The Olympics bring together the best and brightest athletes from all over the world every four years. Originating in ancient Greece, there’s a lot of history, including the history of Black Olympians. There is a great long list of history made over the last century, even over the last decade. Here’s a look at the Black athletes who paved the way and continue to break barriers.
George Coleman Poage
George Coleman Poage overcame great racial adversity to be a part of the third-ever Olympic games in St. Louis in 1904, in which many of the events were segregated. Poage competed in the 220-yard and 440-yard hurdles and won a bronze medal in each, the first African-American to win a medal in the Olympic Games.
Jesse Owens
Black American sprinter and athlete Jesse (James Cleveland) Owens (1913–1980) won four gold medals for running and field events in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Wilma Rudolph
Track and field star Wilma Rudolph blazed a trail in Olympics history. At 16, she became the youngest member of the U.S. team and won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. In 1960, she won gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter and sprint relay events, making her the first American woman to win three medals in track and field events in the Olympics.
Muhammad Ali
Before he was known to the world as Muhammad Ali and, later, “The Greatest,” Cassius Clay Jr. traveled to Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics. Clay was awarded a gold medal in the light heavyweight division.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the iconic image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their gloved fists in the air in a Black Power salute as the American anthem played made headlines around the world, stirring controversy and getting the two men banned from the Olympics. At the games, Smith won the gold medal for the 200-meter dash and Carlos won the bronze.
A year after his Olympic win, Smith finished his BA in Social Science at San Jose State University and went on to earn a Masters in Social Change from Goddard College, whose program enabled Smith to integrate his teaching and writing practices into his coursework.
After his track and football careers, he became a member of the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1996, Smith was inducted into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he received that organization’s Sportsman of the Millennium Award. In 2000 and 2001 the County of Los Angeles and the State of Texas presented Smith with commendation, recognition and proclamation awards.
He later became a track coach at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he also taught sociology and until 2005 was a faculty member teaching physical education at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Florence “Flo Jo” Griffith-Joyner’s blistering speed gave her the title of fastest woman in the world at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where she set still-unbroken records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. The prolific athlete, who was known for her flashy one-legged tracksuits, six-inch nails and mane of wild, dark curls, won three gold medals that year. It was whispered that Griffith-Joyner took performance-enhancing drugs to attain such feats, though those claims were never proven.
1992 NBA Olympic Dream Team
The original 1992 “Dream Team,” the first U.S. Olympic basketball team to include NBA stars, comprised a mighty pantheon of basketball legends, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley. The team conquered their opponents at the Barcelona Olympics by an average of 44 points each game, earning them…
… the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Dominique Dawes
Dominique Dawes dazzled the gymnastics world with her floor routines at the 1996 Atlanta games, where she was a member of the gold medal-winning American team, nicknamed the “Magnificent Seven.” Dawes is currently the only African-American gymnast with a gold medal and the only American gymnast with medals from three different Olympics Games (1992, 1996, 2000).
Marion Jones
Popular track and field star Marion Jones made headlines when she won five gold medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but the winner’s glow wouldn’t last. In October 2007, Jones admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs and, as a result, forfeited all medals and prizes.
Usain Bolt
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt currently holds the world record in the men’s 100-meters, 200-meters, and the 4×100 meters relay. He took home three gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Cullen Jones
Cullen Jones, 28, was the third African-American to make the U.S. Olympic swim team in 2008 and wasted no time racking up the honors. He won gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay in 2008. At the 2012 Games, he won silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
Venus and Serena Williams
Teaming up at the 2012 London Olympics, the Williams sisters took home their third gold medal in the women’s doubles competition. Separately, Venus won Olympic gold in women’s singles in 2000, while Serena took the honor in 2012.
Lia Neal
U.S. swimmer Lia Neal made her Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games at age 17, taking home bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay race.
Allyson Felix
U.S. track star Allyson Felix took home gold in her signature event, the 200-meter dash, gold in the women’s 4×100-meter relay, and another gold in the 4×400-meter relay at the London 2012 Games. Separately, she picked up gold in the 4×400-meter relay and silver in the 200-meter in 2008 and silver in the 200-meter race at the 2004 Olympics.
Gabby Douglass
At 16, U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas made history at the 2012 Summer Olympics as the first woman of color to win gold in the all-around competition. She also became the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual and team all-around competition.
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