Posted on 10/03/2006 2:40:10 PM PDT by Borges
Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who shared the medals podium with Tommie Smith and John Carlos while they gave their black power salutes at the 1968 Olympics, died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 64. Athletics Australia chief executive Danny Corcoran announced his death.
Norman won the silver medal in the 200 meters at the Mexico City Games. Smith set a world record in winning the gold medal and Carlos took the bronze, and their civil rights protest became a flash point of the Olympics.
Smith and Carlos stood shoeless, each wearing a black glove on his raised, clenched fist. They bowed their heads while the national anthem played.
"It wasn't about black or white," Carlos said Tuesday. "It was just about humanity, faith in God and faith in making it a better world."
Norman, a physical education teacher, stood on the front podium during the ceremony. He wore a human rights badge on his shirt in support of the two Americans and their statement against racial discrimination in the United States.
"It was like a pebble into the middle of a pond, and the ripples are still traveling," Norman said last year.
Smith, Carlos and Norman drew criticism and threats for their actions, gestures that came in the aftermath that year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
"I was happy to identify with (Smith) and the principles he believed in," Norman was later quoted as saying.
Reached Tuesday at home in Georgia, the 62-year-old Smith said Norman's stand was courageous and resonated long after Mexico City.
"It took inner power to do what he did, inner soul power," Smith said. "It was a weight that is very heavy, and it is still heavy. ... He was a man of solid beliefs, that's how I will remember Peter … he was a humanitarian and a man of his word."
Speaking from his high school counseling job in Palm Springs, Calif., the 61-year-old Carlos said Norman faced his own struggles upon returning to Australia after the Olympics.
"We had our cross to bear here in the United States," Carlos said. "Peter had a bigger cross to bear because he didn't have anyone there to help shield him other than his family. He had to go through agony and torment. He took it like a soldier."
Corcoran said Norman remained heavily involved in sports. Last year, he was reunited with Smith and Carlos at San Jose State for the unveiling of a statue commemorating the 1968 protest.
"That was like God letting us have the roundup," Carlos said. "We had such a family reunion."
Corcoran said, "Whilst only Smith and Carlos were recognized in bronze, as alumni of the university, Peter was, as always, happy to have played his role."
"Peter will be remembered not only for his success as an athlete and his humanitarian gesture in Mexico City, but also for his service to athletics and the community and for his warmth and friendship."
Smith said he talked infrequently with Norman over the years, but they reconnected last year at Smith's home in Los Angeles before the unveiling of the statue, playing music and joking and debating Norman's insistence on being left off the statue.
"He believed in giving himself unto others … he would much rather remove himself and let others take his place," Smith said. "I can understand now, since Peter's gone, he left that vacancy so others could stand in his place, and that was quite awesome."
Norman was a five-time national champion in the 200 and his time of 20.06 seconds in Mexico City still stands as the Australian record.
Carlos said he and Norman had stayed in touch by e-mail.
"His sincerity, his love for humanity, his kind thoughts … those are things that I will remember," Carlos said. "He was a giving person."
Are those the keywords you chose for this article?
Wasn't me.
Well, I think it deserves some proper ones. Allow me.....
The name of the person who died as a keyword in an Obit? Outrageous! /sarc
What an unusual thing to be remembered for, at his death!
(So much for runners' being healthy ... 64!)
One radical lib down, two to go.
They showed no class then, nor do they now.
):^(
Clarification: Peter Norman is the white guy on the left.
A lot of athletes die young. For example:
Jackie Robinson, b. 1919, d.1972
Roger Maris, b. 1934, d. 1985
Walter Payton b. 1954, d. 1999
Christy Mathewson, b. 1880, d. 1925
Wilma Rudolph, b. 1940, d. 1994
Arthur Ashe, b. 1943, d. 1993
Roger Clemente, b. 1934, d. 1972 (killed in plane crash)
Oops...that should have been Roberto Clemente.
And the runner, Prefontaine.
I agree that it was rather tacky to make a political statement at the Olympics. I was just wondering if he'd done anything else in his life for which he could be remembered :-).
RIP.
Statue leaves Norman's place empty to make it "interactive". See pic here: http://blogs.sun.com/jbeck/entry/stand_up_for_what_s
Really? That would explain the heart attack!
He was driving drunk and wrecked.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Mr. Norman? The article says "heart attack." Pre was driving drunk and wrecked in the 70's, or that's the story ... leaving only the legend ...
I thought you were talking about Pre.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I see that I did have some imperfectly referenced pronouns there :-).
Anyway, they're all dead now, God rest their souls.
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