Monday, December 28, 2015

Peter Norman, the Third Hero on the 1968 Olympic Podium

This last October marks the ninth anniversary of Peter Norman's passing. Most people don't know Norman. But in 1968, he joined John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s rebellious gesture at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City during their medal ceremony for the 200 meters.

The SF Globe has reprinted an assay by Italian writer Riccardo Gazzaniga on the life of Australian Peter Norman after he wore a  Olympic Project for Human Rights badge during the medal ceremony. He was subsequently left off the 1972 Summer Olympics team in Munich, Germany, even though he had run qualifying times for the 200 meters thirteen times and the 100 meters five times.

Norman died suddenly from a heart attack in 2006, and at his funeral Tommie Smith and John Carlos were his pallbearers, sending him off as a hero. 

Only in 2012 did the Australian Parliament approve a motion to formally apologize to Peter Norman and rewrite him into history 


http://sfglobe.com/2015/12/07/white-man-in-the-photo-is-the-third-hero-that-night-in-1968