Tommie Smith and John Carlos:
Tommie Smith won the gold and John Carlos the bronze in the 100 meters at the Mexico City Games. Additionally, Smith won the 220-yard title at the 1967 and '68 NCAA National Championships for San Jose State. He set a world 400-meter record in 1967. Carlos won the 200 meters at the 1967 Pan-American Games and set indoor records in the 60-yard (5.9) and 220-yard (20.2) events. He also enjoyed success after the Olympics. In 1969 he tied the world 100-yard record (9.1), won the AAU 220 and led San Jose State to the NCAA championship, winning the 100 and 220 and running on the victorious 4 x 110-yard relay squad.
Today, both Smith and Carlos are involved in multiple activities, including public speaking. The two recently concluded a joint speaking tour where they discussed the events of the 1968 Olympics. Smith’s autobiography, “Silent Gesture,” was published in 2007. Smith was a long-time sociology professor as well as track and cross country coach at Santa Monica College. Carlos is a counselor and in-school suspension supervisor at Palm Springs (Calif.) High School. “Why: The Biography of John Carlos,” written with C.D. Jackson, was published in 2000.
Wyomia Tyus:
Wyomia Tyus was the first woman to repeat as the Olympic 100-meter champion, winning gold medals in 1964 and ’68. She also earned two Olympic medals in the 4 x 100 relay, winning a gold in 1968 and a silver in ’64. Tyus won the 200 at the 1967 Pan-American Games and won eight national AAU championships. She held world records in both the 100-meter and 100-yard events.
Tyus has worked as a track coach and was a founding member of the Women’s Sports Foundation. She’s worked with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Black Studies Center at UCLA and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Edwin Moses:
Career highlights for Moses include Olympic gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles in 1976 and 1984 (he missed 1980 due to the U.S. boycott) and a bronze medal in 1988. In a span of almost 10 years Moses won 107 consecutive finals, from 1977-87. He also won the 1987 World Championship and three World Cup titles. He’s won the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the U.S. and was a world record-holder in the 400.
Moses has been involved in public speaking and is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission. In 2000, he was elected by his fellow members as the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The organization celebrates athletic excellence and promotes social change.
Roger Kingdom:
Kingdom won the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He is a five-time U.S. champion and won gold medals in the 1989 World Cup, the 1989 World University Games and the 1989 and 1995 Pan-American Games. Kingdom won NCAA national championships in the 110 (1983) and the indoor 55-meters (1984) for the University of Pittsburgh. He held the world record in the 110 for a little more than four years.
Kingdom has served as head coach and then director of the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams at California University in Pennsylvania.
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Interview with 1968 gold medal sprinter Jim Hines
