The COVIDlympics, Day -26: Ms. Berry, I do NOT see you being allowed in Tokyo...

The predictable right-wing backlash has already begun.

In fact, one reader of a hyper-conservative/MAGAt blog I read basically proposed a loyalty test that basically anyone representing the United States much swear loyalty to MAGA United States.

This is after, last night, Gwen Berry went BLM at the Olympic Trials after placing third in the hammer throw qualifiers to punch her ticket to Tokyo.

The ceremony coincided with the beginning of the evening session -- and The Star-Spangled Banner was played, ostensibly (though Berry does not believe this is less than a set-up) only as the start of the session.

(The two top throwers were both White.)

I can easily see Berry removed.  In fact, I will predict she is.

The IOC has already said (though it has not made clear as to what penalty they would try to enforce) that any protests, BLM or otherwise, would be illegal and met harshly if performed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

(Yes, I know both the Olympics and the European Soccer Championships are still being marketed as "2020" events, before anyone decides they want to ask.)

So, for that reason alone, I do not believe Berry will be allowed to go to Tokyo.

But I think it writes a much larger problem that both the USOC and NBC are going to have - and I believe much to the detriment of both.

In short, not only can we not agree on what America is supposed to be, but I would have to think significant portions of people who would otherwise watch the Games with their flag in one hand and their MAGA Hat/dick in the other will, in fact, boycott the Games.

How many of these conservatives are actually going to want to cheer American athletes when they are Black...

When they are LGBT...

When they are anything but White, cisgender, "good" Americans??

I think a lot of these people who have been crowing about sports are going to be more than shocked as to the number of medals actually won by the United States which are won by athletes they find patently unacceptable.

Of course, for the conservapigs, it could be worse:  There is an American alternate for one of the sports whose STATED goal is to medal in her sport and BURN an American flag on the podium!

More Olympic stuff:

• They had to postpone the last US Olympic track trials until the evening in Eugene, OR.  Why?
• Just a bit ago, it reached 110 degrees in the city -- the highest temperature ever recorded there.  It's 108 now, and they're supposed to restart in an hour.
• A pentathlon athlete, according to a Redditor living 40 miles north of Eugene (where it has reached 116!!!!!!), had fainted, causing the postponement.
• According to results, there will be at least three events (both race walks and the men's javelin throw) where there will be no American qualifiers.  Not only must one finish high in the standings at the Trials, they must also have a minimum met "Olympic Standard".
• Conversely, due to the 4X400m relay and acceptable times, all eight who participated in the 400m finals will go to Tokyo -- three in the event, the five others making up the rest of the relay pool.
• In a video which can only be described as frightening, the NBCSN broadcast of the resumption of the Trials began with a trackside thermometer which measured the track temperature at almost ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DEGREES (actually 148.2).