As quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers at that time, Colin Kaepernick (M.) protested against police violence and racism against minorities in the USA in the summer of 2016. Kaepernick knelt down for this during the US anthem. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," he said in justifying his protest. Kaepernick was repeatedly verbally attacked for this by US President Donald Trump, Amnesty International in turn honored him as an ambassador of conscience. The 49ers did not extend his contract, which expired in early 2017. Since then Kaepernick has been without an NFL team.
US soccer player Megan Rapinoe was one of the first white athletes to join Kaepernick's anthem protest 2016. After she was also criticized by Donald Trump, she replied that she does not give a damn about the opinion of "haters". As an openly lesbian sports celebrity, she supports several NGOs in the fight against homophobia. In addition, together with her teammates from the US women's national football team, she sued her own federation for discrimination, as the federation paid higher win bonuses to the men's team than to the women.
The violent death of George Floyd caused a huge wave of protest, which also reached the German Bundesliga. The Frenchman Marcus Thuram of Borussia Mönchengladbach knelt on the ground after scoring a goal to express his support for the protest movement. Other players such as Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi (both Borussia Dortmund) or Weston McKennie (Schalke 04) also showed solidarity with messages on shirts or an armband.
You can also show attitude at sporting decisions - even if you harm your own team with it. Miroslav Klose did this in 2012 in the Italian football league. There he scored a goal for his team Lazio Rome against SSC Naples with his hand. The former German international admitted the offence to the referee. Instead of a 1-0 victory for Lazio, it ended up as a 0-0 due to Klose's honesty, with Naples captain Paolo Cannavaro praising Klose: "He deserves a prize for that." Few weeks later, AC Florence actually gave Klose a Fair Play Award for his admission.
The Swiss national football team caused international excitement in 1995, when, during an international match in Sweden, the team unrolled a poster during the national anthem with the words "Stop it, Chirac!" With this, the team led by the then Bayern player Alain Sutter (6th from left) protested against France's nuclear weapons tests under the then President Jacques Chirac. Switzerland saw the protest of its players as a threat to its neutrality on the international stage. In the end, however, the players got off with a warning from UEFA.
On 16 October 1968, US sprinters Tommie Smith (M.) and John Carlos (r.) caused probably the most famous protest in 20th century sport: At the award ceremony after the men's 200-metre sprint at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, both raised a fist in black glove to the sky during the US national anthem and lowered their heads to express their solidarity with disadvantaged, discriminated and murdered Afro-Americans. Both were subsequently expelled from the US Olympic team under pressure from the IOC and had to leave the Olympic village.
