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USOPC Won't Sanction Athletes for Raising Fists or Kneeling at Olympic Trials

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee will not sanction athletes for raising their fists or kneeling during the national anthem at Olympic trials, previewing a contentious policy it expects to stick to when many of those same athletes head to Tokyo this summer.

The USOPC released a nine-page document Tuesday to offer guidance about the sort of "racial and social demonstrations" that will and won't be allowed by the hundreds who will compete in coming months for spots on the U.S. team. The document comes three months after the federation, heeding calls from its athletes, determined it would not enforce long-standing rules that ban protests at the Olympics.