The year 1968 had seen turmoil in the United

States, including hundreds of riots, both before

and after the assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr. and continuing after the assassination
of Robert F. Kennedy. Prior to the Olympics in
Mexico City in October 1968, some African
Americans, led by activist Harry Edwards, had
urged a boycott of the Games, but found little
enthusiasm among athletes, reluctant to waste
years of effort. The atmosphere was made
more tense by unrest in Mexico City before the
Games, which left dozens dead.[125]
There were racial tensions between black US
athletes and their white counterparts; in one
incident, African Americans blocked whites from
the track.[126] One black runner, Tommie Smith,
told writers on October 15, "I don't want
Brundage presenting me any medals". The
following day, Smith won the 200 meters, and
fellow African-American John Carlos took the
bronze medal. The two men, after receiving
their medals from IAAF president Lord Exeter,
and as "The Star-Spangled Banner" played,
raised black-gloved fists, heads down, in salute
of black power. Brundage deemed it to be a
domestic political statement unfit for the
apolitical, international forum the Olympic
Games were intended to be. In response to
their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos
suspended from the US team and banned from
the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic
Committee refused, Brundage threatened to
ban the entire US track team. This threat led to
the expulsion of the two athletes from the
Games.[127] Other demonstrations by African-
Americans also took place: the three African
Americans who took the medals in the 400
meters race, led by gold medalist Lee Evans,
wore black berets on the podium but took them
off before the anthem while African-American
boxer George Foreman, triumphant in
the heavyweight division, waved a small
American flag around the boxing ring and
bowed to the crowd with fellow American
boxers. Brundage's comment about the Smith-
Carlos incident was "Warped mentalities and
cracked personalities seem to be everywhere
and impossible to eliminate."[128][129] The USOC's
official report omits the iconic photograph of
Smith and Carlos with their fists raised; the
local organizing committee's official film showed
footage of the ceremony. Brundage, who
termed the incident "the nasty demonstration
against the American flag by negroes", objected
in vain to its inclusion.[130]
Munich 1972[edit]
Main articles: 1972 Summer
Olympics and Munich massacre
At the same IOC session in August 1972 in
Munich at which the Rhodesians were
excluded, the IOC elected Killanin as
Brundage's successor, to take office after the
Games. Brundage cast a blank ballot in the
vote which selected the Irishman, considering
him an intellectual lightweight without the force
of character needed to hold the Olympic
movement together.[131