Famous photograph: Tommie Smith (centre), John Carlos (right) and Australian Peter Norman (front) at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico

Former US sprinter and Olympic gold winner Tommie Smith has made it in to the history books but not for once being one of the fastest men on earth. Smith is famous for taking a historic stand for human rights at the 1968 Olympics alongside fellow US sprinter John Carlos.

Both men later went on to pay a heavy price for throwing up the ‘Black Power salute’ in silent protest on the podium after accepting their Gold and Bronze medals.

Check out excerpts from his interview with the Metro Newspaper.

After your salute, you were shunned by the  Olympic authorities and you never raced again. Do you ever think where you might  be now if you hadn’t raised your fist on the victory stand?

I can’t think like that because I didn’t feel like I had an option. I wasn’t going to stand there with my hand on my heart while they played my country’s  national anthem and then go back to life as a second-class citizen. So myself  and John [Carlos] raised our fists in a silent, non-violent protest. It wasn’t  for Black Power, it was for human rights and I suffered greatly for that moment.  I never raced again, I couldn’t find a job and I struggled to finish my  degree.

Carlos said the stadium went so quiet ‘you  could have heard a frog p*** on cotton’ and that he had his hand bent in case he  needed to throw a punch. What was going through your head at the  time?

I was waiting for a gunshot. We had received threats long before we raced in  Mexico and I was holding my hand over my face to protect my head from a bullet.  Saying that, I don’t think the bullet would have respected my hand very much.  After the silence came the boos and insults. I didn’t speak to anyone after that  as we were told to leave.

Who was threatening you?

Those who believed we had no place in the Olympic Games because of our  colour. It was a very unsettling time. Martin Luther King had been assassinated  and there were lots of rallies. In Mexico, just a few weeks before the Olympics,  students had been shot for their part in demonstrations.

One athlete who was at the 1968 Games said: ‘When I saw those two guys with  their fists up on the victory stand, it made my heart jump. It was beautiful.’ There were lots of good things said. We were told it was needed and necessary.  Some said they would have done it if they had a platform, too.

Click HERE to read the entire interview.

Photograph courtesy of Getty Images: Tommie Smith today

America is a vengeful beast. The powers that be really did make sure that these men paid dearly for their ‘actions’.

I have so much respect for Tommie Smith and John Carlos. They were being treated like second class citizens in their own country because of the colour of their skin, yet were still expected to stand up, smile and sing the national anthem as if nothing was happening back home.

Can any of you imagine an athlete being brave enough to do something like that in today’s world???

I can see black athletes from other nations taking a stand for something they believe in but black British athletes…  unless pigs start flying NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ezNyzR9ss&feature=player_embedded