Sports Poets Society

Slide 1 https://patrickwitty.substack.com/p/the-most-meaningful-photo-in-olympic https://www.instagram.com/p/C-c27TgRDpK/?img_index=1 patrickwitty Estadio Olímpico Universitario UNAM Medal ceremonies are the grip-and-grins of the Olympics — orchestrated, bite-the-medal photo ops that rarely transcend into something meaningful and enduring. So much so, LIFE magazine photographer John Dominis didn’t realize the importance of what he’d captured on October 16, 1968 , at the Olympics in Mexico City. “I was expecting a normal ceremony,” Dominis said in an interview with David Davis in 2008. “I hardly noticed what was happening when I was shooting.” As the Star-Spangled Banner rang throughout the stadium, 200-meter gold medal winner @tommiesmith68 and bronze medalist John Carlos bowed their heads and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice in the United States. The crowd went silent. Dominis, perfectly positioned about 20 feet away , squeezed the shutter. There are two ...

https://www.cortissonderegger.ch/black-power-salute The story behind the photograph… At the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City in 1968, the American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze respectively for the 200-metre event. Standing on the medal podium, they waited for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ to begin, then each bowed his head and raised a black-gloved fist in the traditional gesture of ‘Black Power’. By expressing their wish for all human beings to be treated equally, the athletes were making the most overt political statement the Olympics had ever seen.  The photographer John Dominis (1921–2013) captured the moment . His image showed that Smith had removed his shoes, symbolizing black poverty. It also showed that the Australian silver medallist, Peter Norman, had chosen to wear a Human Rights badge in an act of solidarity. History relates that it was also Norman who suggested that Smith share his gloves, Carlos having left his own pair at the Olym...

https://briscoecenter.org/about/news/the-john-dominis-photographic-archive/ The Briscoe Center has acquired the photographic archive of John Dominis, one of Life magazine’s most celebrated photojournalists. Perhaps his best-known photograph is from the Mexico Olympics of 1968, showing American Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the Black Power salute during the national anthem at a medal ceremony for the 200m sprint. “Dominis covered all corners of the globe over a five-decade career and produced some of America’s most memorable images of politicians, sports personalities and even wild predators,” said Don Carleton, executive director at the Briscoe Center. “This large collection of slides, tear sheets and other materials enhances the center’s already unrivalled photographic collections that together create an incredible visual resource for researchers of American life in the 20th century.” John Dominis was born in Los Angeles in 1921 to Croatian immigrants . He studied phot...

LIFE photographer John Dominis holds a lion cub.  (Source:  Time.com ) https://www.photographypreservation.org/john-dominis PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION PROJECT ABOUT US John Dominis was a mainstay of Life’s legendary photography for more than 20 years. Among the magazine’s most versatile photojournalists, he covered everything: wars (Korea and Vietnam), celebrities (his pictures of Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen became books), sports, predators in the wild, and the jungles of Washington politics.  Among his most memorable pictures is the iconic image of U.S. athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos doing the black power salute during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Mexican Olympics. Without putting down his camera, Dominis became the founding picture editor of People Magazine and later became picture editor of Sports Illustrated from 1978 to 1982.  In February 2017, the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin Texas acquired his archive—40 linear feet containing slides...

Leopard about to kill a terrified baboon.  (Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) https://www.life.com/photographer/john-dominis/ Photographer John Dominis with his camera.  (Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) After an Air Force tour in Japan, John Dominis (1921-2013) wanted to remain in that country and work. Freelance work was illegal there in 1946 , but his photographer colleagues helped him stay and get his start. He would return many times to Asia to cover wars . Back home, he shot sports (he had played end for USC in the 1944 Rose Bowl ), politics, celebrities, even food. He spent three months trailing Sinatra to witness him in his element, among swank and boozy stars. That experience of tracking a subject helped the stalwart Dominis on his famous “The Great Cats of Africa.” The series won him an award even as he was still in the bush—and even though he orchestrated his famous baboon-leopard encou...

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20231011-in-history-how-tommie-smith-and-john-carloss-protest-at-the-1968-mexico-city-olympics-shook-the-world 16 October 2023 - BBC Myles Burke - Features correspondent US athlete Tommie Smith attained international fame when he gave the Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, 55 years ago. But as the exclusive BBC Archive clips in this new series reveal, that protest came at a heavy cost. On 16 October 1968, two black US athletes – Tommie Smith and John Carlos – stood on the podium at the Mexico City Olympics, heads bowed. They wore black socks with no shoes; Smith wore a black scarf around his neck. As the US national anthem played, they each raised a black-gloved hand in silent protest. Although no words were spoken, the moment was full of meaning. Smith, who had won gold in the 200m, setting a new world record, raised his right fist to represent Black Power. Bronze medallist Carlos, wearing a bead necklace to symbolise the lynching...

Smith (center) and Carlos (right) raised their arms and Norman wore a badge  on his chest in support. (John Dominis/ Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images) https://archive.ph/20131113151109/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/indelible-olympics-200808.html#selection-349.1-893.10 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/articles/olympic-athletes-who-took-a-stand-593920/ For 40 years, Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos have lived with the consequences of their fateful protest By David Davis Smithsonian magazine, August 2008, Subscribe Photo Gallery (1/4) Explore more photos from the story Related Books Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith by Tommie Smith Temple University Press, 2008 Why: The Biography of John Carlos by C.D. Jackson Jr. Milligan Books, 2000 More from Smithsonian.com It's in the Bag Day of the Iguanas When the medals were awarded for the men's 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Olympic Games, Life magazine photographer John Dominis was only about 20 feet away ...

SMITH E CARLOS, LA RIVOLUZIONE DELLA LIBERTA’  (Speciale 1968 a cura di Alessandro Mastroluca) Autore articolo di Redazione Data dell'articolo  14/06/2018 “Non aspettare di fare domani quel che potresti fare oggi. Perché il domani non è garantito”. Se l’è sentito ripetere tante volte da suo padre, Tommie Smith . Quella massima l’ha seguita fedelmente, fino al tardo pomeriggio che diventa sera del 16 ottobre 1968 . Quando l’oggi è diventato sempre . Quando il momento ha unito quel che i caratteri avrebbero diviso. Perché Smith e John Carlos, uniti per sempre dentro un fotogramma diventato eterno, non potrebbero essere più diversi. Sono due sprinter, due neri, due mariti e due padri. Ma non potrebbero essere più diversi. Eppure insieme hanno alzato un pugno guantato di nero sotto le stelle incipienti del Messico. E niente sarebbe più stato come prima. Tommie Smith è il velocista di punta degli USA , che secondo l’allenatore della nazionale di atletica alle Olimpiadi ha portato ...