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Embarrassed and angry, the U.S. Olympic Committee met for four hours, then issued a strong reprimand to Smith and Carlos, and apologies to the International Olympic Committee, the Mexican Organizing Committee and the Mexican people. That might have ended the incident. But a month before the games opened, crusty, old Avery Brundage, 81, perennial chairman of the I.O.C., had warned all competitors that no political demonstrations would be permitted. That challenge helped guarantee the trouble that came, and the I.O.C. bullheadedly proceeded to make a bad scene worse. Unless U.S. officials actually punished Smith and Carlos, the I.O.C. threatened to expel the whole U.S. team from the Olympics. Reluctantly, the U.S. committee suspended the two athletes from the team and ordered them to leave the American quarters at the Olympic Village.
Shocked by the extreme severity of the punishment, other U.S. athletes—both black and white—rallied to Smith and Carlos' defense. "This is terrible, awful," said Highjumper Ed Caruthers, a Negro. "If Tommie and John have to go home," said Sprinter Ron Freeman, "I think there will be a lot of guys going home." "Some white ones too," added Hammer Thrower Harold Connolly. Most distraught by Smith and Carlos' suspension was their close friend and fellow militant Lee Evans, favorite to win last week's 400-meter dash at Mexico City. So shaken that he had to be helped onto a bus bound for the stadium from the Olympic Village, Evans recovered, won his race and shattered the world record with a clocking of 43.8 sec. Behind him came two other U.S. blacks—Larry James and Ron Freeman—to give the U.S. its first sweep of the games.
"I wasn't going to run until John Carlos told me I had to," said Evans. But he was clearly not taking too many orders. All three 400-meter runners wore black berets to the awards ceremony, and all three stood bareheaded at attention for their national anthem.