OPINION:
As if Colin Kaepernick weren’t enough, now comes Gwen Berry.
Olympic hammer thrower Gwendolyn Berry made national headlines — international, even — when she turned from the U.S. flag while America’s national anthem played and raised a black T-shirt upon which was emblazoned the slogan, “Activist Athlete.”
Then she said she was “pissed” that “The Star-Spangled Banner” played. Then she called the playing of the anthem during her podium receipt of the bronze medal a “setup.” Then she mocked American veteran and congressman, Dan Crenshaw, for criticizing her actions, tweeting directly to the former Navy SEAL, “y’all are obsessed with me.”
Such disrespect.
Such disrespect for country, for citizenry, for the military, for the Olympics even. The Olympics are supposed to be the place where countries gather for the common quest of “best in show” — for competition among the greatest each respective state has to offer — and to set aside petty politics for athleticism. It’s not always possible, of course. Politics frequently become part of the Olympics’ media narrative.
But the ideal is still nonpolitical.
The hope is still unity, not divisiveness.
What hope in unity does America have when America’s own athletes are the dividers? In the 1980 Winter Games, a ragtag bunch of college hockey players took on what was at the time the greatest team in the world, the Soviets, and ultimately brought home the gold for the United States. It was a monumental moment, a miraculous moment, a monumental, miraculous, magical series of moments forever epitomized by sportscaster Al Michaels’ scream, “Do you believe in miracles?!” — the shout heard ’round the world that then became the stuff of movie and film and documentary legend. But more than that: This team united. This American team, this American win, this American Olympics gold win united not just a country, but countries. Even other countries rooted for these 1980 American underdogs.
My, how far American sports have turned.
To the left, athletics have become just another avenue to divide America.
Type in Colin Kaepernick’s name on Google and what comes first is his title as an “American civil rights activist” — second the mention of his football experience. At least he confined his anti-police, defund-the-police, police-are-pigs un-Americanism to American playing fields. Berry? Berry is bringing hers international.
She took her opportunity for unity — she used her third-place win in the trials and subsequent press-covered presentation of bronze — and squandered it on cheap political points. She politicized what should be nonpolitical. She divided what should be unified. She degraded and demeaned what ought to remain honorable. She turned a moment in the sun for country into a dragging through the mud for self.
Then she whined when she faced backlash.
The Olympics are supposed to be the best of what a country has to offer. They’re supposed to be about overcoming odds to achieve greatness, about the spirit of humanity to rise and conquer, about the power of the heart to win against the weakness of the flesh — about any host of things that inspire, that elevate dreams, that spark dreams. That speak to the wonder of humanity.
Berry doesn’t meet the standard. She doesn’t bring that message. Rather, the opposite. She’s a showcase for the worst.
If she can’t represent America in the Olympics with dignity and respect, then she has no business representing America in the Olympics at all.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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