There is a saying about the difference between politics and sports. In sports, people talk less while doing more. While in politics, people talk more and do less.
For decades, many athletes have been criticized by the predecessors for their lack of political action.
There was Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics as well as Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown. They were not only the greatest athletes of their generation in their particular sport but they also used their celebrity to influence change of the racial inequality in the United States.
For decades to follow the worlds most famous athletes stayed quiet.