There is so much going on in the world... there's probably something worth a political protest in every single country represented at the Olympics. Can you imagine what it would be like if every athlete at the Olympics decided to express their political views by somehow doing some kind of visible protest at the Games? Distracting and ugly. Everyone has the right to their political views and the right to express them.... but not every venue is the right place to do that and not every method of protest is the right way to do it either. In MY opinion, you don't have the right to express your views anytime you feel like it, however you feel like it ... and no matter where you are.... just because you can. There are ways to protest and get involved in hundreds of processes in order to make change. Unfortunately, most change takes time. But I think using a sporting event as your platform to express your views just because you're an athlete in that sport is not the best way to go about it. There are other ways that are better... and more effective. I'd much rather athletes get involved like that rather than with turned backs, signs, hand signals, and other body language. More negative seems to come out of that than positive. If the negative results in a positive... some of us may be able to tolerate the pain, but that's not what's happening.

---