC is unlikely to take a heavy-handed approach against athletes for protesting in Tokyo, mindful of the possible public relations backlash.

The purple-and-green-haired Saunders took the silver behind China’s Gong Lijiao.

“I know that in life it is going to be a dogfight – a lot of things aren’t going to come to you easy, so I was kind of expecting it and preparing for it,” she said of the competition.

“I want to make sure that when I’m competing against the best I’m competing against the best at their best.”

Saunders has talked about having substantial issues with mental health a few years back and suffering bouts of depression.

“For everything I’ve been through mental health-wise, injuries, you know, everything like that … being able to really invest everything I’ve had mentally and physically and to be able to walk away with a medal, and be able to go out here and really inspire so many people … I really just hope that I can continue to inspire and motivate.”