At a medal ceremony in the southern province of Antalya, a curious occurrence happened when two arm wrestlers from Kazakhstan and one from Turkey attempted to flaunt their flags in front of the other while posing for photos with the foreign press and standing at the podium.
On October 19, Turkish athlete Derya Ceren Alayan took first place in the Under 21 division of the World Women’s Arm Wrestling Championship. After climbing the podium to pose for photos with the media, two Kazakh athletes who finished second and third spread out a huge flag of their country.
Later, Alayan arrived at the stage, raised the Turkish flag, and then took a photo with it in front of the Kazakh flag. Kazakh competitors attempted to place their flag in the front, but Alayan forbade them from doing so. The “flag issue” was resolved when, after two tries, the two arm wrestlers from Kazakhstan stood in front of the Turkish flag while holding their flag. After the ceremony, the Turkish arm wrestler declared that she had no bad intentions.
In a separate incident that happened in June 2022, Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry claims she was “set up” after she turned away from the flag during a medal ceremony at the US Olympic trials. The 31-year-old has a long history of activism, and when she won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games, she raised her fist as The Star-Spangled Banner concluded what she described as a protest against injustice in the US and the Trump administration. The anthem began on Saturday when Berry stood on the platform after placing third in the trials.
Berry shuffled her feet and put her left hand on her hip while the music played. She turned so that she was now facing the crowd rather than the flag. She grabbed up her black T-shirt with the words “Activist Athlete” printed on the front toward the end of the anthem and threw it over her head. Berry is convinced that her prominent position during the song was no accident. The national anthem is not played at medal ceremonies at the US trials, in contrast to the Olympics. According to Susan Hazzard, a spokesman for USA Track and Field, “the national anthem was set to play at 5.20 pm.
We gave out the hammer throw trophies before the competitors reached the podium. Every day, the national anthem is played by a previously announced schedule. At 5.25 p.m. on Saturday, the music began.
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Berry has promised to use her position to spread awareness of social injustice in the US after finishing third in the trials, which ensures her a spot in the Olympics. She declared that her aim and purpose go beyond sports.
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