The hammer thrower made headlines when she was involved in a controversy over the US national anthem. But she says she is fighting for American values
At the US Olympic Track and Field trials in June, hammer thrower Gwen Berry earned a spot on her second Olympic team, placing third in her event. She also became a face of athlete activism. She raised her fist when she was introduced before the hammer throw, and when she was on the podium, she turned around and draped a T-shirt that said “activist athlete” over her head.
Berry emerged as a visible activist athlete in 2019, when she won gold at the Pan American Games and raised her fist on the podium, near the end of the national anthem. She did it to draw attention to racial injustice in the US that doesn’t get enough attention, she said. “You can see the racial wealth gap, you can see voter suppression, you can see that Black communities don’t have resources, like grocery stores, water, and access to public transportation.”
