Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Peter Norman

Peter Norman

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For the Swedish politician, see Peter Norman (politician).
Peter Norman
Peter Norman.jpg
Personal information
Full namePeter George Norman
Born15 June 1942
Coburg, Victoria, Australia
Died3 October 2006(2006-10-03) (aged 64)
Melbourne
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
Country Australia
SportAthletics
Event(s)Sprint
ClubEast Melbourne Harriers[1]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)20.06 s (200 m, 1968)[1]
Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds which remains the Australian 200 metres record.[2] He was a five-time Australian 200 m champion.[3] He is also known for his support of John Carlos and Tommie Smith when they made their famous raised-fist gesture at the 1968 Olympics medal ceremony.[4]


Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Peter Norman grew up in a devout Salvation Army family[5] living in Coburg, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, and was educated at The Southport School. Initially an apprentice butcher, Norman later became a teacher, and worked for the Victorian Department of Sport and Recreation towards the end of his life.[6]
Norman was conflicted with some aspects of Salvation Army beliefs including competing on the Sabbath.[7]

Athletics career[edit]

Before the 1968 Olympics Norman was a trainer for West Brunswick Australian rules football club as a way of keeping fit over winter during the athletic circuit's off season. After 1968 he played 67 games for West Brunswick between 1972 and 1977 before coaching an under 19 team in 1978.

1968 Summer Olympics[edit]

Main articles: Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres and 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
The Black Power salute by John Carlos (right) and Tommie Smith. Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge in solidarity with them.
The 200 metres at the 1968 Olympics started on 15 October and finished on 16 October; Norman won his heat in a time of 20.17 seconds which was briefly an Olympic record.[8] He won his quarter final and was second in the semi.
In the semi-finals, Peter Norman finished the race in second place at 20.06 seconds , his best performance ever. This is an Australian record that still stands today.
On the morning of 16 October, U.S. athlete Tommie Smith won the 200 metre final with a world-record time of 19.83 seconds.[9][10] Norman finished second in a time of 20.06 s, and U.S. athlete John Carlos was in third place in 20.10 s. Norman's time was his all-time personal best[1] and an Australian record that still stands.
After the race, the three athletes went to the medal podium for their medals to be presented by David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter. On the podium, during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner", Smith and Carlos famously joined in a Black Power salute.
Norman wore a badge on the podium in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). After the final, Carlos and Smith had told Norman what they were planning to do during the ceremony. As Martin Flanagan wrote; "They asked Norman if he believed in human rights. He said he did. They asked him if he believed in God. Norman, who came from a Salvation Army background, said he believed strongly in God. We knew that what we were going to do was far greater than any athletic feat. He said, 'I'll stand with you'." Carlos said he expected to see fear in Norman's eyes. He didn't; "I saw love."[11] On the way out to the medal ceremony, Norman saw the OPHR badge being worn by Paul Hoffman, a white member of the US Rowing Team, and asked him if he could wear it.[12] It was Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos left his pair in the Olympic Village.[4] This is the reason for Smith raising his right fist, while Carlos raised his left.
Australia's Olympic authorities reprimanded him for his gesture and the Australian media ostracised him.[4] Despite Norman running qualifying times for the 100 m five times and 200 m 13 times during 1971-72, the Australian Olympic track team did not send him, or any other male sprinters, to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the first modern Olympics since 1896 where no Australian sprinters participated.[12]

Career achievements[edit]

International competitions[edit]

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1962Commonwealth GamesPerth, Australia6th S/F 1 ; 12/43220 yards21.8(22.03)(−2.8)
1966Commonwealth GamesKingston, Jamaica6th Q/F ; 29/54100 yards10.2(10.27)(−5.0)
6th S/F 1 ; 10/56220 yards21.2(0.0)
3rd4×110 yards40.0
5th4×440 yards3:12.2
1968Olympic GamesMexico City, Mexico2nd200 m20.0 (20.06)(+0.9)
1969Pacific Conference GamesTokyo, Japan4th100 m10.8(−0.1)
1st200 m21.0(−0.1)
1st4×100 m40.8
1970Commonwealth GamesEdinburgh, Scotland5th200 m20.86(+1.7)
DNF Heat1 ; 14th4×100 mDropped baton
[13]

National championships[edit]

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1965/66Australian ChampionshipsPerth, Western Australia1st200 m20.9 (−1.2)
1966/67Australian ChampionshipsAdelaide, South Australia1st200 m21.3
1967/68Australian ChampionshipsSydney, New South Wales1st200 m20.5 (0.0)
1968/69Australian ChampionshipsMelbourne, Victoria2nd100 m10.6 (−0.5)
1st200 m21.3 (−3.1)
1969/70Australian ChampionshipsAdelaide, South Australia1st200 m21.0 (−2.1)
1971/72Australian ChampionshipsPerth, Western Australia3rd200 m21.6
[13]

Later years[edit]

Norman kept running, but in 1985 contracted gangrene after tearing his Achilles tendon during a charity race, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression, heavy drinking and pain killer addiction followed.[14] Norman quit athletics after the decision not to field a track & field men's team in the 1972 Olympics and took up Australian rules football.[15]

Death[edit]

Norman died of a heart attack on 3 October 2006 in Melbourne at the age of 64.[12] US Track and Field Federation proclaimed 9 October 2006, the date of his funeral, as Peter Norman Day. Thirty-eight years after the three made history, both Smith and Carlos gave eulogies and were pallbearers at Norman's funeral.[6]

2012 Parliamentary apology debate[edit]

Australian organising authorities overlooked Norman as being involved in any way with the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney; the United States invited him to participate and take part when they heard that his own country had failed to do so.[16] On 17 October 2003 San Jose State University unveiled a statue commemorating the 1968 Olympic protest; Norman was not included as part of the statue itself – his empty podium spot intended for others viewing the statue to "take a stand" – but was invited to deliver a speech at the ceremony.[6]
In August 2012, the federal parliament debated a motion to provide an apology to Norman.[17][18][19] The Australian Olympic Committee disputed the claims that Norman had been blacklisted or was excluded from the 1972 Olympics team. Regarding the 2000 Olympics, they said that no other former athletes had been invited to take part and that Norman was offered the same chance to buy tickets as others were. The AOC did not believe that Norman was owed an apology.[20]
On 11 October 2012 the Australian Parliament passed the wording of an official apology that read:
In a 2012 interview, Carlos said:[22]

Legacy[edit]

Three Proud People mural in Newtown.
Norman's nephew Matt Norman directed and produced the cinema-released documentary Salute (2008) about the three runners through Paramount Pictures and Transmission Films. Paul Byrnes in his Sydney Morning Herald review of Salute says that the film makes it clear why Norman stood with the other two athletes. Byrnes writes, "He was a devout Christian, raised in the Salvation Army [and] believed passionately in equality for all, regardless of colour, creed or religion – the Olympic code".[23]
An airbrush mural of the trio on podium was painted in 2000 in the inner-city suburb of Newtown in Sydney.[A 1] Silvio Offria, who allowed an artist known only as "Donald" to paint the mural on his house in Leamington Lane, said Norman came to see the mural, "He came and had his photo taken, he was very happy."[24] The monochrome tribute, captioned "THREE PROUD PEOPLE MEXICO 68," was under threat of demolition in 2010 to make way for a rail tunnel[24] but is now listed as an item of heritage significance.[25]

Recognition[edit]



References[edit]

Annotations
  1. Jump up ^ 39 Pine Street, Newtown, New South Wales, Australia
Footnotes
  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Peter Norman. sports-reference.com
  2. Jump up ^ Carlson 2006
  3. Jump up ^ Associated Press 2006
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Frost 2008
  5. Jump up ^ Hurst, Mike (8 Oct 2006). "Peter Norman's Olympic statement". Courier Mail. Retrieved 10 January 2014. 
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hawker 2008
  7. Jump up ^ Bentley, Peter (18 August 2008). "Salute – the Christian Connection" (PDF). Confessing Congregations. Retrieved 10 January 2014. 
  8. Jump up ^ Irwin 2012
  9. Jump up ^ Athletics at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's 200 metres. sports-reference.com
  10. Jump up ^ New Scientist 1981, p. 285
  11. Jump up ^ Flanagan 2006
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hurst 2006
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Peter Norman". Athletics Australia Historical Results. Retrieved 26 March 2015. 
  14. Jump up ^ Johnstone & Norman 2008
  15. Jump up ^ The Salute
  16. Jump up ^ Schembri 2008
  17. Jump up ^ The Daily Telegraph 2012
  18. Jump up ^ Australian Associated Press 2012
  19. Jump up ^ Whiteman 2012
  20. Jump up ^ Whiteman, Hilary (21 August 2012). "Apology urged for Australian Olympian in 1968 black power protest". CNN. Retrieved 2 September 2015. 
  21. Jump up ^ Parliament of Australia 2012, p. 1865
  22. Jump up ^ Carlos & Eastley 2012
  23. Jump up ^ Byrnes, Paul (17 July 2008). "Salute". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 January 2014. 
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b Tovey 2010
  25. Jump up ^ City of Sydney 2010, p. 27
References

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Norman.
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