Activist U.S. hammer thrower ‘pissed’ about anthem playing

After Gwen Berry qualified for her second Olympics in the hammer throw Saturday night, she thought she knew the routine. She’d receive an American flag and a bouquet of flowers, and she would take photos on the podium with her other qualifiers.

But Berry didn’t expect “The Star-Spangled Banner” to play while she was on the podium in Eugene, Oregon, at the U.S. Olympic Trials — something Berry felt was a “setup.” The bronze-winning hammer thrower has protested on the podium before in her career, and she has used her athletics platform for social activism.

Over the last week of the Olympic track and field trials, the national anthem is played once during the day. Berry figured the timing of the anthem Saturday night was more than coincidental.

“I feel like it was a setup, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said, according to ESPN. “I was pissed, to be honest.”

Berry responded to the playing of the anthem by turning away from the American flag, facing the stands instead at Hayward Field. Then she held up a T-shirt that read “Activist Athlete,” and placed it over her head.

Berry had qualified for the Olympics with a throw of 241 feet and 2 inches. DeAnna Price won the event, throwing a distance of 263 feet, 6 inches — breaking the meet record and American record. Brooke Andersen took second place.

In a statement made to USA TODAY, a U.S. Track and Field spokesperson said the national anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. local time. Still, the timing seemed suspect to Berry.

“It was funny because they said they were going to play it before we actually walked out, and then it just so happened that they played it when we were out there,” Berry told USA TODAY. “So, you know, it’s OK. I really don’t want to talk about the anthem because that’s not important. The anthem don’t speak for me. It never has.”

Berry has protested on the podium before. In 2019, when Berry won gold at the Pan-American Games, she raised her first during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That drew a reprimand from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

While the International Olympic Committee doesn’t allow demonstrations or protests, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee changed its rules in April to allow protests — reversing a 2020 policy that prohibited such demonstrations during competition or on the podium.

Protests during the anthem could be seen at the Tokyo Olympics next month, although the International Olympic Committee has said it will enforce Rule 50, which bans demonstrations of that sort. Berry, though, said she’ll continue demonstrating if she makes the podium at the Olympics.

She said she doesn’t have her exact plans detailed yet, but she wants to draw notice to systemic racism, and that goal is what motivates her to compete.

“Sports is entertainment. But my purpose and my voice and my mission is bigger than the sport,” Berry told USA TODAY. “So me being able to represent my communities and my people, and those who have died at the hands of police brutality, those who have died [due] to this systemic racism — I feel like that’s the important part. That’s why I’m going, and that’s why I was here today.”