Berry later explained why she turned away and held up a shirt with the slogan "Activist Athlete".<\/p>\n
"I feel like it was a set-up, and they did it on purpose," Berry said about the anthem's curious timing during the medal ceremony.<\/p>\n
"I was pissed, to be honest.<\/p>\n
"They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem before we got up there.<\/p>\n
"I was thinking about what I should do. Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my head. It was real disrespectful.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then they played it when we were out there," Berry said.<\/p>\n
"But I don't really want to talk about the anthem because that's not important. The anthem doesn't speak for me. It never has."<\/p>\n
"My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports," Berry added.<\/p>\n
"I'm here to represent those… who died due to systemic racism. That's the important part. That's why I'm going. That's why I'm here today."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Berry revealed she didn't initially want to protest on the podium.<\/p>\n
'"I didn't really want to be up there," she said.<\/p>\n
"Like I said, it was a set up. I was hot, I was ready to take my pictures and get into some shade."<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/KibweJohnson\/status\/1409276570058039296<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/B1GHomie\/status\/1409269465494081543<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MsGoogleme\/status\/1409281010441674754<\/a><\/p>\n Winner DeAnna Price and silver medallist Brooke Andersen sang the anthem with their hands over the hearts during the same medal ceremony.<\/p>\n A USA Track and Field spokeswoman later responded to Berry's "set up" claim.<\/p>\n "The national anthem was scheduled to play at 5.20pm today," Susan Hazzard said.<\/p>\n "We didn't wait until the athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule."<\/p>\n In reaction to her protest, despite being shown support by fellow athletes, several conservative figures and angry sports fans slammed Berry.<\/p>\n On her social media accounts, she shared some of the hate mail she received.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/MzBerryThrows\/status\/1409242706040147968<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MzBerryThrows\/status\/1409242900467224578<\/a><\/p>\n In response to the criticism she was bombarded with, Berry was critical of what 'American patriotism' had become.<\/p>\n "These comments really show that people in American rally patriotism over basic morality," she tweeted.<\/p>\n "Even after the murder of George Floyd and so many others; the commercials, statements, and phony sentiments regarding black lives were just a hoax."<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/MzBerryThrows\/status\/1409330780174618626<\/a><\/p>\n Berry has been involved in similar protests in the past. She was put on probation for raising her fist at the Pan-American Games in 2019 when US Olympians were banned from political statements during anthems.<\/p>\n NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick famously prompted a huge backlash when he kneeled during the US national anthem before matches in 2016 and even more notably, at the 1968 Olympics Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their leather-gloved fist when Star Spangled Banner played during their medal ceremony.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n