Term paper on Olympic Athlete Tommie Smith

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OLYMPIC ATHLETE REPORT ON TOMMIE SMITH: I RECEIVED AN A+ ON THIS PAPER

The late 1960 s was a period of tumultuous uproar and uncertainty. Using the World of Crayola Crayons as an analogy, the two primary colors that were at the center of this turmoil were black and white. For illustration purposes, let s say someone takes a black crayon and draws a straight line on a white piece of paper. Now, if someone handed you the piece of paper and told you to analyze it, what would your first thought be? What the heck is a black line doing on the white piece of paper, right? Although this example may be perceived as childish, from a humanitarian standpoint, it demonstrates the position that America was in during the 1960 s. At the pinnacle of the sixties were the assassinations of J.F.K., Malcolm X, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Then of course there was the establishment of the United Farm Workers Association by Cesar Chavez. And don t forget about the hippie movement, the Cuban Missle Crisis, the emergence of the infamous Motown sound, and the first men to walk on the moon. Ahhh and finally, who could forget the valiant, yet controversial display of black pride exhibited by John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

Tommie Smith was born on June 12, 1944, in Clarksville, Texas. Tommie later attended San Jose State, where he was coached by another Hall of Famer, Bud Winter. At a height of 6-3 and 185 pounds, Tommie Smith was said to have had an ideal build for a long sprinter. He was the record holder for the 200-meter dash from 1966 to 1971. His best time was 19.83 seconds, which was the first time that this distance was run in less than twenty seconds. Tommie was also a record holder for the straightaway 200-yard dash from 1965 to 1979, in 19.5 seconds. He was a member of the 4X4 200-meter relay team that set a world record of 1 minute, 22.1 seconds. The record remained unbroken from 1967 to 1970.

Smith competed for San Jose State College in California, and in the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City and won the gold medal for the 200-meter race, however, he and his teammate John Carlos, were suspended by the United Stated Olympic Committee and ordered to leave Mexico for giving a black power salute while receiving their awards. This medal ceremony has been described as the most popular, and politically charged medal ceremony of all time. The photographs of two African American sprinters standing on the medal podium with heads bowed and fists raised proved to be a huge milestone in America s civil rights movement. The notion presented was that Smith and Carlos were perhaps motivated by the suggestion of a friend of the two men, a young sociologist by the name of Harry Edwards. Edwards had asked them as well as all of the other African American athletes to join together and boycott the games. It was Edward s hope that the protest would bring attention to the fact that America s civil rights movement had not gone far enough to eliminate all of the injustices that African Americans were faced with at this time. Although an official boycott never materialized, Edward s group, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) gained the support of several world-class athletes and civil rights leaders.

As a result of Edward s passionate words, Smith and Carlos secretly planned a non-violent protest in the manner of Martin Luther King Jr. As the American flag rose, and...