.jpg) Norman in 1970 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Peter George Norman |
| Born | (1942-06-15)15 June 1942 |
| Died | 3 October 2006(2006-10-03) (aged 64) |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Australia |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Sprint |
| Club | East Melbourne Harriers[1] |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest(s) | 20.06 s (200 m, 1968)[1] |
Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australiantrack athlete. He won the silver medal in the200 metres at the1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds, which remained theOceania 200 m record for more than 56 years.[2] He was a five-time national 200-metre champion.[3]
Norman was one of the three athletes in the1968 Olympics protest salute photograph taken during the medal ceremony for the 200-metre event. He knew the salute was to occur and wore a badge of theOlympic Project for Human Rights in support of fellow athletesJohn Carlos andTommie Smith.
Norman grew up in a devoutSalvation Army family,[4] living inCoburg, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. Initially an apprentice butcher, Norman later became a teacher, and worked for theVictorian Department of Sport and Recreation towards the end of his life.[5]
During his athletics career, Norman was coached byNeville Sillitoe.[4]
The 200 metres event at the1968 Olympics started on 15 October and finished on 16 October; Norman won his heat in a time of 20.17 seconds, which was briefly anOlympic record.[6] He won his quarter-final and was second in the semi-final.
On the morning of 16 October, US athleteTommie Smith won the 200-metre final with aworld-record time of 19.83 seconds.[7][8] Norman finished second in a time of 20.06 s after passing U.S. athleteJohn Carlos at the finish line. Carlos ran 20.10 s.
Norman represented Australia at the1969 Pacific Conference Games inTokyo, and the1970 Commonwealth Games inEdinburgh.[9]
TheAustralian Olympic Committee maintains that Norman was not selected for the 1972 Munich Olympics because he did not meet the selection standard of equalling or bettering the IOC qualifying standard (20.9)[10]and performing credibly at the 1972Australian Athletics Championships at which he finished third behindGreg Lewis andGary Eddy in a time of 21.6.[9][11]
He played 67 games forWest BrunswickAustralian rules football club from 1972 to 1977 before coaching an under-19 team in 1978[citation needed] (Before the 1968 Olympics, he is said to have been a trainer for West Brunswick as a way of keeping fit over winter during the athletics off-season).
In 1985, Norman contractedgangrene after tearing hisAchilles tendon during a charity race, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression, heavy drinking and painkiller addiction followed.[12]
After battling depression, Norman worked atAthletics Australia as a sports administrator until 2006.[2]
Norman died of aheart attack on 3 October 2006 inMelbourne at the age of 64.[13] TheUS Track and Field Federation proclaimed 9 October 2006, the date of his funeral, as Peter Norman Day. Thirty-eight years after the three first made history, both Smith and Carlos gaveeulogies and werepallbearers at Norman's funeral.[5] At the time of his death, Norman was survived by his second wife, Jan, and their daughters Belinda and Emma. Additionally, he was survived by his first wife, Ruth; their children Gary, Sandra, and Janita; and four grandchildren.[4]
On the medal podium after the medal presentation byDavid Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter and during the playing of the US anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed aBlack Power salute (which Tommie Smith later described in his 2007 autobiography as ahuman rights salute, rather than an outright Black Power salute).
Norman wore a badge on the podium in support of theOlympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). After the final, Carlos and Smith had told Norman what they were planning to do during the ceremony. JournalistMartin 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'."[14] On the way to the medal ceremony, Norman saw the OPHR badge being worn byPaul Hoffman, a white member of the US rowing team, and asked him if he could wear it.[13] It was Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos left his pair at the Olympic Village.[15] This is the reason Smith raised a gloved right fist and Carlos raised his gloved left.
Various commentary[by whom?] has claimed that, after the 1968 Olympics, Norman's career suffered greatly, e.g., a 2012 CNN profile said that "he returned home to Australia a pariah, suffering unofficial sanction and ridicule as the Black Power salute's forgotten man. He never ran in the Olympics again."[16] Norman represented Australia at the smaller-scale1969 Pacific Conference Games inTokyo[17], winning the gold medal over 200 metres, and the1970 Commonwealth Games inEdinburgh before finishing his career.[9]
Various commentators[who?] say he was not selected for theOlympic Games in Munich in 1972 despite recording qualifying times, but theAustralian Olympic Committee maintains that Norman was not selected for the 1972 Olympics because he did not meet the selection standard of equalling or bettering the Olympic qualifying standard (20.9)[18] and performing creditably at theAustralian Athletics Championships.[11] Norman ran several qualifying times from 1969–1971[9] but he finished third in the 1972 Australian Athletics Championships behindGreg Lewis andGary Eddy in a time of 21.6.[9]
Contemporaneous reports show mixed opinion on whether Norman should have been sent to the Munich Olympics. After coming third in the trials, Norman commented: "All I had to do was to win, even in a slow time, and I think I would have been off to Munich".[19]The Age correspondent wrote Norman "probably ran himself out of the team at the National titles"—yet also noted he was injured—and continued, "If the selectors do the right thing, Norman should still be on the plane to Munich."[19] On the other hand,Australasian Amateur Athletics' magazine stated "The dilemma for selectors here was how could they select Norman and not Lewis. Pity that Peter did not win because that would have been the only requirement for a Munich ticket".[20]
For his involvement as an ally in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute protest, Norman has appeared in many works of public art, as well as movies on the subject.
In August 2012, theAustralian House of Representatives debated a motion to provide a posthumous apology to Norman.[28][29][30] The chamber passed an official apology motion on 11 October 2012, which read:[31]
15 PETER NORMAN
The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the motion ofDr Leigh—That this House:
(1) recognises the extraordinary athletic achievements of the late Peter Norman, who won the silver medal in the 200 metres sprint running event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a time of 20.06 seconds, which still stands as the Australian record;
(2) acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave the 'black power' salute;
(3) apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment he received upon his return to Australia, and the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006; and
(4) belatedly recognises the powerful role that Peter Norman played in furthering racial equality.
The original plan for the apology had point (3) state that the House: 'apologises to Peter Norman for the wrong done by Australia in failing to send him to the 1972 Munich Olympics, despite repeatedly qualifying'. This acknowledgement of a punitive reaction by Australia to his support of Smith and Carlos was omitted from the final apology.[32][33]
In a 2012 interview advocating for the apology, Carlos said:[34]
There's no-one in the nation of Australia that should be honoured, recognised, appreciated more than Peter Norman for his humanitarian concerns, his character, his strength and his willingness to be asacrificial lamb for justice.
After the parliamentary apology, theAustralian Olympic Committee (AOC) and others disputed the claims made about Norman being ostracised for supporting Carlos and Smith. The AOC did not believe that Norman was owed an apology,[30] citing the following:
In 2018, the AOC awarded Norman posthumously the Order of Merit for his involvement of the 1968 protest, with AOC PresidentJohn Coates stating: "I'm absolutely certain from all the history I've read that we didn't do the wrong thing by him. But I absolutely think we've been negligent in not recognising the role he played back then."[38]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Commonwealth Games | Perth, Western Australia | 6th S/F 1 ; 12/43 | 220 yards | 21.8(22.03)(−2.8) |
| 1966 | Commonwealth Games | Kingston, Jamaica | 6th Q/F ; 29/54 | 100 yards | 10.2(10.27)(−5.0) |
| 6th S/F 1 ; 10/56 | 220 yards | 21.2(0.0) | |||
| 3rd | 4×110 yards | 40.0 | |||
| 5th | 4×440 yards | 3:12.2 | |||
| 1968 | Olympic Games | Mexico City,Mexico | 2nd | 200 m | 20.0 (20.06)(+0.9) |
| 1969 | Pacific Conference Games | Tokyo,Japan | 4th | 100 m | 10.8(−0.1) |
| 1st | 200 m | 21.0(−0.1) | |||
| 1st | 4 × 100 m | 40.8 | |||
| 1970 | Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh,Scotland | 5th | 200 m | 20.86(+1.7) |
| DNF Heat1 ; 14th | 4 × 100 m | Dropped baton |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965/66 | Australian Championships | Perth, Western Australia | 1st | 200 m | 20.9 (−1.2) |
| 1966/67 | Australian Championships | Adelaide,South Australia | 1st | 200 m | 21.3 |
| 1967/68 | Australian Championships | Sydney,New South Wales | 1st | 200 m | 20.5 (0.0) |
| 1968/69 | Australian Championships | Melbourne,Victoria | 2nd | 100 m | 10.6 (−0.5) |
| 1st | 200 m | 21.3 (−3.1) | |||
| 1969/70 | Australian Championships | Adelaide,South Australia | 1st | 200 m | 21.0 (−2.1) |
| 1971/72 | Australian Championships | Perth, Western Australia | 3rd | 200 m | 21.6 |
Later in life and posthumously, Norman received a number of honours from Australian sport bodies, including:
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