John Coates, Australia’s Olympic boss has warned athletes to refrain from making political statements or gestures when they are on the podium at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Coates has told athletes that the winner’s podium is not the appropriate place to make statements against Russia’s anti-gay propaganda laws.
“We respect the right of our athletes to express an opinion,” Coates said. “The place to do it is at the press conference after the event. I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to do it before then. They should be focusing on their event. But the one thing the IOC controls in another country is the field of play, we control the podium. And we say there will be no political demonstrations there, and that’s the message we’ve given to our athletes – and none of the politicians from Russia will be handing out medals – that’s our territory,” Coates said.
Coates has told the Sydney Morning Herald that he does not agree with the laws but highlighted that the Australian government has not taken a position of the issue.
Snow Boarder Bell Brockhurt had previously indicated that she may make a protest against the Russian laws. Brockhurt and fellow gay Australian Olympian Heath Spence, who pilots the bob sled team, were among 50 high profile athletes who have signed a position urging the International Olympic Committee to uphold Principle 6 of it’s charter. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova and Diver Greg Louganis have also put their names to the petition.
