Winter Olympians champion climate, peace amid muted activism

By KELVIN CHAN
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Around the world, athletes are throwing their support behind political and social causes, part of a wave of sports activism that has flourished in the years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during games to protest police brutality against Black people. The Olympics are no exception, even here in Beijing, where pro-Democracy demonstrations were violently put down in Tiananmen Square in 1989. In perhaps the most timely example of activism at these Games, Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych finished his run by flashing a sign with his country’s flag and the message “No War in Ukraine.”