 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | December 16, 1947 Queens, New York, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 81 kg (179 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 200 m, 400 m | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | BOHAA Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 200 m – 20.7 (1972) 400 m – 44.66 (1972) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vincent "Vince" Edward Matthews (born December 16, 1947) is an American former sprinter, winner of two Olympic gold medals, at the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. [1]
Matthews was one of the best African American long sprinters to appear in the mid-1960s, and developed a fierce rivalry with future Olympic champion Lee Evans. The pair first met in their teens, and then duelled several times in 1967, with Evans coming out on top in the AAU Championships and Pan American Games.
At the warm-up meet two weeks before the Olympic Trials in 1968, Matthews set the new world record 44.4 s in 400 m, but his time was rejected as a world record due to his use of PUMA's illegal "brush spikes". [2] At the Trials themselves, he was then beaten out of the top three by Evans, Larry James and Ron Freeman. [1]
At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Matthews ran the first leg on the United States gold medal-winning 4 × 400 m relay team that set the world record of 2:56.16, which lasted for 20 years.
After Mexico, Matthews gave up track and field for a year as he struggled with the demands of work and marriage, but worked his way back to full fitness and into contention for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. At the 400m Olympic Trials, Matthews finished third behind John Smith and Wayne Collett, beating old rival Lee Evans into fourth. In the Olympic final, Smith took the early lead but dropped out due to a hamstring injury after 80 meters. The race turned into a battle between Matthews and Collett, with Matthews winning in 44.66 s and Collett coming second in 44.80 s. [1]
The triumph was tarnished by the events during the medal ceremony, where they were talking to each other and fidgeting while the US national anthem played, leading many to believe it was a Black Power protest like that of Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968.
The Associated Press noted that the casual behavior of Matthews and Collett during the playing of the anthem was "disrespectful," and described the conduct as follows:
Collett, bare-footed, leaped from the No. 2 tier to the No. 1 stand beside his teammate. They stood sideways to the flag, twirling their medals, with Matthews stroking his chin. Their shoulders slumped, neither stood erect nor looked at the flag. ... As whistles and catcalls continued, Collett raised a clenched fist to the crowd before entering the portal of the dressing room. [3]
Robert Markus reported in the Chicago Tribune on September 9, 1972 [4]
[Matthews] was angry at Coach Bill Bowerman-as most of the U.S. trackmen seem to be-because Bowerman had hinted he would like to remove him from the place he had earned in the 400-meter field. He was angry that he had been forced to train on his own in unsuitable facilities, had to travel 4 or 5 times from N.Y. to the west coast in order to get any kind of competition, and had been put down by some of the press as a drag on America's hopes for a 400-meter sweep.
The Chicago Tribune reported [5]
Matthews said his and Collett's actions were directed at the U.S. coaching staff, not the flag or the National Anthem. "We were just mad about a lot of things. We didn't think it would blow up like this. We were asked to apologize. I'm not really sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for the way people took it [hoots and whistles from the stands when the anthem finished]. What I tried to get across to the Olympic Committee was if it was pre-meditated I could have done something better than that. It was just something that happened. We didn't realize the implications to the people in the stands.
However, in an interview after the medal ceremony with the American Broadcasting Company, Collett said the national anthem meant nothing to him. [6] He explained that he had felt unable to honor the anthem because of the struggle faced by African Americans at the time: "I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true. I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don't think we do."
The two were banned from future Olympic competition by the IOC. [1] Since John Smith had pulled a hamstring 80 meters into the 400 m final while leading and had been ruled unfit to run, the USA were missing three runners and were unable to field a team in the 4 × 400 m relay and were forced to scratch from the event. [7]
On the March 1973 cover of Track and Field News Matthews and Collett are pictured from the award stand promoting an article "All Gold Does Not Glitter." [8]
Matthews is also an artist - burning images onto wood panels - with works on display with the Art of the Olympians. [9]
Mark Andrew Spitz is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful competitor at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record time. This achievement set a record that lasted for 36 years, until it was surpassed by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad and commonly known as Mexico 1968, were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country. They were also the first Games to use an all-weather (smooth) track for track and field events instead of the traditional cinder track, as well as the first example of the Olympics exclusively using electronic timekeeping equipment.
Michael Duane Johnson is an American retired sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals in the span of his career. He held the world and Olympic records in the 200 m and 400 m, as well as the world record in the indoor 400 m. He also once held the world's best time in the 300 m. Johnson is generally considered one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field.
Tommie C. Smith is an American former track and field athlete and former wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83 seconds – the first time the 20-second barrier was broken officially. His Black Power salute with John Carlos atop the medal podium to protest racism and injustice against African Americans in the United States caused controversy, as it was seen as politicizing the Olympic Games. It remains a symbolic moment in the history of the Black Power movement.
Otis Crandall Davis is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals for record-breaking performances in both the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Davis set a new world record of 44.9 seconds in the 400 m event, and he became the first man to break the 45-second barrier.
Lee Edward Evans was an American sprinter. He won two gold medals in the 1968 Summer Olympics, setting world records in the 400 meters and the 4 × 400 meters relay, both of which stood for 20 and 24 years respectively. Evans co-founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights and was part of the athlete's boycott and the Black Power movement.
Jeremy Matthew Wariner is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m event with a personal best of 43.45 seconds, behind Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds and the fifth fastest all-time mark when he set it in 2007.
John Wesley Carlos is an American former track and field athlete and professional American football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power salute on the podium with Tommie Smith. He went on to tie the world record in the 100-yard dash and beat the 200 meters world record. After his track career, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Canadian Football League but retired due to injury.
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". While on the podium, Smith and Carlos, who had won gold and bronze medals respectively in the 200-meter running event of the 1968 Summer Olympics, turned to face the US flag and then kept their hands raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human-rights badges on their jackets.
Wayne Curtis Collett was an African-American Olympic sprinter. Collett won a silver medal in the 400 m at the 1972 Summer Olympics. During the medal ceremony Collett and winner Vincent Matthews talked to each other, shuffled their feet, stroked their chins and fidgeted while the US national anthem played, leading many to believe it was a Black Power protest like the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
Robert Steven Genter is an American former competition swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. He was a freestyle specialist who earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He also won silver medals at the Munich Olympics in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle events.
John Walton Smith is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the 400 m event at the 1971 Pan American Games. He remains the world record holder for the 440 yard dash at 44.5 seconds. He set the record while winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 26, 1971 while running for the Southern California Striders. The record has stood since then due to metrification in the sport. Contemporary athletes rarely run or are timed officially for the extra 2.34 meters to equal 440 yards.
Jeshua Anderson is a retired American sprinter, who specializes in the 400 meter hurdles. He is a 3 time NCAA champion in the 400m hurdles and was the second freshman from Washington State University to ever win the NCAA title. In 2008 Anderson was 400 meter hurdles Junior World Champion and holds the second fastest high school time recorded in the 300m hurdles. He was born and raised in Woodland Hills, California and attended Taft High School. After winning the 2011 Outdoor Championships, Anderson had the competed for team USA at the world championships. He also participated in the 2016 Olympic trials in which he finished as a finalist.
The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 3, 4 and 7 September. Sixty-four athletes from 49 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Vince Matthews of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive and 12th overall victory in the event. The Americans' hopes to repeat their podium sweep of four years earlier were dashed by injury in the final. Bronze medalist Julius Sang became the first black African to win a sprint Olympic medal, earning Kenya's first medal in the event.
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay was the longer of the two men's relays on the Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics program in Munich. It was held on 9 September and 10 September 1972.
Maurice Peoples is an American former sprinter.
Benjamin Anthony Aguon Schulte is a Guamanian swimmer. Schulte entered the international stage at 15 years old when he won a silver medal at the 2011 Pacific Games held in New Caledonia. At the 2014 Micronesian Games, Schulte was awarded medals in all 11 of his events, nine of them gold, earning him the nickname 'Micro Phelps'. At the 2015 Pacific Games, he won gold in the 200m and 400m medley, silver in the 100m breaststroke, setting a Games record in the heats that was later broken by the gold medalist in the final, and bronze in the 200m breaststroke. At the 2016 Oceania Swimming Championships, Schulte earned a gold and a silver medal.
The 1972 Olympics Black Power salute was a political protest by two U.S. Olympic runners, Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, during the medal ceremony for the Men's 400 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. This event is sometimes referred to as "The Forgotten Protest". It came four years after the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.
Protests during the playing of the United States national anthem have had many causes, including civil rights, anti-conscription, anti-war, anti-nationalism, and religious reservations. Such protests have occurred since at least the 1890s, well before "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted and resolved by Congress as the official national anthem in 1916 and 1931, respectively. Earlier protests typically took place during the performance of various unofficial national anthems, including "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and "Hail, Columbia". These demonstrations may include refusal to stand or face the American flag during the playing of the Anthem. Some of the protestors object to honoring the slaveowner and author of the lyrics, Francis Scott Key.
Juan Carlos Bello is a Peruvian former butterfly, freestyle and medley swimmer. He was an outstanding competitor for the University of Michigan swim team and represented Peru at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. He later worked as a coach and served as the President of the National Swimming Foundation of Peru.
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
