Athletes around the world cheered when leaders of the Paralympics booted Russia from the Games.

With Russian troops encircling the capital of Kyiv, more than 60 athletes from Ukraine and elsewhere sent an open letter to Olympic and Paralympic leaders urging them to immediately suspend the Russian and Belarussian Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

Around the world, athletes are throwing their support behind political and social causes, part of a wave of sports activism that has flourished in the years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during games to protest police brutality against Black people.

A Ukrainian skeleton athlete flashed a small sign that read “No War in Ukraine” to the cameras as he finished a run at the Beijing Olympics.