Gwen Berry

Gwen Berry is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. Her mark of 77.78m on June 8, 2018, ranks her #6 on the all time list. She also holds the world record in the weight throw with a mark of 25.60m set in March 2017. She is a three-time national champion in the weight throw at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. She was the gold medalist in the hammer at the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival. She is also the 2019 Pan American Games Champion.

During the award ceremony in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru where Berry was awarded the gold medal for the hammer throw, she raised her fist at the end of the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in protest against injustice in America "and a president who's making it worse." Berry's protests led the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to issue new guidelines in order to allow peaceful expressions of protest "in support of racial and social justice for all human beings." Berry has stated: "I'm here to represent those who died [due] to this systemic racism."

Berry was reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee, who placed her on probation for 12 months, prohibiting her from any form of protest for a year. Her act cost her sponsorships, and she estimated that she lost $50,000.

In June 2021, during the U.S. Olympic track and field trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Berry turned away from the U.S. flag during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner". She said of the national anthem's timing that "I feel like it was a set-up". According to a spokesperson for USA Track and Field who stated, "The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule", the anthem was scheduled to be played at 5:20 p.m., though on this occasion the music started at 5:25 p.m. Berry claims an official told her the anthem would play prior to her arrival on the podium. Berry has accused critics of her protest of favoring "patriotism over basic morality."