18 Black Athletes Who Absolutely Changed The Olympics Forever

These Black Olympians are trailblazers.

The Winter Olympics are here, and soon we shall be seeing a flurry of athletes from all over the world, medals, breathtaking performances, new records, and personal bests. We shall see athletes of different creed and color mingling and competing in a friendly atmosphere without any reservations and prejudices.

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But it wasn't always this smooth and easy, especially for Black athletes all over the world. They faced discrimination not only in their daily lives, but also in the locker rooms, on the tracks and fields, and sometimes even after winning a medal for their country.

I hereby bring you a list of 18 Black athletes of different nationalities who blazed the trail for future generations of Black athletes and made the world recognize the immense talent — bordering on superhuman — that was hidden within them.

This article mostly discusses those Black athletes who achieved something for the first time at the Olympics, some of whom went on to dominate their "fields." 

1. Constantin Henriquez — the very first of them

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This Haitian-born rugby player had originally been sent by his father to France in 1893 to study medicine. On his arrival in Paris, rugby became his newfound love. He represented France in rugby at the Paris Olympics in 1900, and thus became the first Black person to be an Olympian. His rugby team also won the gold at the Paris Olympics. One of his teammates was a man called Cornelius Louis André Roosevelt, whose father was the cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. 

2. George Poage

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When the US hosted its first Olympics in 1904 at St. Louis, an African American man made his mark on the pages of history. He became the first Black American to win an individual medal at the Olympics. African American leaders urged him to boycott the event, as the facilities were segregated. He won bronze in 200-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles.

3. John Baxter Taylor Jr.

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This son of former slaves significantly raised University of Pennsylvania’s athletic profile after he enrolled there in the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1905. Shortly after his graduation, he represented the US in the 1908 London Olympics as the lone Black member of the 4x400 US men's relay team. There he became the first African American to win an Olympic gold and the first Black person to win an individual Olympic gold. Unfortunately, Taylor died soon after achieving this feat, at the young age of 26.

4. Jesse Owens

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The 1936 Olympics were held in a Berlin that was soaked in Nazi supremacist fervor. It was in this charged atmosphere that Jesse Owens smashed three world records and the Nazi propaganda of racial superiority. Even before coming to Berlin, Owens was a star athlete at Ohio State University, and 17 African American athletes accompanied him to Berlin. He won four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4x100 relay. Despite being the star performer, he wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the president. Owens later said of FDR, "Hitler didn’t snub me; it was our president who snubbed me."

5. Audrey Patterson

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This 22-year-old from New Orleans won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, thus becoming the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal. She managed this feat despite having injured her legs a few days before the race. Unfortunately she didn't receive any public accolades when she returned to her home country. 

6. Alice Coachman

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Just a day after Patterson's medal, history was created again. A 24-year-old from Albany, Georgia, tied with a British athlete for the top position in high jump at the 1948 London Olympics. This woman, Alice Coachman, was awarded the gold as she had managed the jump in a single attempt. She was awarded her gold medal by King George VI (the father of Queen Elizabeth II), thus becoming the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She was also the lone American woman to win a gold medal in track and field events at the Games. Celebrations on her return were marred by segregation, as the mayor of Albany refused to attend the celebration.

7. Don Barksdale

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This Oakland, California native and UCLA alum wasn’t allowed to be on his high school’s basketball team due to some rule that allowed only one Black player on the team. But he persevered and transformed into a basketball virtuoso. He became the first African American to be a part of the US Olympic basketball team and helped his team win the gold in the 1948 London Olympics. 

8. Wilma Glodean Rudolph

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Wilma Rudolph was overcoming challenges since the moment she was born. She was 20th of the 22 children born to her parents and went through a slew of lethal diseases like measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, and double pneumonia, before contracting polio.

She overcame such extreme and disabling odds and made her Olympic debut at 16 at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 4x100 relay. Her moment of glory came four years later at the Rome Olympics when she won the 100- and 200-meter dash and led her team to victory in the 4x100 relay. She became the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics. She was nicknamed “The Black Gazelle” by the European press.  

9. Muhammad Ali

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At the 1960 Rome Olympics, the world learned what it means to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Cassius Clay (who later became Muhammad Ali) beat (literally) many Olympic champion boxers. At just 18 years of age, he won the Olympic gold by whooping the Polish fighter Zbigniew "Ziggy" Pietrzykowski in the boxing finals. Later Ali said, "I didn’t take that medal off for 48 hours. I even wore it to bed. I didn’t sleep too good because I had to sleep on my back so that the medal wouldn’t cut me. But I didn’t care; I was Olympic champion." In a mark of changing times, Clay's victory was celebrated on his return with a 50-car motorcade.

10. Abebe Bikila

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Looking back it does seem that Bikila was destined to win marathons. He was born on August 7, 1932; the same date as the marathon of 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was being conducted. Fast-forward to Rome 1960. He was a last-minute replacement for Wami Biratu, and came with a single pair of running shoes that got ruined soon. His new shoes gave him blisters, so he decided to run barefoot.

And on bare feet he smashed the Olympic record  by finishing the marathon in 2hr 15min 16sec and established a new world record. Of the 13 marathons he ever competed in, he won 12.

11. Tommie Smith and John Carlos

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These two athletes not only gave the world an envious performance on track but etched their names on the pages of history by their defiant and bold gesture that reminded the world that all was not well with the community that was giving the US gold medalists every Olympics. 

12. Michael Jordan

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To piggy back on a dialogue from Mean Girls, how do I even begin to explain Michael Jordan? The prowess with which Jordan dominated the game stands unprecedented and unmatched. All the physical traits of a stellar athlete coupled with an unquenchable thirst for success on and off the court (now also subject to spoofs and memes), turned him into a living legend. 

He represented his country at the 1984 and 1992 Olympics and won the gold medal on both occasions. Jordan's prowess enabled him to become one of the most gifted Black athletes ever and a benchmark against whom other basketball players (of any race/color) are often compared. Magic Johnson summarized it best: "There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us."

13. Carl Lewis

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What Jordan was to basketball, Carl Lewis was to track and field events. An athlete so sublime, so exceptional, that he was named Sportsman of the Century by the International Olympic Committee, World Athlete of the Century by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and Olympian of the Century by Sports Illustrated. Lewis won a mind-blowing 10 Olympic medals — 9 of them gold — in 4 Olympic Games. His domination in long jump was so robust that he won four gold medals at consecutive Olympics, a feat Michael Phelps equaled at the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

14. Florence Griffith Joyner

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This track and field legend, popularly known as Flo-Jo, created multiple world records, some of which still stand today. Griffith won her first Olympics medal (a silver) at the 1984 Los Angeles games. It was at the 1988 Seoul Olympics that she made an indelible mark on the history of international athletics. She set the world record in the 200-meter and an Olympic record in 100-meter sprints for women. Her fastest 100-meter in Olympics was beaten few months ago at the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympics by the Jamaican runner Elaine Thompson-Herah. She still holds the record of fastest ever 100-meter by a woman, which she set at the 1988 US Olympic trials. 

15. Dominique Dawes

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Before there was Gabby Douglas, there was Dominique Dawes: an athlete who not only blazed a trail for the African American community but also for people of color all over the world, especially girls. Dawes' Olympic glory started with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when she (along with her African American teammate Betty Okino) became the first Black gymnast to win an Olympic medal. She followed this up with an individual bronze medal and a team gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, thus becoming the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic medal in women's gymnastics. She went to the Olympics for the third and final time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she helped her team win a bronze. Dawes walked so that Gabby could run.

16. Gabby Douglas

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This celebrated artist gymnast is the first Black woman and "the first African-American gymnast in Olympic history to become the Individual All-Around Champion. She is also the first American gymnast to win gold in both the gymnastic individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympic games." After crushing the gymnastics competition at the 2012 London Olympics, which won her two gold medals, she returned to the 2016 Rio Olympics to win her third gold medal. Her feats have now been replicated by another Black female athlete, Simone Biles.  

17. Shani Davis

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Shani Davis has many Olympics feathers in his cap but none more glorious than being the first Black athlete to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics.  Davis is a now-retired speed skater who competed in both short-track and long-track competition, which was quite unusual. Davis won his first Olympics gold medal in the 1,000-meter and a silver in the 1,500-meter at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. He repeated the same combination of medals and length at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

18. Usain Bolt — fastest man alive

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This Jamaican legend is just like his name, swift like a bolt of lightning that struck down all the previous sprinting world records. Bolt is to sprinting what Jordan was to basketball. Unparalleled, undefeated, and unstoppable. And Bolt is a big fan of Jordan as well. 

Cricket was Bolt's first love, and cricket's loss has been sprinting's crowning glory. Bolt first rose to prominence in 2002, when at the age of 15 years, he won gold in the 200-meter, becoming the youngest ever male world junior champion in any event. He first broke the 100-meter world record in 2008 at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York and bettered it at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to set a new world record. And after this, it was medals and records galore in Bolt's life. 

Though he retired in 2017, his 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships and 9.63 seconds at the London 2012 Olympics (the Olympics 100-meter record) stand unblemished.

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His 'lightning bolt' pose became one of the most recognizable gestures and went viral all over the world. He became such an icon that he found mention in tracks of artists like Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, French Montana, and Skepta. How many athletes do you know who were awarded a 3-ton section of the Berlin Wall for their feats?

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