Tommie Smith’s legendary civil rights stand was recognized more than 50 years later when he was applauded by Parisians.
The eighty-year-old Olympic champion (pictured with Biden) was visibly overwhelmed by the passionate applause.
Just over six weeks before the Paris Olympics, Smith enthralled the crowd as a guest speaker at the Musée de l’Immigration in the Palais de la Porte Dorée last week.
Asked if he still fought against racism, he said, “Even until this day, I do.”
“A perpetual stand, forever. As long as there are human beings fighting for the rights of each other,” he was quoted as saying by mercurynews.com.
Smith and Carlos: Human rights protest at Mexico City Olympics
Even if today’s athletes have more freedom to voice their ideas, his famous action of raising his right fist in a Black Power salute during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics still has a profound emotional impact.
He, however, had to pay dearly for his gesture back then.
Smith and his teammate John Carlos, both Black members of the San Jose State track team, were sent home from the Olympics after taking a stand against injustice.
Smith had just won the gold medal for the United States in the 200 metres. Standing on the podium, head bowed, he thrust a gloved right fist up in the air. Carlos, a bronze medallist in that sprint, did the same with his left fist.
Peter Norman, a white athlete from Australia who took the silver medal, knew what they were going to do and supported them in his own way. He wore a badge on the podium with the words, “Olympic Project for Human Rights”, written on it.
Smith praised Norman for his gesture of solidarity.
“One of the greatest persons I’ve ever met,” Smith said of Norman, who was posthumously given Australia’s highest Olympic award, the Order of Merit. ”He was part of the belief in human rights.”
However, political demonstrations during medal ceremonies are still forbidden by the Olympic Charter, which strikes a delicate balance between the right to free speech and athletic tradition.