Minority black Olympic athletes in the 20th and early 21st centuries

Sport has the power to unite people in a way little else can. Sport can create hope where there was only despair. It breaks down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of discrimination. Sport speaks to people in a language they can understand. (Nelson Mandela cited in Muir, 2007)

It is generally agreed that the first black athlete to compete and win a medal in the Olympic Games was George Poage, an American, who was awarded a bronze medal in the 400m hurdle. It was 1904, the third modern Olympics since the games had been resurrected by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896. In the same afternoon, another African-American, Joseph Stadler, received a silver medal for the high jump event and the following day Poage secured another bronze, this time for the 200m hurdle.

This was the triumphant start of what would be countless victories for black athletes at the Olympic Games. Since 1904, many black athletes representing countries including those in which they are usually part of a minority ethnic group (for example, countries in North America, Europe and Asia) have achieved outstanding success. Notable athletes include: Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals for the USA at the 1936 Berlin Olympics; Wilma Rudolph (USA), who received three gold medals at Rome in 1960, Mohammed Ali (then Cassius Clay) (USA), who was awarded with the light-heavyweight boxing title also in 1960; Daley Thompson for Great Britain who obtained a gold medal for the decathlon event in 1980 at Moscow and another at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics; Linford Christie (GB), who won gold in the 100m sprint at Barcelona in 1992; Denise Lewis (GB) winning gold in the heptathlon event at Sydney in 2000; and Kelly Holmes (GB), who was awarded two gold medals in 2004 at the Athens Olympics.

Despite the undeniable success of numerous black athletes in the Olympic Games throughout the twentieth century, their situation both on and off the field has sometimes proven difficult. A significant number of black athletes have felt they had to negotiate the often complex issues of representing a country in which they are ethnically a minority. The participation of minority black athletes in the Olympic Games has often revealed and mirrored inequalities in society as a whole. For instance, before (and during) the Civil Rights Movement, African-American athletes were members of the USA Olympic team, and revered within this role, yet when they returned to the USA they were unable to share public spaces with white people or even drink from the same water fountains. Furthermore, some athletes have used the Olympics as a stage for protest against racial prejudice within and outside of their own countries.

At the same time, a considerable proportion of people (of different ethnicities as well as athletes and non-athletes) would argue that sport - in particular Olympic participation - has the power to diminish ethnic and racial inequalities, and has been significant in overcoming problems of racial discrimination. After all, the Olympic Games is an environment where people from a broad range of ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds compete together and are watched by an equally diverse audience. On the other hand, some would (and have) argued that the involvement of minority black athletes in the Olympic arena, and in particular scrutiny of their successes within this field, has exacerbated existing racial prejudices and stereotypes in ways which intensify social, economic and cultural divisions between ethnic groups.