Tommie Smith

For others with a similar name, see Tommy Smith.

Medal record
Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) showing the Black Power salute in the 1968 Summer Olympics while Silver medalist Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge to show his support for the two Americans.
Men's Athletics
Competitor for the United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1968 Mexico City	200 metres
Summer Universiade
Gold	1967 Tokyo	200 metres
Silver	1967 Tokyo	100 metres

Tommie Smith
Born	(1944-06-06) June 6, 1944 Clarksville, TX
Position(s)	Wide receiver
College	San Jose State
Common Draft	1967 / Round 9
Statistics
DatabaseFootball
Teams
1969	AFL Cincinnati Bengals

Tommie Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an African American former track & field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith won the 200-meter dash finals in 19.83 seconds – the first time the 20 second barrier was broken. His Black Power salute with John Carlos atop the medal podium caused controversy at the time as it was seen as politicizing the Olympic Games. It remains a symbolic moment in the history of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Early life

While attending Lemoore High School in California, Smith showed great potential, setting most of the school's track records, many of which remain. He won the 440 yard dash in the 1963 CIF California State Meet. His achievements won him a scholarship to San Jose State. On May 7, 1966 at San Jose State, Smith set a world best of 19.5 seconds in the 200 metres straight, which he ran on a cinder track. That "world best" for 200 metres was finally beaten by Tyson Gay on May 16, 2010, just over 44 years later., though Smith still holds the best for the slightly longer 220 yard event. Since the IAAF has abandoned ratifying records for the event, Smith will retain the official record for the straightaway 200 metres/220 yards in perpetuity. Smith won the national collegiate 220-yard (201.17 m) title in 1967 before adding the AAU furlong (201.17m) crown as well. He traveled to Japan for the 1967 Summer Universiade and won the 200 m gold medal. He repeated as AAU 200 m champion in 1968 and made the Olympic team.

Career

In the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City, on 16 October, he won the gold medal for the 200 m in a world record time 19.83 s. He and a teammate, John Carlos, who earned the bronze medal, gave a Black Power salute while receiving their medals. Silver medalist Peter Norman, a white Australian, donned a human rights badge on the podium in support of their protest. (See 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.)

Some people (particularly IOC president Avery Brundage) felt that a political statement had no place in the international forum of the Olympic Games. In an immediate response to their actions, Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team by Brundage and voluntarily moved from the Olympic Village. Brundage, who was president of the United States Olympic Committee in 1936, had made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics. The Nazi salute, being a national salute at the time, was accepted in a competition of nations, while the athletes' salute was not of a nation and so was considered unacceptable. People who opposed the protest said the actions disgraced all Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, praised the men for their bravery. The men's gesture had lingering effects for all three athletes, the most serious of which were death threats against Smith, Carlos and their families.

During his career, Smith set seven individual world records and also was a member of several world-record relay teams at San Jose State, where he was coached by Lloyd (Bud) Winter. With personal records of 10.1 for 100 meters, 19.83 for 200 and 44.5 for the 400, Smith still ranks high on the world all-time lists. After graduating, Smith played professional football with the Cincinnati Bengals for three years.

After his track career, he became a member of the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1996, Smith was inducted into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he received that organization's Sportsman of the Millennium Award. In 2000 - 2001 the County of Los Angeles and the State of Texas presented Smith with Commendation, Recognition and Proclamation Awards.

He later became a track coach at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he also taught sociology and until recently was a faculty member at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.

With author David Steele, Smith wrote his autobiography, entitled Silent Gesture, published in February 2007 by Temple University Press.

In August 2008, Tommie Smith gave 2008 Olympic triple gold winner Usain Bolt of Jamaica one of his shoes from the 1968 Olympics as a birthday gift.

In 2010, Smith announced that he would sell the gold medal he won at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He put his gold medal for the 200 meters and spikes up for auction. The bid starts at $250,000, and the sale is scheduled to close November 4, 2010.

Recognition

For his life-long commitment to athletics, education, and human rights following his silent gesture of protest at the '68 Olympics in Mexico City, Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

In 2005, a statue showing Smith and Carlos on the medal stand (but not Norman, whose silver medal position is vacant) was constructed by political artist Rigo 23 and dedicated on the campus of San Jose State University.

A mural of the photo taken with Smith on the podium at the 1968 Olympics with Carlos and Norman was painted on the brick wall of a residence in Newtown, New South Wales, Australia, titled "Three Proud People, Mexico, 1968". The mural faces the train tracks linking Sydney city to the Western and Southern Suburbs, and is no longer visible by thousands of commuters every day. Smith, along with Carlos, was a pallbearer at Norman's funeral in Melbourne in 2006.

On July 16, 2008, John Carlos and Tommie Smith accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their salute at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, California.

See also

• 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
• Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
• Other American Football League players
• Men's 200 metres world record progression

External links

• Official Tommie Smith website
• Interview with Tommie Smith
• Tommie Smith entry at Databaseolympics.com
• 1968 Olympic 200 Meters

Articles

• Barra, Allan. "Fists Raised, but Not in Anger" The New York Times, August 22, 2008
• Thomas, Katie. "For Australian Athletes, a Voice From the Grave" The New York Times May 23, 2008
• "In-flight film will urge Olympians to protest", The Daily Telegraph, May 24, 2008
• "Norman loses his spot in history", Sporting Life, October 17, 2005
• "Norman dies after heart attack", Fox Sports, October 3, 2006
• "Peter Norman, man on podium for Black Power salute, dies", USA Today, October 3, 2006
• Reed, Ron. "Norman to receive a final salute", The Herald Sun, October 6, 2006
• Hoy, Greg. "Fellow athletes pay tribute to Peter Norman", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 10, 2006
• Blackistone, Kevin B. "'68 protest more than a memory", The Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2008 (Archived original)
• "Peter Norman dies after heart attack", The Age, October 3, 2006
• "Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image", Sydney Morning Herald, October 17, 2003
• Wise, Mike. "Clenched Fists, Helping Hand", The Washington Post, October 5, 2006
• "Norman Remembered as an Unflinching Champion", The Australian, October 9, 2006
• "Carlos, Smith act as pallbearers at funeral of podium mate from 1968 Olympics", MSNBC, October 9, 2006 (Archived original)
• Rees, Margaret "Australian athlete supported American civil rights struggle", World Socialist Web Site, October 23, 2006