Peter Norman: The Runner Who Chose to Stand

In 1968, landmark civil rights laws had made racial discrimination illegal in the United States. But discrimination in housing, employment and education was still widespread.

In April, Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader who had campaigned for racial equality through non-violent protest, was assassinated in Memphis.

Some black athletes questioned why they should win medals for a country that did not treat them as equals. The Olympic Project for Human Rights campaigned against racial inequality. American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos were among its supporters.

At the Mexico City Olympics that October, both men reached the 200-metre final. Smith won gold in a world-record time of 19.83 seconds, while Carlos took bronze.

Between them was Australian runner Peter Norman.

Norman had run the race of his life. Sixth entering the home straight, he surged past Carlos to take silver in 20.06 seconds. His Australian record stood for 56 years.

Before the medal ceremony, Smith and Carlos told Norman that they planned to stand without shoes to represent black poverty, bow their heads during the US national anthem and raise black-gloved fists.

Raised in the Salvation Army, Norman believed strongly in equality. He was also a critic of Australia’s White Australia policy, which had restricted non-European immigration for decades.

Then Carlos realised he had left his black gloves in the Olympic Village. Norman suggested that he and Smith share Smith’s pair. Smith wore the right glove, Carlos the left.

Norman borrowed an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge from American rower Paul Hoffman and pinned it to his Australian tracksuit.

The three men stepped onto the podium.

As the American anthem played, Smith and Carlos bowed their heads and raised their fists. Norman stood between them, wearing the badge.

The photograph was seen around the world.

Smith and Carlos were expelled from the Olympic Village. Norman was cautioned by Australian officials but allowed to stay at the Games.

He returned home and kept running. He won another national 200-metre title and represented his country at the 1970 Commonwealth Games.

By 1972, Norman had repeatedly beaten the 20.9-second qualifying time for the Munich Olympics, including with a 20.5-second run the previous October. But an injury contributed to a third-place finish at the Australian championships that March.

The 200 metres in Munich was still more than five months away.

Norman was not selected.

Australia sent no male sprinters to Munich.

Whether his support for Smith and Carlos influenced the decision remains disputed. Australian Olympic officials maintain that it did not.

Norman never competed at another Olympic Games.

In 2012, the Australian House of Representatives formally apologised for “the treatment he received upon his return to Australia” and for failing to fully recognise his role before his death.

Norman had died six years earlier, aged 64.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos travelled to Melbourne for his funeral. They carried the coffin.

Smith and Carlos are remembered for their podium stand. But one of the twentieth century’s most iconic images of black power would look very different without a white Australian, Peter Norman.

Suggested by Mick Hume

Further reading

The Peter Norman Story by Andrew Webster and Matt Norman