Christine Brennan says President Obama's selection of Billie Jean King for the official U.S. delegation to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games is a stroke of genius, and I couldn't agree more.
She writes:
What better way to show the nation's disgust for President Vladimir Putin's anti-gay propaganda law than for Obama to send an American cultural icon and sports legend who also happens to be openly gay?
King, 70, the winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles during her Hall of Fame tennis career, never was an Olympian, but she has been watching Putin's discriminatory law from afar.
In a recent conversation with USA TODAY Sports' Kelly Whiteside, King talked about the general hesitancy U.S. athletes expressed regarding the law.
"Sometimes I think we need a John Carlos moment," she said on Sept. 25, referring to the U.S. track star who was expelled from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics along with American sprinter Tommie Smith for protesting racial discrimination.
"I think there's watershed moments, benchmarks. I would hope the majority of the athletes would speak out. It's a great platform."
Then she sighed. "I wish I was 21 again and in the Olympics."
Now she is, just in a different way.If only someone big in sports were as brave as Billie Jean King was in her day.
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