Olympian Gwen Berry Speaks Out Following the Backlash She Received For Protesting National Anthem

The Olympic trials are underway, and Gwen Berry is officially going to Tokyo. The hammer thrower placed third during the trials securing her spot on the Olympic team.

This should be cause for celebration, but instead Berry felt very uncomfortable when she stood on the podium. Instead of facing the flag while the national anthem played, she turned away in silent protest.

Conservative news reporter Dan Crenshaw thinks Berry shouldn’t be allowed to compete on the Olympic team after turning away during the national anthem. Berry’s response was to tweet “At this point, y’all are obsessed with me.”

Here’s Berry’s side of the story. In Oregon she shared, “I felt like it was a setup. I felt like they did that on purpose.”

Berry was referring to the fact that the national anthem played while she was on the podium. The national anthem is only played once each day during the Olympic trials, and it happened to play while Berry was on the podium.

She explained, “I was pissed, to be honest. They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem before we got up there. I was thinking about what I should do. Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my head.”

Berry thought playing the national anthem while she was on the podium was “disrespectful,” so instead of facing the flag, she turned away in silent protest. By the way, that t-shirt she put over her head had the words “activist athlete” on it.

Many people are siding with Berry and supporting her right to peaceful protest.

Even President Biden is on her side.

Do you think it was inappropriate for Berry to turn away during the national anthem? Do you think playing the national anthem while she was on the podium was “a setup”?