Raven Saunders, a silver medalist shot putter on the Tokyo Olympics and raised an “X” above her head in protest after receiving her award, was suspended for 18 months for failing to indicate up for doping exams.Saunders had dedicated three “whereabouts failures” inside a 12-month interval ending on Aug. 15, the U.S. Anti-Doping Company introduced Wednesday. Saunders will miss this 12 months’s world championships however would nonetheless be eligible for the Paris Olympics subsequent 12 months.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Raven Saunders, of america, poses along with her silver medal on ladies’s shot put on the 2020 Summer season Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photograph/Francisco Seco)The 26-year-old joined a rising record of high-profile athletes who confronted self-discipline for lacking exams, together with world-champion sprinters Christian Coleman and Salwa Eid Naser, in line with The Related Press. A sequence of missed exams may result in bans however should not thought-about proof that an athlete was utilizing a prohibited substance.Saunders was fourth within the U.S. nationals competitors final 12 months and didn’t qualify for worlds. She then introduced she would take the remainder of 2022 off – which got here a few month earlier than her final missed check. The opposite two had been in January and Could.DICK FOSBURY, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST WHO REVOLUTIONIZED HIGH JUMP WITH ‘FOSBURY FLOP,’ DEAD AT 76 Raven Saunders, of america, competes within the last of the ladies’s shot put on the 2020 Summer season Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photograph/David J. Phillip)In the course of the photograph op at her medals ceremony on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Saunders stepped off the rostrum, lifted her arms above her head and shaped an “X’ along with her wrists. “It is the intersection of the place all people who find themselves oppressed meet,” she stated when requested what her protest meant.Saunders, who’s overtly homosexual, has typically puzzled if the Olympics may dwell as much as the mission of variety. “To be me. To not apologize,” she stated in a wide-ranging dialog after her second-place end. “To indicate youthful people who regardless of what number of bins they fight to suit you in, you might be you and you may settle for it. Folks tried to inform me to not do tattoos and piercings and all that. However take a look at me now, and I’m poppin’.” Raven Saunders, of america, competes within the qualification rounds of the ladies’s shot put on the 2020 Summer season Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photograph/Matthias Schrader)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPSaunders obtained assist from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) after the protest. The Worldwide Olympic Committee had relaxed a few of its guidelines relating to protests and political gestures on the Olympics however nonetheless barred demonstrations throughout medal ceremonies. The USOPC stated it might not sanction athletes who demonstrated on the rostrum.The Related Press contributed to this report. Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox Information Digital.
Raven Saunders, US silver medalist who put up ‘X’ gesture after win, suspended for missed doping tests
