IOC has ‘big opportunity’ to make anti-racism statement, says Colin Jackson

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has “a really big opportunity” to take a stand against racial inequality, says hurdling great Colin Jackson.

“I think as an institution they could be quite proud of making a statement,” Jackson told BBC Sport.

“They should make a statement, a really, really bold one too.”

Jackson, 53, says the IOC should look back to the famous moment at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico when black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos staged a silent protest against racial discrimination.

The pair, gold and bronze medallists in the 200m, stood with their heads bowed and fists raised in a Black Power salute as the US national anthem played during the medal ceremony.

Cardiff-born Jackson, who has worked as a sports commentator and television presenter since retiring from athletics, believes the Olympic movement should embrace its potential to provide a platform against discrimination.

“The IOC themselves have had a prime example in 1968 with Tommie Smith, it’s not like they haven’t had this situation before with his Black Power salute, it’s nothing they’ve not dealt with in the past,” Jackson said.

“When you have the actual footage of what Tommie Smith did there back in the day, it’s so powerful then and they should really be saying quite clearly, ‘well isn’t it a shame that things haven’t moved on since 1968?’

“It should be they are a voice to embarrass the world more than anything else. Sport is the place where people come together from all creeds and colours to really celebrate their performance ability.

“So it’s a really big opportunity for the IOC I believe, to really make a difference because it happened in their championships already.”

‘Hell’ waiting one more year until Olympics

The coronavirus pandemic has seen the Olympics, along with many other major sporting events, postponed, with Tokyo 2020 now taking place from 23 July to 8 August 2021, although Games chief Yoshiro Mori has warned it could even be scrapped if the global situation has not improved by then.

Jackson sympathises with the athletes affected and says it will be difficult for many of them.

“If you’re in the twilight of your career, it’s going to be a tricky time anyway for them, but to hang on one extra year is just literally hell, literally hell for them to do that,” he said.

“When you talk to people who don’t know they go, ‘it’s only one year surely you can make it?’. It doesn’t quite go that way in the world of sport. There’s a huge sense of shame for them that they can’t do that.

“One example is (Jamaican sprinter) Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She was world champion at the 100m, she was getting into form after giving birth, and she’d like to get her Olympic title back from Elaine Thompson, her fellow countryman. But it will be very difficult for her now to hang on that extra year.

“If you are in the very beginnings of your career, it makes a marked difference because you’re going to get one more year of experience, one more year of strength and desire to topple the people at the top of their game. It is a true ‘swings and roundabouts’ moment.

“Either way, keep mindful, keep your focus. Every one of the athletes are used to getting ready for a competition every year. There is always a major competition they are getting ready for, so it’s just to really to recycle their thought process.

“It gives their bodies a chance to have a rest as well, because they’ve been beating their bodies up for years.”

‘I’m not saying don’t have one or two biscuits’

Jackson warns that as well as the mental side of lockdown, one of the pitfalls facing people could be their eating habits and he has set about creating menus to help the athletes he mentors.

“They are human beings like everyone else, when you get bored or frustrated you end up overeating,” he said.

“Something that is right on your doorstep, which is the kitchen, people are starting to eat far more junk than necessary.

“The first thing I thought about doing, because I’m a little bit of a cook, is being able to create a couple of menus, a couple of recipes that are very easy to follow, that are nutritious and hopefully will guide them away from specifically fast foods in that sense. So I made good tasty food which is done fast.

“I’m not saying don’t have one or two biscuits, just don’t have five or six. Take your time when it comes to eating those biscuits as well, because if you rush stuff, that’s when you keep gorging in that sense. Take your time and you will soon find your way there.

“Upskill yourself, learn how to cook if you can’t cook. Learn to cook with simple ingredients you know. One of the things I encourage my athletes to do, is to cook with fish because it’s really, really, really light and fast to cook. So that’s the reason why I do that.” – bbc.com