Protests, not boycotts, are the way to challenge China on human rights, letting athletes use their platforms to highlight issues hanging over the 2022 Beijing Olympics, according to U.S. women¡¯s soccer international Megan Rapinoe.

Although it is COVID-19 that has put this summer¡¯s Tokyo Games under threat, Rapinoe is rarely shy about sharing her thoughts be it on pandemics or politics.

¡°I don¡¯t think athletes should be pawns,¡± Rapinoe told Reuters in a Zoom interview. ¡°It is always a balance between boycotting and using the event as an opportunity to continue to speak truth to power and protest in some sort of way.