Interview with Tommie Smith
Good article in today's Guardian on Tommie Smith (Mexico Olympics 1968)
Well worth a read.
I was pretty young at the time of the Mexico Olympics but it had an impact on me.
I believe both he and John Carlos were pall bearers at Australian Peter Norman's funeral (3rd place finisher in the 200m)
People shunned me like hot lava’: the runner who raised his fist and risked his life
At the 1968 Olympics, Tommie Smith, winner of the men’s 200 metres, stood on the podium and lifted his hand to protest racism. That moment would end his running career – and shake the world
Tommie Smith still gets chills when he hears the opening bars of The Star Spangled Banner. It takes him right back to that night in October 1968 when he stood on the Olympic podium in Mexico City, wearing his gold medal, and made the raised-fist salute that has defined his life. “It’s kind of a push, when I hear ‘dum, da-dum’,” he says, singing the opening notes of the United States national anthem. “Because that’s the first three notes I heard in Mexico, then my head went down, and I saw no more of it until the last note.” ............
‘People shunned me like hot lava’: the runner who raised his fist and risked his life | Race | The Guardian
