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 complicated relationship between some U.S. athletes and the national anthem. Gwen Berry, a hammer thrower, was on the podium in Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, when she turned away from the U.S. flag as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played on Saturday, June 26, ESPN reported. Now the right has seized on the moment to attack Berry as she says she feels like she was set up.

According to ESPN, the national anthem was being played once a night at the trials. Berry was on the podium to receive a bronze medal in the hammer throw when the anthem started up, and per ESPN, the track star turned away from the flag, toward the stands, before draping a black T-shirt reading “Activist Athlete” over her head.

Berry has said she feels like she was put in an uncomfortable position on purpose.

“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 the timing wasn’t intentional, saying, “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,” Gwen 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, she isn’t backing down from the “Activist Athlete” tag on her T-shirt.

“My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports,” Berry 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, Berry made headlines after winning a gold medal and raising a Black power fist during the playing of 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 received, from threats and getting dropped from sponsorship deals to an official reprimand. Sarah Hirschland, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), later apologized to Berry for the reprimand sent to Berry 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, they’ve prompted protests and appear to be widely unpopular in this year's host city. The international sporting events have a history of creating problems for the places that host them, like in Rio de Janeiro, where, The Washington Post reported, an estimated 60,000 people were displaced in the run-up to the 2016 summer games.

Berry’s 2019 protest itself emulated the famous 1968 Black power salutes given by U.S. track and field athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the podium during that year’s Mexico City Games. It 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.

This post originally appeared on Teen Vogue.

Originally Appeared on Glamour