At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and his teammate John Carlos came in first and third, in the 200-meter dash. As they received their medals, each man raised a black-gloved fist, representing their silent protest in the racism of Negroes in the Olympic Games. The Black power salute created an image that will always stand as an iconic representation of the complicated conflations of race, politics, and sports. (Both Smith and Carlos were suspended and banned from the Olympics for their actions)
When Vancouver won the Olympic bid for 2010, many protests rallied up to the, angry at the amount of oil and money that would be wasted to create the historical event. The main difference was that this form of protest was a huge gathering to try to show awareness of how unhappy the people were. Smith and Carlos had a protest that was only two people, but the image and the icon represented millions of peoples unhappiness
