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It didn’t take long for athletes competing at theTokyo Summer Olympicsto make a statement in support of social justice and racial equality.
On Wednesday, players from New Zealand’s women’s soccer team knelt on the field before they faced Australia, whose members held up an Indigenous flag ahead of their game, theAssociated Pressreported.
“For us, it really feels right to stand up for human rights,” Swedish defender Amanda Ilestedt said after the game, according toReuters. “It was a communication with the U.S. team before, so for us it feels good to do that and it is something we stand for as a team.”
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“Taking the knee was something we spoke about as a group. We feel so strongly and we want to show we’re united,” captain Steph Houghton said of the team, which beat Chile 2-0 to start the Tokyo Olympics.
“We want to fight all forms of discrimination and as a group of women we wanted to kneel against it,” she added. “It was a proud moment because the Chile players took the knee too to show how united we are as [a] sport.”
According to theAP, the Chilean players were unaware of Britain’s plans, but took part in kneeling once the demonstration began.
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To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics beginning July 23 and the Tokyo Paralympics beginning Aug. 24 on NBC.
source: people.com
