Gwen Berry, most recently known as a self-proclaimed “activist athlete” because she turned her back to the national anthem and U.S. flag at U.S. Olympic Team trials for the hammer throw looks as though she may have been better served working on her craft than making political statements during her lead up to the Olympics.
That’s because Berry failed it medal in her event, finishing in 11th place out of 12 competitors in the hammer throw this week, according to the Post.
At Olympic trials, Berry was on the podium when the national anthem came on over stadium loudspeakers – as it had every night throughout the trials. Just after receiving the bronze medal, she turned her back on the flag during the song and made clear she was opting out in protest.
“While the music played, Berry placed her left hand on her hip and shuffled her feet. She took a quarter turn, so she was facing the stands, not the flag,” the AP wrote last month after the “protest”.
“Toward the end, she plucked up her black T-shirt with the words ‘Activist Athlete’ emblazoned on the front, and draped it over her head.” Similar to prior anthem protests, such as when Berry raised a fist during its playing at the 2019 Pan Am Games, she said she was standing against “systematic racism”.
“I feel like it was a set-up, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said of the timing of the anthem. “I was pissed, to be honest.”
But then, the tables turned. Berry was found to have made rape jokes, in between mocking white people, Mexicans and Asians on Twitter, before becoming an “activist”.
“Mexicans just don’t care about ppl,” she wrote in a Tweet in November 2012. In another Tweet from 2011, she wrote: “This lil white boy being bad as hell!! I would smack his ass then stomp him!! Smh #whitepplKids hella disrespectful.”
“Just saw this gurl wearing heels with white socks!! What the Hell..#chineseppl always try to start new trends..smh..ggguuurrrllll,” she also wrote in 2011. She also made a joke about rape in 2012, Tweeting: “I’m about to rape my lunch. [Shout out] to all the females that’s gon get drunk, get recked by 4 dudes, then cry rape this weekend.”
The similarly woke U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team also has put in a lackluster performance at the Olympics, recently falling to underdog Canada in the Olympics semifinal last week. They are left playing for a bronze medal after being heavy favorites to win gold.
