Trump tweets video of Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt pausing for the US national anthem

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt.Twitter

President Donald Trump continued a multiday crusade against athletes who kneel during the US national anthem by tweeting a video of Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt.

“Even Usain Bolt from Jamaica, one of the greatest runners and athletes of all time, showed RESPECT for our National Anthem,” Trump wrote Tuesday night.

The 2012 video shows Bolt, a native of Jamaica and an Olympic sprinter who owns eight gold medals, cutting an on-camera interview short to pause for the US national anthem at the Olympic Games in London.

Bolt turns away from the camera and his interviewer, and stands in silence with a Jamaican flag draped around on his back.

Watch the footage below:

Trump has spent nearly a week sounding alarms over athletes who kneel during the national anthem. The gesture is a peaceful protest meant to call attention to racial injustice and police brutality, as noted by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the anthem in 2016.

The president has sought to frame the demonstration as a protest against the American flag, US troops, and the national anthem. Sports, news, and entertainment figures have pushed back on that assertion.

Others seemed to interpret Trump tweeting a video of Bolt, an athlete of color, as a signal that American athletes of color who kneel during the national anthem should follow his example.

Bolt commented on Kaepernick’s demonstration in an interview with ESPN last September: “Everyone has the right to their own opinion. If you feel strongly about something and you want to voice your opinion, I feel it’s your right,” Bolt said.