V 10 N. 51 The Peter Norman Story from 1968

Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, John Carlos

As most of you know,  Peter Norman finished second in the 200 meters in Mexico City in 1968.  We all know that had he not stood between Tommie Smith and John Carlos who raised their fists during the presentation ceremony and were subsequently expelled from the Games, he might have been a completely forgotten man.  As it turned out,he was almost completely forgotten or stricken from Australian memories for his action.    Many of you also know that Peter Norman supported both American runners by wearing one of their badges acknowledging racial injustice in the US.  In his own country of Australia, aboriginal people had just been allowed to vote. White Australia was the official policy toward immigration.   Norman was questioned afterward if he was also recognizing the injustice in his own country, and he made no denials of that stance.  Though not as outspoken as American black athletes, Peter Norman took a stance in support of them.  For his actions he paid dearly when he returned home.  Four years later he was still the Australian record holder in the 200 and was running well enough to qualify again, but the Australian Athletics functionaries did not invite him to compete, to dodge the issue they did not send anyone to run the 200m.  .   At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he was not invited to attend by the Australian organizers.  A friend managed to provide him a ticket and he quietly managed to see the 200 final.

That was also a time when Australia had finally looked inward and made a public apology for their mistreatment of indigenous people.  Whether they have made a serious attempt to make up for that mistreatment is another discussion entirely.  Peter Norman may have been a forgotten man in his own country but he was not a forgotten man by the two men he honored on the Olympic podium.  When  Peter Norman died at the age of 64, Smith and Carlos came to his funeral, spoke, and were pall bearers.

In these days of uproar over our racial history,  not just in the US but in many countries from where colonial rule emanated we are again being asked to recognize and admit to its continued existence.  We can travel to virtually any country in the world where there is some form of racial injustice, not just white on black but ethnic injustice as well.  When people have even a small degree of difference there is option for discrimination by one toward the other.  It would be a boring world if we were not racially, culturally and ethnically diverse, so let's get over all these stigmas we attach to someone we think we are better than and learn to live in a way that allows us to benefit and enjoy and respect those differences and make our place a more peaceful world.


Here then is a link to Peter Norman's story. from History.com by Erin Blakemore

https://www.history.com/news/1968-mexico-city-olympics-black-power-protest-backlash

Thanks for the timely article.  If memory serves me correctly, Norman ran something like a 20.1 or 20.2 which made only a few feet behind Tommie Smith.   That was a truly great race.  I did not know that the Australian authorities prevented him from competing in 1972.  That’s sad story.   He might have beat Borzov and that would have been quite an accomplishment.

Sincerely,

Bruce Geelhoed

Professor of History

Ball State University

Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds. This remains an Oceanian record.

Died: 3 October 2006, Melbourne

Born: 15 June 1942, Melbourne

Wonder about racism in Australia?    Here's the answer.
from the Guardian June 19, 
2020  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/18/as-australians-grapple-with-racism-olympian-peter-norman-is-someone-who-deserves-his-statue

George:

Wow, What a great Blog.. on Peter Norman.... I had the honor of seeing the 200M final, the victory stand 

and, then the next day I met him in a circle of runners after the 200M Final. It also included John Carlos

Percy Cerutty was also in that group.  Percy openly proposed making love to one of the women in the group.

To which a couple of athletes, said "Oh! Percy!  Percy went on the explain that the human arm movements were the opposite of

what we could all observe and photograph. Just a delightful Nut!

PS I took 2 Strider T-Shirts to the 1968 games and was, believe it or not able, to trade them with athletes for their competition Singlet.

(Each athlete was issue two, so they had one to trade and one to "treasure"

One was with Tony Snezwell, High Jumper from Australia, the other with Arndt Kruger of Germany (And UCLA)..... I still have them

John Bork