Andrew Blaser has come up with one creative way around the IOC’s ban on protests and demonstrations inside Olympic venues.
The first publicly out gay man to ever compete in skeleton at the Olympics raced with a rainbow saddle on his sled Thursday.
It was a sweet surprise.
Political speech is especially suppressed at this year’s Olympics, given the Chinese government’s warnings against expressing views contrary to the “Olympic spirit.”
Yes, that sounds like something straight out of “1984.”
But one rainbow saddle can make a strong statement. Blaser says his teammate Sara Roderick gave it to him.
“It’s kinda fun! Makes me smile,” he said.
NBC has shamefully snubbed the LGBTQ community during its coverage, despite the record number of out athletes at the Winter Olympics.
But Blaser’s saddle got at least one commentator talking. USA Network took a moment to explain why Blaser was repping the rainbow.
We love visibility.
After two heats, Blaser sits in 21st place out of 25 racers. The final two heats for men’s skeleton are Friday.
