The rule has recently been eased to allow athletes to express their views in Olympic villages and surroundings and on now-ubiquitous social media sites — but still not during competitions or medal ceremonies. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee went further in 2020, saying it would no longer punish athletes who participated in peaceful protests.

Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, defended the rule on Thursday, saying that athletes should no more disrupt an Olympic event than a Shakespearean actor would interrupt a performance of “Hamlet” to make a political statement.

“When you engage in an event — the actor in a theater, the athlete in a Games — you have to respect the rules,” he said.