200 metres, Men

Coming into the year, Tommie Smith was considered the best 200 runner but John Carlos had won the Olympic Trials in an unratified world record of 19.7/19.92 – it was not accepted because his shoes had too many spikes. Smith had won the AAU in 1967-68, while Carlos was 1967 Pan American Champion. In the semi-final, Smith pulled an adductor muscle and ran the final with his thigh wrapped. Carlos came off the turn 1½ metres in the lead but Smith then accelerated, turning on what he called his “Tommie Jets” and powered past the field to win with almost a 2½ metre lead despite closing it down in the last 10 metres, still running a world record 19.83. Carlos slowed near the end after Smith passed him and the gold medal was gone, and was passed on the run-in by Australia’s Peter Norman.

Smith and Carlos almost did not compete in the Olympics. African-Americans, they considered joining a black boycott of the Olympics that was being organized by San José State professor Harry Edwards. But they elected to make their own protest instead. On the victory podium, they mounted it barefoot, wearing civil rights badges, and as The Star-Spangled Banner played, they lowered their heads and raised a single, black-gloved fist. The IOC was irate at this political protest during the Olympics, and the US Olympic Committee expelled them from the team. Peter Norman joined them in the protest by also wearing the civil rights badge. Vilified by the American and international media, Smith and Carlos have since become heroes to the cause of American civil rights, and human rights in general. They also never forgot Norman, and when he died in 2006, they served as pallbearers at his funeral. In 2008 Smith and Carlos received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, presented by ESPN. Carlos has made some noise in recent years, claiming he let Tommie Smith win the gold medal in 1968, but those who saw the race have no doubt as to Smith’s dominance.