Tommie+Smith


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**Tommie Smith**
Tommie Smith was born June 6, 1944 in Clarksville, Texas. He was the seventh of 12 children. Tommie Smith survived a life-threatening encounter of pneumonia as an infant. He is the only man to hold 11 world records simultaneously in the history of track and field. In the 1968 Olympics he won the 200 meter dash with a time of 19.83 seconds setting the world record. On the podium Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised a black gloved fist representing black power, liberation and solidarity. Tommie Smith played professional football for three years after high school for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978. He went to college at San Jose State University. The college has recently put up a statue of Smith and Carlos on the podium with their black gloved fists raised. I selected Tommie Smith because he raised a black glove fist into the air on the podium to represent blacks and had a huge impact on the civil rights movement with blacks. They were going to boycott the Olympics, but decided not to, but decided to compete in the events and they won and represented blacks in sports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommie_Smith http://www.tommiesmith.com/about_tommie/bio.html
 * By: Shane Ryan**
 * Bibliography:**

Smith and Carlos with their fists raised at the 1968 Olympics.