Tommie Smith

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Tommie Smith athletics

Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith, 2009

Full name Thomas C. Smith
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday 5th June 1944 (age 76)
place of birth Clarksville,  United States
size 191 cm
Weight 84 kg
Career
discipline sprint
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings Olympic games
gold 1968 Mexico City 200 m
last change: September 17, 2018

Thomas C. "Tommie" Smith (born June 5, 1944 in Clarksville , Tennessee ) is a retired American athlete and Olympic champion . He was best known for his protest during the 1968 Olympic Games .

Career

Although he was rather sickly as a child, he later grew into a 1.91 m tall and 84 kg heavy athlete with a lot of stamina. As a student at San José State University , he won the national championships over 220 yards in 1967  . At the 1967 Summer Universiade in Tokyo , he won the gold medal in the 200-meter run . In 1968, as AAU champion, he won the 200 m, after which he was accepted into the Olympic team. He was trained by Bud Winter .

At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he won the gold medal in the 200-meter run with a world record time of 19.83 s before the Australian Peter Norman (silver) and the American John Carlos (bronze).

During his career as a runner, Smith set world records over various distances. His best times were 10.1 s in the 100-meter run , 19.83 s in the 200-meter run and 44.5 s in the 400-meter run . His world best time of 19.5 s for a 200-meter run on a straight from May 7, 1966 was not beaten again until 2010 by Tyson Gay with 19.41 s.

After graduating in 1969, he was a professional football player for three years with the Cincinnati Bengals and then a coach at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he took a degree in sociology . Until he retired in 2005, he taught at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica , California .

Protest at the 1968 Olympic Games

Tommie Smith was best known for his symbolic protest at the 1968 Olympic Games. During the award ceremony on October 16, 1968, he and his teammate Carlos held up their black-gloved fist , the symbol of black power at the time, for their triumph in the 200-meter run -Movement that was directed against discrimination against the African American population. Harry Edwards had tried to motivate African Americans to boycott the Olympics because of massive racial discrimination. What was left was the Black Power Salute. On the same day, Smith and his teammate Carlos were released from the US NOC and asked to leave the Olympic Village . The IOC sharply criticized the action by Smith and Carlos, but did not dismiss the gold medal - contrary to media reports in some cases to the contrary.

Usain Bolt Michael Johnson (Leichtathlet) Pietro Mennea Tommie Smith

Awards

  • In 1978 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the National Athletics Federation and in 1996 into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame .
  • In 1999, Smith received the Sportsman of the Millennium Award.
  • In 2000 and 2001 he received several honors from the City of Los Angeles and the State of Texas.
  • In 2008 he received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
  • In 2018 he received the Dresden Prize .
  • In 2020 he received the Sport Bild Award .

Publications

  • with David Steele: Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith. Temple University Press, 2008, ISBN 1592136400

Web links

Commons : Tommie Smith  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Athletics at the 1967 Summer Universiade. Men's events. In: ebook.worldlibrary.net. World eBook Library, accessed on March 9, 2015 (English): "200 m Tommie Smith (USA) 20.7 Menzies Campbell (GBR) 21.2 Ippolito Giani (ITA) 21.3"
  2. Mark Butler: Can Tyson Gay break Smith's record in Manchester? In: BBC News . May 13, 2010
  3. SpeedEndurance.com: May 16, 2010 Controversy over Tommie Smith's 19.5 200m Straightaway WR . May 16, 2010
  4. ^ William C. Rhoden: Tommie Smith is Selling a Medal Worth More Than Gold. In: nytimes.com. The New York Times, October 15, 2010, accessed on March 9, 2015 (English, article with picture of the award ceremony): “Carlos and Smith stood, heads bowed, black gloves thrust skyward as the United States flag was raised with the playing of the national anthem. "
  5. Simon Hart: Tommie Smith prepares to lose his 200m record after 44 years . In: The Daily Telegraph . May 15, 2010
  6. Harry Edwards: The revolt of the black athlete. New York: Free Press, 1969.
  7. Othello Harris: The rise of the black athlete in the USA . James Riordan , Arnd Krüger (Ed.): The International Politics of Sport in the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge 1999, pp. 150-176. ISBN 0-419-21160-8
  8. Stefan Locke: The spontaneous gesture of a giant . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 41/2018 , February 17, 2018, p. 7 .
  9. Nico Stankewitz: Black Power Fists shock the world. 2008, accessed October 9, 2018 .
  10. a b Chat with Tommie Smith. Retrieved August 24, 2020 .
  11. ESPN: Salute at ESPYs: Smith and Carlos to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. 2008, accessed October 9, 2018 .
  12. US Olympic champion Tommie Smith receives Dresden Prize. Retrieved August 24, 2020 .
  13. SPORT BILD Award: Thanks for that fist! Retrieved August 24, 2020 .