Salute (ATOM Study Guide)

Salute is a journey back to the 1960s to examine what has now become one of the most famous Olympic moments in history.

During this era the world was just three years away from the Cuban missile crisis and the threat of nuclear war, the horror of Vietnam, the assassinations of John F. and Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Frightened and desperate people were rioting in the streets of Europe, and throughout the U.S. where there was an urgent push for civil rights. Black nations were threatening to boycott the Olympics in protest and black athletes within the United States team were being urged to boycott the Games.

Into this atmosphere walked Peter Norman, whose performance had taken the US team by surprise. Who was this unknown sprinter from Australia? He wasn't a typical sprinter – he was quietly spoken, short-legged and white.

In the 200-metres final, he ran the race of his life and split Tommie Smith and John Carlos, winning silver. As they waited for the presentation ceremony, Smith and Carlos told Peter of their plans. One had left behind his pair of black gloves, and at Peter's suggestion, they wore one each.

Despite it not being a situation that affected him directly, Peter asked the Americans if he could join their protest. He felt there was a moral imperative on him to stand up against something he felt was wrong. Like Tommie and John, Peter wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in support of their silent protest.

The image of the three of them on the dais, heads bowed, the Americans delivering the 'Black Salute', is regarded as one of the most powerful images of the twentieth century.

Lasting repercussions followed. Smith and Carlos were dropped from the relays and the team. They were kicked out of the Olympics and banned for life. Their lives were ruined, with Carlos's wife later committing suicide.

The punishment of Peter was less dramatic but ultimately as destructive. Coming from a conservative family in a country that still had a white only immigration policy, Norman's stance caused a storm. He was hated in parts of the Australian establishment and the media turned on him.

His chance to win gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics was stolen from him. Despite being the favourite to win gold, qualifying thirteen times for the 200m and five times for the 100m, the powers that be refused to take him to Munich. For the first time Australia was not represented in the sprint events at an Olympics.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympics in Australia, Peter Norman was not invited to attend in any official capacity. Australia's best sprinter ever, whose 200m Mexico games time of twenty seconds flat would have won the gold medal at Sydney and whose Australian record still stands nearly forty years later, wasn't even invited to the 200m final by the Australian Olympic authorities. He was, however, invited by the U.S. team who flew him to Sydney and he was treated as an American guest.

Due to his unique connection with the story, Peter Norman's nephew, Matt Norman, has been able to get an extraordinary level of access to the three medallists and, for the first time, film all three of them together, talking about the event and the impact it had on their lives.

Tragically Peter Norman died in October 2006, soon after seeing a rough cut of the film. Both Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at Norman's funeral.

One of Peter's last wishes was that his story be told.