Gwen Berry, U.S. Olympian, Stands Up to Backlash for National Anthem Snub

As the Tokyo Olympics gear up, the world is getting an early look at the ongoing and complicated relationship between some U.S. athletes and the country’s national anthem. On June 26, Gwen Berry, a hammer thrower, was on the podium at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, when she turned away from the U.S. flag as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, ESPN reported. The right has now seized upon this moment to attack Berry, and she says she feels like she was set up.

According to ESPN, the national anthem was being played once a night at the track and field trials in Eugene. Berry was on the podium to receive a bronze medal in the hammer throw when the “Banner” started up and, according to ESPN, the track star turned from the flag, toward the stands, and then draped a black t-shirt reading “Activist Athlete” over her head.

Berry has said she feels like she was intentionally put in an uncomfortable position. "I feel like it was a setup and they did it on purpose,'' Berry said of the anthem’s timing that night, according to ESPN. "I was pissed, to be honest.''

A spokesperson for USA Track and Field told the Associated Press that the timing wasn’t intentional: “The national anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. today. We didn’t wait until the athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule.” According to the AP, the anthem was five minutes behind schedule on Saturday, when Berry was on the podium as it played.

“They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then they played it when we were out there,” Berry said, according to the AP. “But I don’t really want to talk about the anthem because that’s not important. The anthem doesn’t speak for me. It never has.”

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Berry also posted a photo of her moment on the podium on Twitter, adding the caption, “Stop playing with me.”

Despite the blowback, Berry isn’t backing down from the activist athlete tag on her t-shirt. "My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports,'' she said, ESPN reported. "I'm here to represent those ... who died due to systemic racism. That's the important part. That's why I'm going. That's why I'm here today.''

Berry has made a name for herself not just as a standout athlete, but as an activist. As ESPN reported in 2019, she made headlines after winning a gold medal and raising a Black power fist during the national anthem at that year’s Pan American Games, a sort of western hemisphere Olympic-preview event. After facing backlash, she remained committed to her cause.

"I made my statement," she said at the time, according to ESPN. "As a country, I feel like we know the real issues, but we're not willing to act on those issues or sacrifice things to just balance the scales. I want to figure out what my role is in it all and how I can make a difference."

In an interview with KSDK News earlier in June, Berry discussed the backlash she has received, including threats, getting dropped from sponsorship deals, and an official reprimand. Sarah Hirschland, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), later apologized to Berry for the reprimand sent to her and another athlete who protested, according to NBC Sports. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) still has a rule against athletes protesting.

The Olympics are no stranger to political controversy. In Tokyo this year, the Games have prompted protests and appear to be widely unpopular in this year's host city. The international sporting event has a history of creating problems for its host, as in Rio de Janeiro, where, the Washington Post reported, an estimated 60,000 people were displaced in the run-up to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Berry’s 2019 protest emulated the famous 1968 Black power salutes given by U.S. track and field athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the podium in that year’s Mexico City games, and comes after several years of debate about the anthem’s role in U.S. professional sports since former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick first took a knee.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: The Racist History of America's Patriotic Anthems

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue