EXPLAINER: What’s the History of the Olympics Protest Rule?

TOKYO (AP) — The simple act of taking a knee felt like something more monumental when it happened on Olympic soccer pitches in Japan on the opening night of action. Players from the United States, Sweden, Chile, Britain and New Zealand women’s teams went to a knee before their games, in a gesture against racism the likes of which had not been seen before on the Olympic stage. Those figured to be the first of many of these sort of demonstrations over the three-week stay in Tokyo. The Olympic rule banning such demonstrations at the Games has been hotly debated and contested for decades. The result is changes in the rules.