Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Still Standing Tall

Media Credit: Courtesy of Lloyd LaCuesta A photograph of Tommie Smith being interviewed by Spartan Daily reporter Lloyd LaCuesta at San Jose Municipal Airport after Smith and John Carlos' protest.

It was Oct. 16, 1968. Mexico City. SJSU alumnus and Olympic athlete Tommie Smith had just run the most important 200 meters of his life.

Coming off a muscle pull in an earlier qualifier, it wasn't even certain that Smith would be able to compete, let alone win. But 10 seconds into the race, coming from far back in the pack, Smith began to make his move. At 14 seconds, he was neck-in-neck with fellow SJSU student John Carlos, vying for the lead.

And then he really opened up. Carlos had just enough time to glance at his teammate as Smith blazed past him, both arms raised in triumph. Tommie Smith had won Olympic gold, shattering the previous world record with a time of 19.83 seconds.

It was the first time that anyone had run the 200-meter in less than 20 seconds, and it was a record that would remain unmatched until 1979. But along with John Carlos, Tommie Smith was about to do something even more memorable.

He was going to raise his fist.

Smith and Carlos graciously accepted their medals, Smith allowing himself another celebratory arm pump as he stepped onto the podium. But then, as the "Star-Spangled Banner" began to play and the flags were raised, the pair's expressions became serious.

Each man bowed their head and raised their fist: Smith his right, Carlos his left. Each wore a single black glove. Each had feet bare save for black athletic socks. Carlos was wearing a string of beads around his neck in addition to his bronze medal. Smith carried a box in his left hand containing an olive branch.

All three men on the podium, including second-place sprinter Peter Norman, wore pins emblazoned with the logo of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a movement by black athletes to raise awareness about the plight of black people all over the world. Started on the campus of San Jose State by sociology professor Harry Edwards and student Ken Noel, the project had originally planned to boycott the Olympics entirely.

But when a vote by the athletes involved in the project failed to pass the motion to boycott, it fell to the athletes themselves to decide what, if anything, they were going to do at the games.

Continued...

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