50 Years Ago today

The story of Peter Norman, the silver medalist, is tragic. He had to pay.


He is the third athlete pictured in a famous photograph of the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute during the medal ceremony for the 200-metre event, where he wore a badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights in support of fellow athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Norman faced backlash in Australia for his part in the protest, and was not selected for the following 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich despite qualifying (a claim disputed by the Australian Olympic Committee). He retired from the sport soon after.[4]



After the salute, it has been claimed that Norman's career suffered greatly. A 2012 CNN profile said that "he returned home to Australia a pariah, suffering unofficial sanction and ridicule as the Black Power salute's forgotten man. He never ran in the Olympics again."[13] He was not selected for the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 despite turning in adequate times, and was not welcomed even three decades later at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[14][15][16] Carlos later stated that "If we [Carlos and Smith] were getting beat up, Peter was facing an entire country and suffering alone."[15][16]

Death
Norman died of a heart attack on 3 October 2006 in Melbourne at the age of 64.[11] The US Track and Field Federation proclaimed 9 October 2006, the date of his funeral, as Peter Norman Day. Thirty-eight years after the three made history, both Smith and Carlos gave eulogies and were pallbearers at Norman's funeral.[6] At the time of his death, Norman was survived by his second wife, Jan, and their daughters Belinda and Emma, his first wife, Ruth, and children Gary, Sandra and Janita and four grandchildren.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norman