10 Famous Sporting Protests

Not all protests need to have political or cultural motivations.

At the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris, American sprinter Jon Drummond was disqualified for a false start in the quarter-finals of the 100m.

Drummond, who had never been shy of showmanship during his career, refused to accept the ruling and lay down in his lane, repeatedly shouting, “I did not move”.

Replays showed Drummond’s sense of injustice was fair as sensors has been triggered by a mere twitch in his blocks. He had not left his blocks early to try to gain an advantage. Future world record holder, Asafa Powell of Jamaica, was also penalised.

Drummond eventually left the track on the verge of tears. His protest delayed the competition by almost an hour, and it took until 2012 for the International Association of Athletics Federation to revise the false start rule to allow a warning for ‘twitches’.