1972 Olympics Black Power salute
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 1972 Olympics Black Power Salute was a political protest by two U.S. Olympic runners, Vincent Matthews and
Wayne Collett Wayne Curtis Collett (October 20, 1949 – March 17, 2010) was an African-American Olympic sprinter. Collett won a silver medal in the 400 m at the 1972 Summer Olympics. During the medal ceremony Collett and winner Vincent Matthews talked to eac ...
, during the medal ceremony for the Men's 400 metres at the
1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. This event is sometimes referred to as "The Forgotten Protest". It came four years after the
1968 Olympics Black Power salute During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangle ...
.


Before the Games

Matthews was a 1968 Olympian who had retired. He was frustrated by problems that included having to pay for his own travel to the US trials.


Protest

In the Men's 400 metres, Matthews won gold and Collett won silver. During the medal ceremony, both runners refused to stand at attention for the US national anthem. They subsequently stroked their beards, and twirled their medals as they left the stadium. The German crowd booed both runners for their display.


Media reaction

The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
described the casual behavior of Matthews and Collett during the playing of the anthem as "disrespectful," and described the event as follows:
Collett, bare-footed, leaped from the No. 2 tier to the No. 1 stand beside his teammate. They stood sideways to the flag, twirling their medals, with Matthews stroking his chin. Their shoulders slumped, neither stood erect nor looked at the flag. ... As whistles and catcalls continued, Collett raised a clenched fist to the crowd before entering the portal of the dressing room.
Robert Markus reported in the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' on September 9, 1972:
atthewswas angry at Coach Bill Bowerman—as most of the U.S. trackmen seem to be—because Bowerman had hinted he would like to remove him from the place he had earned in the 400-meter field. He was angry that he had been forced to train on his own in unsuitable facilities, had to travel 4 or 5 times from N.Y. to the west coast in order to get any kind of competition, and had been put down by some of the press as a drag on America's hopes for a 400-meter sweep.
The ''Chicago Tribune'' further reported:
Matthews said his and Collett's actions were directed at the U.S. coaching staff, not the flag or the National Anthem. "We were just mad about a lot of things. We didn't think it would blow up like this. We were asked to apologize. I'm not really sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for the way people took it oots and whistles from the stands when the anthem finished What I tried to get across to the Olympic Committee was if it was pre-meditated I could have done something better than that. It was just something that happened. We didn't realize the implications to the people in the stands."
In an interview after the medal ceremony with the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, Collett said the
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
meant nothing to him. He explained that he had felt unable to honor the anthem, because of the struggle faced by
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s at the time: "I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true. I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don't think we do." The pair were banned from future Olympic competition by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC). IOC president
Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American sports administrator who served as the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. The only American and only non-European to attain that p ...
deemed it to be a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games were intended to be. Since John Smith had pulled a hamstring 80 meters into the final while leading and had been ruled unfit to run, the U.S. were now unable to field a team in the
4 × 400 meter relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...
and were forced to scratch from the event.


Athlete statements

I wasn't acting any differently than I usually do, but we were like goldfish in a fishbowl, in front of all those people. If they wanted me to stand at attention, I could've probably done that, but it wouldn't be me, and I was led to believe that the Olympics was for the athlete. We consider ourselves athletes, not politicians, or marching bands. Our athletic competition was over, and we were both happy.


After the Games

Both runners received a lifelong ban from the IOC. This banning forced the US to scratch from the 4 × 400 meter relay where the Americans would be favored to win. Both runners were eventually elected to the Black Olympian Hall of Fame. This display by the athletes would be overshadowed by the
Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...
. Collett went on to become a lawyer. In 2011, Matthews was elected to the USATF Hall of Fame. In December 2022 the ban was lifted by the IOC. Matthews was still alive at the time but Collett had died in 2010.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olympics Black Power salute, 1972 1970s photographs Olymp 1972 in Germany Olympics Human Rights Salute, 1968 1972 protests Olympics Human Rights Salute, 1968 Olymp Anti-racism Black Power Civil rights protests Color photographs Hand gestures History of Munich History of West Germany Olympic Games controversies Politics and race in the United States Protests in Germany Politics and sports Salutes