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Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: 17/05/2012

17/05/2012

BBC World Service - Outlook, 17/05/2012

One of the athletes who raised the black power salute in the 1968 Olympics.

Extraordinary personal stories from around the world.

Today, Matthew Bannister brings you the story of an iconic Olympic protest. 

During the 1968 Games in Mexico City, the black American athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos took gold and bronze medals. 

As they stood on the podium, the two men raised a black gloved fist in an unmistakable Black power salute. 

They wore beads around their necks, black shirts to cover their USA team uniforms and black socks on their feet. 

The protest sent shockwaves around the world.

In the build up to the 2012 Olympics, John Carlos came into the Outlook studio and described how meetings with civil rights activists Malcolm X and Martin Luther King inspired him to take a stand.

(Image: Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics of 1968 - US athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos. Credit: AP)

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