Team GB track star Dina Asher-Smith has insisted Olympic athletes should be free to take the knee amid fears Games bosses will seek to punish those who do.
The International Olympic Committee have bumbled their way through that important issue, with the belated concession this month that athletes can 'express their views' before and after competing, but not on the podium.
It remains to be seen if anyone tests the limits of those regulations by taking a knee during a medal ceremony, but Asher-Smith has made a thumping contribution to the wider debate.
She branded the podium ban 'unenforceable' and said she sees 'protesting and expressing yourself as a fundamental human right'.
'If you were to penalise someone for standing up against racial inequality how on earth would that go, how on earth are you going to enforce that? Would you revoke someone's medal for saying racism is wrong?' she said.
'How would you police that, particularly when people feel so strongly about that right now? How would that go optically? I see it as completely unenforceable.'
Asher-Smith did not clarify whether she would take a knee in the event that she wins a medal across her 100m, 200m and relay campaigns. But the 200m world champion was resolute that she would not be silenced.
The IOC has not detailed how athletes who defy the ban will be punished, but said they will face disciplinary action.
Dina Asher-Smith has defended athletes' rights to protest against racism at the Tokyo Games
'I didn't know that,' she said in response to hearing that a podium protest ban remains in place.
'When it's something so close to your heart — particularly for me that topic would be racism, as a black woman you think about racism — I just think you can't police people's voice on that.
'Some of the Olympics' most iconic moments have been the black power salute by Tommie Smith way back (in 1968). That is something people remember the Olympics for, something they're very proud to see at the Olympic
