Olympic legend Tommie Smith comes to Paris to share stories of triumph and revolt

1968 Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Tommie Smith spoke at a day-long symposium in Paris of his triumph at the race and the ramifications of his glove-fisted gesture at the medal ceremony. © Paul Myers/RFI

Such is the aura of the 1968 Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Tommie Smith that sports historians with multiple degrees melt in his presence and even grown women stand up and cry out for a picture with him because it's their birthday.

e 85kmBlondine Aglossi rose from her slumbers at 5am to make the 85-kilometre trip off from Nemours just outside Paris on Tuesday morning to attend the 11am talk the 80-year-old was scheduled to give at the Musée de la Porte Dorée in eastern Paris about the gesture he made with fellow American John Carlos and the Australian Peter Norman on the podium after the 200 metres Olympic final in Mexico City in 1968.