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The IOC is in contact with World Athletics, the international
governing body for the sport, and the United States Olympic and
Paralympic Committee (USOPC), IOC spokesman Mark Adams told a
news conference on Monday.
The USOPC said Saunders' gesture did not breach its rules.
"As with all delegations, Team USA is governed by the Olympic
Charter and rules set forth by the IOC for Tokyo 2020," the
USOPC said in a statement sent to Reuters.
"Per the USOPC's delegation terms, the USOPC conducted its own
review and determined that Raven Saunders' peaceful expression
in support of racial and social justice that happened at the
conclusion of the ceremony was respectful of her competitors and
did not violate our rules related to demonstration."
The IOC last month relaxed its Rule 50, which had forbidden
athletes from any protests. It now allows them to make gestures
on the field, provided they do so without disruption and with
respect for fellow competitors.
However, the threat of sanctions still remain if any protests
are made on the podium during the medal ceremony.
Saunders made the gesture on the podium after taking her maiden
Games medal on Sunday.
"Let them try and take this medal," Saunders said in a late
night post on social media
https://twitter.com/GiveMe1Shot/
status/1421835051797409792 in an apparent reference to the IOC's
rules restricting protests.
"I'm running across the border even though I can't swim," she
wrote on Twitter, ending the post with an emoji of a face with
tears of laughter.
Her gesture was to support the downtrodden, she indicated by
retweeting an article
https://twitter.com/theGrio/
status/1421873357612404736 about the action by news website
theGrio.
"It's the intersection of where all people who are oppressed
meet," Saunders was quoted in the article as saying.
After winning the medal on Sunday morning, Saunders said she
hoped to continue to inspire and motivate
https://www.reuters.com/
lifestyle/sports/athletics-hulk-saunders-smashes-her-limits-tokyo-silver-2021-08-01
the LGBTQ community, African Americans, Black people around the
world, and those struggling with mental health.
She had previously spoken about having major issues with mental
health and suffering bouts of depression.
The Tokyo Games has seen its fair share of protests, with the
captain of the German women's hockey team wearing an armband in
rainbow colours in solidarity with LGBTQ communities during the
team's matches.
The Australian women's soccer team unfurled an indigenous flag
prior to their opening match and several other women's teams
took a knee in a signal against racial inequality.
Costa Rican gymnast Luciana Alvarado raised a fist while taking
the knee at the end of her routine, in support of racial
equality.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann and Sudipto Ganguly; additional
reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by David Dolan/Shri Navaratnam/Karishma
Singh/Ken Ferris)
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