Tom Daley was pictured in Olympics training with a pride flag towel after Paris 2024 promised to give athletes a platform to speak up for LGBT rights.
Political gestures on podiums remain banned, but organisers said last year that they would seize on the Olympic spotlight to push a broader message on diversity.
Daley, who previously used a Union Flag towel for his last two Olympic appearances, is a front-runner to carry the Team GB flag at Friday’s Opening Ceremony.
The 30-year-old switched to a rainbow-coloured flannel in Paris on Monday after organisers previously adopted rainbow colours to their logo to mark an international day against homophobia. Organisers dismiss suggestions, however, that Paris 2024’s current pink and pale blue colour palette is inspired by the trans flag.
Paris 2024 said last year that athletes will be given “plenty of opportunities” to speak for LGBTQ rights. “We strongly believe that Paris 2024 has a fantastic opportunity to communicate and demonstrate that this situation has to evolve,” said Tony Estanguet, the organising committee president.
The IOC in 2021 relaxed how it implements a rule which historically had stopped athletes from making any political, religious or other statements of belief or identity at the Olympics. It allowed the wearing of rainbow colours at the Tokyo Games in 2021. In Paris, athletes will also be “free to speak and to share their messages” when they’re not competing, Estanguet pledged.
“There are plenty of opportunities for athletes, for associations, to use the platform of the Games to demonstrate that there (are) some situations (that are) not acceptable, that we have to evolve,” he said.
LGBT activists who waved rainbow flags in Moscow’s Red Square and protested in St. Petersburg were arrested during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.
Daley, one of Team GB’s figureheads, and rower Helen Glover are leading contenders to be chosen as Team GB flagbearers for Friday. It will be diver Daley’s fifth Olympics and rower Glover’s fourth Games. Speaking at the diving team announcement in May, Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England told Telegraph Sport that Daley, who competes on Monday, is “a talisman” as a “five times Olympian, four-time medallist, Olympic champion”.
“He desperately believes in Team GB,” said England. “He’s a sponge – speaks to lots of other athletes, a real leader. Absolutely understand the one team philosophy and team culture. Very giving and very generous in that regard.”
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