gymnast Caslavska – Olympic protest 1968

VERA CASLAVSKA of Czechoslovakia is in the Hall of Fame. She won more individual Olympic gold medals than anyone in history.

You’ll hear her name in the lead up to Beijing:

After all these years the Tommie Smith-John Carlos Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Games has come to dominate the discourse, at least in America, when it turns to protests by athletes at the Olympics.

But at those Games there was one other protest, equally eloquent and probably even more courageous: that of Caslavska, as she shared the victory stand with the Soviet gymnast Larissa Petrik. Two months before the Games began, the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring democracy movement. So when Caslavska and Petrik stood atop the medal stand after tying for the overall gold medal and the Soviet anthem was played, Caslavska turned her head down and away, and kept it averted until the anthem ended.

… actively involved in the democracy movement. … She was almost denied permission to travel to Mexico City for the Games. But her performances there, the plight of her country, and the eloquence of her protest made her the most popular athlete at the Games. …

Caslavska’s protests had serious ramifications. Upon returning to Czechoslovakia she was denied employment, and she would remain unemployed until authorities finally allowed her to coach a gymnastics club in 1975. …

NY Times

There are many things to protest in China. I wonder if we’ll see any other symbolic podium gestures in Beijing.

Thanks to the Wordsmith from Nantucket.