That statement is neither political nor religious (no one, including the graffiti artist, is saying that Clapton is the creator of the universe)
Let’s bring this back to triathlon. Is there anything in the rules that prohibits walking on water?
Or closer to the rules interpretation – what if a company made “Jesus is King” trisuits?
There was a Tri4Him club in the US before. Which didn’t exactly leave much to the imagination as to what the messaging was.
I will admit to cognitive bias between kit wearing and flags (e.g., the guy who raced Kona in memory of his kid who was killed in the Newtown, CT shooting and had messaging against gun violence). One “feels” more like a protest than the other.
This discussion about flags and other finish line Look-at-Me paraphernalia takes me back to when a pro nicknamed Starky was mad at Ironman for something and ran through the finish line with a gigantic fake check in what I think was a protest of the payout for pros that was based on how close they were to the winner’s finish time. It was a long time ago, so I probably have some details wrong.
That was, I think, some time after they banned athletes from carrying their small children across the finish line, and other things were also forbidden, like political and religious statements and large stuffed animals.
I still don’t like it when athletes other than the winner or podium finishers carry national flags across, not because of the content of the flag but because it tends to mess up other athletes’ finish line photos. I mean, poor old Joe Athlete has been training for a year and slogging through 14 hours of swim-bike-run and realizes too late that he’s making his finish line flourish behind the flag of Someplaceistan. Nobody will see his fist pump or touchdown Jesus or airplane swoop or Blazeman Roll.
And Mr. Someplaceistanian isn’t just running through the finish line with his flag, no, he’s dancing for 30 seconds for the cameras and the folks at home. Completely obscuring others who are trying to move up just one or two places in the age graded ranking.
Yes, they tell us in the athlete briefing to make sure you’ve got a clear finishing chute so you get a good photo, but most people aren’t making excellent decisions at that point in a long day.
The other issue with finish line display items is content and who judges the content. If you let in Jesus is King, well, I’m sure there are some folks who would carry a pro-Satan flag. The sentiments are, in the eyes of the court, of equal weight. You can have your flag of California and your Don’t Tread on Me flag. And Ironman is supposed to decide which is okay?
Me, I’d be fine with an empty hands rule. You want to wear it on your kit all day, go for it.
Out of interest are NAT anthems before the race necessary. Given multi nationally environment.
Thank you for helping all have a sold memory of good old Andrew ( Starky ).. God bless that special soul. 
I believe the pro(s) in question was Ray Botelho and Rachel Jastrebsky, and that was the whole The Real Starky #IMLP7thPro check thing. Though Ray was the only one who got to cross the line with the giant check, because it got confiscated before Rachel came through.
But the non-parody real Starky was/is a phenomenal character. He’s moved on to gravel and putting on camps / events. Might be worth a “where are they now” article…
totally that guy was fun.
Thanks for the update! I searched for the photo but couldn’t find it. That story is a history worth re-telling as we are still discussing the Ironman pro prize purse and payouts.
With the death of Deadspin and the old TRS website shutdown, I had to go to Ray’s old Facebook post about it to track that picture down.
That story, and the old Deadspin Classic “Let’s Remember Some People” column, but for triathlon, might be fun.
Whatever the race organizers or referees consider a step too far. It’s really not that deep or difficult. As an athlete, avoid any display which could be interpreted as political or religious messaging if you want to be on the safe side. And race organizers can use discretionary judgement to penalize people whom they see as causing a problem but still let it pass when an athlete is just a little bit too enthusiastic but neither means nor causes harm.
I’m fully aware what the rule says. However, I reserve myself the right to look for the reasoning behind having that rule.
‘Needs’? Why? As long as it doesn’t lead to a string of copy-cats, a verbal warning to Hoel to tone it down a little bit in the future seems more than sufficient. There is no need to make an example out of him when Ironman doesn’t feel that he did set an example.
I don’t think it is truly black and white, especially when it comes to religion. For example, in the [ IRONMAN Texas Age-Group Men Bike Features thread, we hade one rider whose bike was covered in small crosses and the slogan ‘give me strength’. Is that ‘religious propaganda’ or just a form of personal motivation? What about the not uncommon act of religious athletes crossing oneself as a form of victory celebration?
I don’t see a problem with that. It’s the host nation’s national anthem. I fail to see how anybody would be made to feel unwelcome by the national symbols of the country which they themselves chose to pay a visit too.
I read this on a friend on mine’s LinkedIn page (he didn’t write it, just reposted it)
i know everyone involved in the brainstorming session for nike loved this headline. it’s copy written for copywriters. they all probably dropped their pens in awe. whoever wrote it got to go home for the day. everyone cheered. someone, likely very wise, said “its so provocative.”
and oh were they so, so right.
My friend & I worked together at the Ad Agency (referenced above). I sent him a DM
“This is something Candy would’ve done”
“Oh, completely” he sent back
I was with it until the apostrophe.
Sorry to break it to you, but there is no ‘apostrophe’ in that notice.
(An apostrophe indicates ownership or missing letters.)
Just poor use of a ‘single quotation mark’ without its pair.
Should correctly say: < 'I JUST HOPE I FINISH’ERS >.
As an aside, we could drop all the nugatory full stops (or whatever those are called in the language used in SC).
To me, on an iPhone, it looks no different from an apostrophe, either way it’s wrong.
I think they meant to use 'I just hope I finish’ers, but yeah
Well said!