Once United, Now Divided

United they stood, two men with black-gloved fists thrust into the night.

In solidarity, they bowed their heads as the national anthem played.

Together, in harmonious synchronicity, they defied history.

On Oct. 16, 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos finished one-three in the 200-meter Olympic finals. Smith set a world record in 19.83 seconds, powering through the thin air of Mexico City and across the finish line, arms upraised, with a mark that endured for 11 years.

But it was their demonstration on the victory podium afterward, medals dangling around their necks, that resonates today. Their purpose was to draw attention to the plight of African Americans at the height of the civil rights movement. As Smith told ABC-TV announcer Howard Cosell in Mexico City, "My raised right hand stood for the power in black America. Carlos' raised left hand stood for the unity of black America. Together they formed an arch of unity and power."

The photograph of that moment forever couples the two men. About 40 years later, however, Smith prefers to stand separate from Carlos, and vice versa. Each has written an account of the podium moment that contradicts the other's. Each has disparaged the other's accomplishments, exchanging barbs that belie the dignified eloquence of their silent salute.

Smith describes their relationship as "strained and strange." Carlos refers to his former teammate only as "Mister Smith."

Those who know them can only watch, in exasperation, as their statements seemingly contradict the salute's original meaning. Sociologist Harry Edwards, the two sprinters' mentor at San Jose State University, compares their bickering to "two old men arguing in a bar an hour before closing time."

"They're almost like brothers," says journalist Dave Zirin, author of the forthcoming "A People's History of Sports in the United States." "Small fights grow in stature over time and the feelings of aggrievement become so deep that no one can even remember what caused the wounds."

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To trace how the symbol of unity disintegrated to discord, it's important to remember the context of Smith and Carlos' protest. In 1968, the United States was verging on chaos. As the Vietnam War raged in Asia, the civil rights movement raged in America's cities. Assassins' bullets felled Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.