by Larry EderThe first Olympics that I remember watching was the 1968 Summer Olympics. I have a memory, at the age of ten, of watching Bob Beamon jump in the long jump, in our kitchen in Bridgeton, Missouri on our tiny TV. Dad had made hot dogs, with sauerkraut, mustard and pickles, a lunch we partook only when Mom was out shopping on Saturdays. A little black and white TV was on the kitchen table as my father and I chowed down, with my brother, Brian. I recall Beamon jumping and remembering that we did that in PE class up at Saint Blaise, the grade school I attended from first to eighth grade, located in the suburbs around Saint Louis, Missouri. Bob Beamon set the astounding WR in the Long Jump in Mexico City, which would not be broken until 1991 in Tokyo by Mike Powell. The 1968 Olympics would give us Dick Fosbury, Al Oerter, Wyoma Tyus, Madeline Manning Mims, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Bill Toomey, among others.
What I did not know, at the time, was how that Olympic Games would influence my life. By 1972, I was a runner, and watched Frank Shorter win the marathon on ABC TV. I watched Jim McKay speak about the Munich massacre, where 11 Isreali athletes were butchered by Palestinian terrorists. I knew, at 14, that something bad had happened in Munich. In November 1974, I met Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic champion, and three time winner of Fukouka, the World series of the marathon at that time, after Bellarmine classmates Jim Fitzhenry, Bob Lucas and I snuck onto the AAU cross country course at Crystal Springs, in Belmont, California. I still have the autographs on an adidas track brochure): Frank Shorter, Marty Liquori, John Ngegno, and Neil Cusack, 1973 Boston winner. Frank Shorter, in tye dyed long underwear (red), and Colorado sweatshirt, spoke to the three of us for a few minutes, and that conversation, with my first elite athlete, changed my life. In 1984, I attended my first Olympics, watching Seb Coe take silver in the 800 meters and Alberto Cova take Martti Vainio apart over the last 200 meters! I was so hooked! I have written about nine Summer Olympics and twelve World Outdoor Championships. I still get excited watching the finest athletes in the world in front of 60-80,000 global track fans. I took my son, Adam to the 2004 Athens Olympics when he was seventeen, and our memorable night with the late James Dunaway, the eminece grise of American track & field writers, was an unforgetable event, as we discussed his Olympic highlights late into the early hours of the Greek morning. Think Mad Men meets Brockmire (new TV show with Hank Azaria, a must see).
I have posted the picture of Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Aussie Peter Norman. These three men changed history, not just in sports, but in the Olympics, a near religious movement, and in race relations. Did they make race relations better? I am not sure, but they did bring racism into focus and challenge our beliefs, something even scarier for those protecting the status quo. To the absolute indignation of Avery Brundage, head of the IOC (1952-1972), and the absolute hatred of many around the world, Smith, Carlos and Norman who would never compete in another Olympics. Tommie Smith and John Carlos paid for their stand for the rest of their athletic careers and most of their adult lives. Peter Norman, who participated in the protest, was treated poorly in Australia for the rest of his life by the Australian Olympic committee. They were the focal points of vitriol, threats, and hatred for much of the last 50 years. Yet, their amazing sport performances and their acts of bravery, by taking an unpopular stand, in my mind, still have not been appreciated. Like all the human inhabitants of our small planet, they lived imperfect lives, but lives of honesty in a moment when it truly counted. How many of us can say that?
Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, photo from IOC
USATF honors 1968 U.S. Olympic team with Night of Legends ceremony, 50th anniversary celebration
INDIANAPOLIS — USA Track & Field (USATF) will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Track & Field team with its 1968-2018: Celebrating Athletic Achievement and Courage campaign, USATF announced today.
Throughout the remainder of the year, USATF will honor the members of what is largely considered the greatest track & field team in history, including Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Wyomia Tyus, Madeline Manning Mims, Randy Matson and more. Athlete appearances at select high-profile events will combine with social media promotion, storytelling and videography. The year will culminate in the Night of Legends celebration during the USATF Annual Meeting this December in Columbus, Ohio, a special reunion of 1968 team members and current USATF stars.
“The legacy of the greatest track & field team to ever be assembled is still felt 50 years later,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel. “These Olympians persevered through athletic challenges and social injustices, maintaining their composure and dignity when others may have fallen. It is USATF’s honor to pay homage to their achievements and bring the team together for an epic celebration at our Annual Meeting.”
USATF will officially kick off Celebrate 1968 this week. Fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #Celebrate68 to tell the world how the 1968 Olympians inspire them today. USATF also will sell limited edition shirts, with a portion of the proceeds supporting youth programming.
1968 U.S. Olympic Team – Track & Field: Fun Facts
– Team USA set eight world records at the 1968 Olympic Games (Men’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m, 4x400m, long jump and women’s 100m and 4x100m).
– Wyomia Tyus ran a world record 100m in Mexico City to become the first to ever win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the event.
– Bob Beamon still holds the longest-standing Olympic record – his 8.90m/29-2.5 long jump has yet to be broken 50 years later.
– High jump pioneer Dick Fosbury debuted his revolutionary “Fosbury Flop” at the 1968 Olympic Games, earning gold for Team USA and solidifying his legacy in the sport.
– Two members of the 1968 Olympic team were picked up in the 1968 NFL draft – Jim Hines and Ed Caruthers. Hines, who broke two world records in Mexico City (100m and 4x100m relay), went on to play for the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. Ed Caruthers, who won silver in the men’s high jump, was chosen by the Detroit Lions as a wide receiver.
– Al Oerter won his fourth consecutive Olympic title in the discus to become the first track & field athlete to accomplish the feat in one event.
– Madeline Manning Mims was the first African-American woman to compete in the 800m and remains the only American woman to have won gold in the event.
– Thirty-five percent of the 1968 Olympic team have been inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame (33 out of 93 athletes), the most from any in history.
Follow USATF and #Celebrate68 on Twitter, Instagram,
About USATF
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s No. 1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.
