1968 Black Power Salute

The post on the Raybon Kan column entitled ‘Mixing Sport and Politics’ has sparked interest in his example of politics and sport mixing at the 1968 Olympics. For those students who wanted to know more, I have added some information about the incident.

The Mexico Olympics of 1968 saw African-American protests reach a world-wide audience when two black athletes used a medal ceremony for the 200 metres to protest about the lack of real civil rights in America. After completing their 200 metre race American athlete Tommie Smith, who won the race in a then world record time of 19.83 seconds, with Australia’s Peter Norman second and American John Carlos in third place, went to collect their medals at the podium. The two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos wore beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage.” All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges, after Norman expressed sympathy with their ideals.

Carlos said later, “It (a protest) was in my head the whole year. We first tried to have a boycott (of the games) but not everyone was down with that plan. A lot of athletes thought that winning medals would supersede or protect them from racism. But even if you won the medal, it ain’t going to save your momma. It ain’t going to save your sister or children. It might give you fifteen minutes of fame, but what about the rest of your life? I’m not saying that they didn’t have the right to follow their dreams, but to me the medal was nothing but the carrot on a stick.”

IOC president Avery Brundage deemed a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games was supposed to be. In an immediate response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Avery threatened to ban the entire US track team. This threat led to the two athletes being expelled from the Games. A spokesperson for the organisation said it was “a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit”. The IOC statement was “The basic principle of the Olympic Games is that politics plays no part whatsoever in them. US athletes violated this universally accepted principle….to advertise domestic political views.” Smith and Carlos were largely ostracised by the U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. Time magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, “Angrier, Nastier, Uglier”, instead of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats.

Smith continued in athletics and in the promotion of equal rights. He went on to play American football with the Cincinnati Bengals, before becoming an assistant professor of Physical Education at Oberlin College. In 1995 he went on to help coach the U.S. team at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona. In 1999 he was awarded a Sportsman of the Millennium award. He is now a public speaker. Carlos’ career followed a similar path to Smith. He initially continued in athletics, equalling the 100m world record the following year. Later he played American football with the Philadelphia Eagles before a knee injury prematurely ended his career. He fell upon hard times in the late 1970s and in 1977 his wife committed suicide. In 1982 Carlos was employed by the Organising Committee for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to promote the games and act as liaison with the city’s African American community. In 1985 he became a track and field coach at a school. Norman, who was sympathetic to his competitors’ protest, was reprimanded by his Country’s Olympic authorities and ostracised by the Australian media.

~ by ncowie on February 25, 2008.