Wide World of Sports is running a series on politics at the Olympics to mark the Beijing Winter Games. This article looks back on the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, at which a raft of political episodes was headlined by the black power salute.
When Peter Norman joined Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics, a powerful badge emblazoned on his Australian tracksuit, he was dwarfed by the two Americans.
But the silver medallist in the men’s 200m, although standing at only 178 centimetres, was really a giant.
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Norman, 26 at the time and featuring in the only Olympic Games of his career, combined with his rivals in front of a 50,000-strong crowd and millions of other eyes worldwide to make perhaps the most compelling stand against racism sport has seen.
What had begun as a routine medal ceremony would set the stage for possibly the most poignant image in sports history to be taken, when gold medallist Smith, silver medallist Norman and bronze medallist Carlos changed the world in an instant.
In solidarity with the civil-rights movement in the USA, Smith and Carlos both raised a fist encased in a black glove and bowed their heads as their country’s national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, rung throughout the Olympic stadium.
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Few noticed at the time that all three men had donned Olympic Project for Human Rights badges for the podium ceremony, but those buttons and several other symbols were crucial to the statement.
The black gloves on Smith’s and Carlos’ hands represented unity and strength, Smith wore a black scarf as a symbol of black pride, black beads around Carlos’ neck – exposed by an unzipped USA tracksuit in defiance of Olympic rules – signified the horrific number of lynchings of African-Americans, and no shoes – black socks were worn instead – pointed to poverty.
Many years later, the photograph taken of the protest by John Dominis was named in Time’s 100 most influential images of all time.
“We are in the Olympic Project for Human Rights,” Carlos had said to Norman as they prepared to emerge from a stadium tunnel.
“Do you believe in human rights?”
Norman smiled and was resolute in his response.
“Of course I believe in human rights,” Norman said.
But not only did the star sprinter from Melbourne stand with Smith and Carlos on the podium while wearing an OPHR badge, he’d been busy in the planning of the protest.
When it was realised that Smith had taken black gloves to the stadium but Carlos had left his at the Olympic village, Norman suggested that Carlos wear Smith’s left glove. That’s why Carlos raised his left hand as Smith lifted his right, which is the traditional black power salute.
Norman had also shown commitment to the cause in suggesting to Smith and Carlos that he join them in donning an OPHR badge, before chasing up a button himself.
“Hey, mate. You got another one of those?” Norman had said to Paul Hoffman, the coxswain from the US men’s rowing eight.
Hoffman handed a badge to Norman and made an emphatic remark years later.
“He’s a white Australian runner with two black athletes wanting an OPHR badge,” Hoffman said.
“I’ll be damned if I’m not going to give it to him.”
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Australian Ralph Doubell, who a day before the black power salute had won gold in the men’s 800m, looks back on Norman’s hand in the protest with towering admiration.
“At the end of the day they can stand up and say, ‘We helped the black cause’,” Doubell tells Wide World of Sports.
“And that may have been one of those critical moments when the weight of the issues gets changed from what it was to what it should be.
“I think it’s important in that Peter wasn’t closely associated with Smith and Carlos, he wasn’t a black man; he just thought that was the right thing to do and he was sympathetic to what Carlos and Smith were doing.”
Doubell says Norman’s support of Smith and Carlos was in keeping with his values.
He was born into a family devoted to the Salvation Army and, even in the years prior to the Mexico City podium protest, had often worn jackets reading “God Is Love” or “Jesus Saves”.
“I think it was consistent with how Peter was brought up. He was strong with the Salvation Army and had strong support for downtrodden causes. That was part of his life,” Doubell says.
“He felt strongly and he was willing to put himself in the line.
“He was into civil rights, he was from a religious background, his parents were from a religious background and they were all in the Salvation Army – and that’s an organisation which stands up for people who need help.”
But what Norman did in Mexico City came at a mighty cost.
“He was very brave to do what he did and he was punished for what he did,” Doubell says.
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Smith and Carlos were impacted much more heavily than Norman.
The International Olympic Committee forced the United States Olympic Committee into forcing the pair out of the village.
What followed was a barrage of hate mail, including death threats, and scathing commentary in the media. The Los Angeles Times labelled their protest a “Nazi-like salute”.
The public pressure facing them was intense and that was a factor in their marriages breaking down.
Norman wasn’t booted from the Olympic village in Mexico City, but he never competed in another Games despite meeting the Munich 1972 qualifying standards for both the 100m and 200m on a host of occasions.
There was room on the team for Norman as Australia sent no male sprinters, but he was nonetheless overlooked.
“It’s devastating,” Doubell says.
“You run to run in the Olympics and you expect that if the qualification is there and you meet the qualification there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be selected.”
Norman’s involvement in the Mexico City protest not only affected his athletics career but his personal life.
His marriage broke down in 1971 and he began to suffer from alcoholism and depression.
And, as noted in The Peter Norman Story, authored by Andrew Webster and Matt Norman, his family grew frustrated as their identity eroded away.
“We all became ‘Peter’s mum’ and ‘Peter’s dad’ and ‘Peter’s wife’,” says Norman’s first wife, Ruth, in his authorised biography.
“When someone gets notoriety you then become an appendage to that notoriety,” Doubell says.
“The family members are in danger of becoming appendages to the notoriety of the main character.”
It took multiple decades, but the majority of the public now support the protest made by Smith, Carlos and Norman.
In 2005, a statue was erected at San Jose State University paying tribute to the black power salute of Smith and Carlos.
And in 2019, a statue was unveiled at Melbourne’s Albert Park in recognition of the stand Norman took.
Federal Parliament also issued an apology in 2012 over the treatment of Norman, after tireless campaigning from Labor MP Andrew Leigh.
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Norman is not only renowned for his involvement in the protest and clinching the silver medal in the Mexico City 200m final, but posting 20.06 seconds to set an Australian record that still stands today.
Doubell attended Norman’s 2006 funeral, at which Smith and Carlos were pallbearers in a stirring chapter of the trio’s fabled story.
Norman, Doubell says, was remembered at his funeral with great fondness.
“He was a guy who stood up for what he thought was right and in Mexico City he was right.”
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