A rule banning athletes from protesting at the Olympic Games could be reviewed as part of a consultation process to be conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes' Commission, according to IOC President Thomas Bach.
Bach claimed the IOC Athletes Commission' will "have dialogue with athletes around the world to explore different ways for how Olympic athletes can express their support for the principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter in a dignified way".
Criticism of regulations which prohibit specific demonstrations at the Games - including taking a knee or raising a fist - has intensified in light of worldwide protests following the death of George Floyd in the United States.
The IOC's Rule 50 states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."
Under Rule 50 guidelines developed by the Athletes' Commission, announced in January, competitors who demonstrate at the Games had been threatened with disciplinary action.
Other organisations, including the National Football League, have moved to allow protests in the wake of widespread condemnation of the death of Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of white policer officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, and the subsequent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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