Australian sprinter Peter Norman has finally been recognized for his athletic achievement after 50 years of ostracism. Norman stood in solidarity with two American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, as they made their iconic black power protest at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said on 28 April 2018 that they had awarded a posthumous Order of Merit (OM) to Peter Norman, whose Australian record for the 200-meter race still stands 50 years later.
Norman, who died in 2006, did not compete in another Olympic Games. His family claimed he wasn't selected despite qualifying. The AOC denied any suggestions that Norman was ostracized or "blacklisted" for supporting Smith and Carlos during their podium protest. In 2012, an Australian federal lawmaker called on the government to extend Norman a posthumous national apology and recognition.
The AOC on 28 April highlighted Norman's setting of the Australian record (20.06 seconds) as he took the silver medal in Mexico -- but said his remarkable athletic achievements were dwarfed by his decision to support Smith and Carlos as they raised their gloved fists and bowed their heads during the American National Anthem.
Peter Norman believed in human rights throughout his life. Norman, who surprised spectators by storming past Carlos to take silver, gazed straight ahead as the two American athletes gave their Black Power salute on the podium, an act of defiance aimed at highlighting the segregation and racism back in their homeland.
On his chest, in solidarity with Smith and Carlos, Norman wore a small badge that read: "Olympic Project for Human Rights" -- an organization set up a year previously opposed to racism in sport.
His nephew, filmmaker Matthew Norman, said in 2012 that that act of solidarity had cost his uncle dearly: "As soon as he got home he was hated," he said. "A lot of people in America didn't realize that Peter had a much bigger role to play. He didn't go to Munich (1972 Olympics) ... He would have won a gold. He suffered to the day he died."
Another part Peter Norman played in the Americans demonstration against racism was in the wearing of the black gloves. Tommie Smith and John Carlos only had one pair of black gloves. Norman suggested that each person should wear one glove. Therefore, in the iconic photos of Smith and Carlos, Tommy Smith (winning gold and standing on top of the podium) wears a glove on his right hand while John Carlos (winning bronze) wears a glove on his left hand.
MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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