Black U.S. Athletes Stage Political Protest at Olympics Award Ceremony – Inspiration for a Later Generation of Athletes
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two medal winning runners for the U.S. Track Team, staged a political protest at their awards ceremony at the 1968 Olympic Games.
Smith won to Gold Medal and Carlos won the Bronze in the 200 meter race. The Silver went to Peter Norman, an Australian who sympathized with their protest over his criticisms on his country’s long racist history.
As the U.S. National Anthem was played for the crowd, Smith and Carlos each raised an arm with a black glove on one hand. The effect was to create the appearance of a circle. (In fact, Carlos had forgotten to bring his gloves and Peter Norman suggested that he wear one of Smith’s gloves. The effect was greater than if each one had worn two black gloves.)
Smith and Carlos insisted that the protest was not for “black power” but for human rights, which included support for blue-collar workers, a protest against lynching. Their protest is regarded as the most important political statement in the history of the Olympics.
Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was furious and ordered that Smith and Carlos be suspended from the U.S. team and expelled from the Olympic Village. The U.S. Olympic Committee refused; Brundage threatened to expel the entire U.S. track team; and in the end the two runners were expelled from the Olympic Games. Both Smith and Carlos kept their medals, however.
Although there were no more political protests at the Olympics for decades, the courageous protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos served as an inspiration for political protests by both amateur and professional athletes in the 2010s. The turning point was the refusal of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to stand for the National Anthem at a pre-season game on August 26, 2016. Other athletes followed his lead, and following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 professional athletes joined the national protests of police brutality in massive numbers.
Read: John Carlos and Dave Zinn, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World (2011)
Learn more about the protest here
View a timeline of sports protests, 1959-2020 here
Read a short history of sports protests here
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here