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 Oceania 200m record. He was a five-time national 200-metre champion.
Norman is probably best known as the third athlete in the famous 1968 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 the Olympic Project for Human Rights in support of fellow athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith.
Early life
Norman grew up in a devout Salvation Army family living in Coburg, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. 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.
During his athletics career, Norman was coached by Neville Sillitoe.
Career
1968 Summer Olympics
The 200 metres event 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. He won his quarter-final and was second in the semi-final.
On the morning of 16 October, US athlete Tommie Smith won the 200-metre final with a world-record time of 19.83 seconds. Norman finished second in a time of 20.06 s after passing U.S. athlete John Carlos at the finish line. Carlos ran 20.10 s.
Later career
Norman represented Australia at the 1969 Pacific Conference Games in Tokyo, and the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
The Australian 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) and performing credibly at the 1972 Australian Athletics Championships at which he finished third behind Greg Lewis and Gary Eddy in a time of 21.6.
He played 67 games for West Brunswick Australian rules football club from 1972 to 1977 before coaching an under 19 team in 1978 (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 contracted gangrene after tearing his achilles tendon during a charity race, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression, heavy drinking and painkiller addiction followed.
After battling depression, Norman worked at Athletics Australia as a sports administrator until 2006.
Death
Norman died of a heart attack on 3 October 2006 in Melbourne at the age of 64. The US 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 gave eulogies and were pallbearers at Norman's funeral. 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.
Black power salute
Medal ceremony
On the medal podium after the medal presentation by David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter and during the playing of the US anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously performed a Black Power salute (which Tommie Smith later described in his 2007 autobiography as a human rights salute, rather than an outright 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. Journalist 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'." On the way 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. 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. This is the reason Smith raised a gloved right fist and Carlos raised his gloved left.