AP

Winter Olympians champion climate, peace amid muted activism

Feb 14, 2022, 10:06 AM | Updated: Feb 15, 2022, 12:09 am

FILE - Britain's Katie Ormerod competes during the women's slopestyle qualifying at the 2022 Winter...

FILE - Britain's Katie Ormerod competes during the women's slopestyle qualifying at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)


              FILE - Paul Schommer crosses the finish line during the men's 20-kilometer individual race at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
            
              FILE - United States' Taylor Gold competes during the men's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
            
              FILE - Olympic snowboarder Taylor Gold, of the United States, rides a chair lift on Dec. 21, 2021, in Copper Mountain, Colo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Katie Ormerod competes during the women's slopestyle qualifying at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Katie Ormerod competes during the women's slopestyle qualifying at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
            
              In this frame from video, Vladyslav Heraskevych, of Ukraine, holds a sign that reads "No War in Ukraine" after finishing a run at the men's skeleton competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (NBC via AP)

BEIJING (AP) — After a morning training session at the Winter Olympics’ Big Air Shougang venue, British snowboarder Katie Ormerod stopped by the press zone to do a quick interview. The topic wasn’t how much air time she got or the tricks she was trying to pull off.

“I have been asked so many questions about climate change around the Olympics,” said Ormerod, one of many winter sports athletes turned climate activists. “Especially because obviously there’s so much artificial snow that’s being used for these Games.”

Athletes everywhere are throwing their support behind political and social causes, part of a wave of sports activism that has flourished in the years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during games to protest police brutality against Black people.

The Olympics are no exception, even here in Beijing, where pro-Democracy demonstrations were violently put down by the government in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and nearly all forms of civil disobedience are frowned upon.

In perhaps the most timely example of activism at these Games, Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych flashed a sign with his country’s flag and the message “No War in Ukraine,” a reference to Russia’s military build-up that has raised fears of military conflict.

“I fight for peace,” Heraskevych said, adding that he had planned before the Olympics to “show my position to the world.”

“We’re seeing this all over sport where athletes are becoming more involved,” said Noah Hoffman, a former U.S. Olympic skier and board member of Global Athlete, an advocacy group. “And yeah, I think it’s only going to continue to grow.”

Protests have long been restricted by the International Olympic Committee, but last year the rules were eased to allow limited activism at the Games inside the field of play.

At last year’s Summer Games in Tokyo, soccer players took a knee as a gesture against racism.

Elsewhere, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka and Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton have publicly backed the Black Lives Matter movement. Osaka has also spoken out on her mental health issues, as has U.S Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom has drawn attention to the plight of Tibetans and Uyghurs in China.

Olympic podium protests are still off limits. That mean the chance of a repeat of the raised black-gloved fist by U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics is unlikely. At the time, it got them expelled from the Olympic village and suspended by the IOC.

In Beijing, athlete activism has been muted because of fears about what China’s Communist leaders could do to squelch criticism of country’s human rights record.

An official with the Beijing Organizing Committee warned ahead of the Games that: “Any behavior or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.”

Rights groups responded by advising athletes to keep quiet while in China, citing as a cautionary tale the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai after she accused a former high-ranking member of the Communist Party of sexual assault. Peng has since re-emerged, saying her accusation was misinterpreted, and was seen attending Olympic events last week in Beijing.

German luger Natalie Geisenberger has said she grappled with whether to attend because of concerns that included human rights.

Hoffman, who was on the 2014 and 2018 U.S. Olympic cross country ski teams, has been in touch with a current member who’s holding back outspoken views on political issues until they get home, “because it’s just not worth the risk.”

“When athletes are told to get burner phones and rental computers, they know this is not normal,” Hoffman said. “They’ve been told they’re not going to have any privacy that everything they say is going to be monitored. So of course, they’re not speaking out and it’s terrifying.”

Many Olympians are reluctant to back more divisive issues because, as amateurs, they lack financial stability and are vulnerable to the dictates of sports administrators, including the IOC, Hoffman said.

Climate activism may be the exception, and is a more natural fit for snowboarders and skiers who worry about what warmer winters are doing to their sport.

This year’s setting, in China’s parched capital where organizers spent months making artificial snow, has reinforced concerns about the future viability of the Winter Games.

Ormerod has spoken out about climate change’s effects on snowboarding, as has Finnish snowboarder Enni Rukajarvi.

“I hope that other athletes would use their voice as well,” said Rukajarvi, who won silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She’s a longtime climate activist who has campaigned for ski resorts in Finland to use renewable electricity. “I feel like when I’m an athlete I need to do something good.”

Dozens of athletes competing in Beijing, from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan, have worked on climate issues in coordination with Protect Our Winters, an athlete-driven environmental group.

The aim is to use their platform to rally support for political change by electing supportive lawmakers and officials, said founder Jeremy Jones, a renowned snowboarder.

Taylor Gold, who came fifth in the halfpipe competition, told the AP in December that “trying to do things at the individual level is great,” such as carpooling and cycling instead of driving, or eating less meat. “But at the end of the day, we really need systemic change to have the impact that we need to preserve these places” threatened by global warming.

Some athletes work at the grassroots level.

Paul Schommer, a member of the U.S. biathlon team with a degree in chemistry, has given talks about the science of climate change to schoolchildren in his hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin.

“Climate change is not something that’s always talked about back in my hometown,” Schommer said. “And so to be able to go back home and kind of talk a little bit more with with students there was something that I’ve done in the past and has been pretty cool.”

____

Associated Press videojournalist Brittany Peterson contributed to this report from Copper Mountain, Colorado.

____

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Associated Press

Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […]

1 year ago

Joe Jarzynka...

Associated Press

Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […]

1 year ago

FILE - Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of an N...

Associated Press

Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […]

1 year ago

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock cools off in the first period during an NHL hockey game ...

Associated Press

Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild

CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […]

1 year ago

FILE -  Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, wearing a protective face mas...

Associated Press

Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […]

1 year ago

FILE - Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the ...

Associated Press

Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

1 year ago

Winter Olympians champion climate, peace amid muted activism