11 Notable Black Olympians Who Deserve Your Respect [PHOTOS]

The 2012 Summer Olympics is poised to be a huge ratings grabber for NBC, but it also spotlights a bevy of Black athletes who have broken barriers in their sports. Olympic swimmer Lia Neal of Brooklyn is only 17, but she’s become the second Black woman in her field to make it to the games. Also 17 is Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, who has become the youngest female boxer to compete at the Olympics.

Long before Neal, Shields, and all of the other Olympians vying to take home medals, there were other Black athletes who made feats on the world’s biggest sporting stage. So, just to give them a little extra confidence as they prepare to participate in the international event, we’ve compiled a list of other Black athletes who laid the groundwork for today’s swimmers, runners, long jumpers, and more.

Check out 11 notable Black Olympians below.

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Photo: Gigmasters

George C. Poage

As a member of the University of Wisconsin’s class of 1903, Poage is known for being an amazing athlete. One year after graduation he became the first Black person to win an Olympic medal. Poage took home two bronze medals at the 1904 games in St. Louis.

John Baxter “Doc” Taylor
A native of Washington D.C., Taylor was the first Black person to take home a gold medal , when he competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Sadly he died just five months later from typhoid pneumonia.

Jesse Owens

Owens was a track and field star specializing in sprints and the long jump. He took home four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Don Barksdale

This basketball pioneer became the first Black male to play on a United States men’s Olympic basketball team at the 1948 summer games. He also earned himself a spot in the record books for being the first Black ball player to be named an NCAA All-American, and the first to play in an NBA All-Star Game.

Wilma Rudolph

The odds were against Rudolph when she was born premature at just over 4 pounds in 1940—but she still prevailed. The 20th of 22 children, the Tennessee native suffered from physical ailments but became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field events at the 1960 Olympics. Rudolph earned wins in in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and the 4 x 100 relay. She was named the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year for 1960 and 1961. She died from brain cancer in 1994, at age 54.

Rafer Johnson

In 1960 Johnson became the first Black person to carry the U.S. Flag in an Olympic Opening Ceremony, when the games headed to Rome. A decathlete from UCLA, Johnson took home the silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. He also broke the world record in international decathlon competition, grabbing three AAU National Championships.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the Greatest Female Athletes of the 20th century, Joyner-Kersee became the first woman (of any race) to score more than 7,000 points in a Olympic heptathlon (a combination of track and field) event, back in 1986. She also won heptathlon gold medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, making her the first heptathlete to score consecutive Olympic wins. Joyner-Kersee was also the first American ever to win a gold medal in the long  jump.

Florence Griffith-Joyner

Known to the world simply as “Flo Jo,” in 1988 Griffith Joyner tried out for the U.S. Olympic team, and broke the world record in the 100-meter race, with a time of 10.49 seconds. At the 1988 Olympics games in Seoul, Korea she won the 100-meter race coming in at 10.54 seconds, she also broke the 200-meter world record with a time of 21.34. Her accolades include winning a silver medal in the 200-meter dash in the 1984 Olympics, and winning three gold medals throughout her career. Noted as the “fastest woman of all time,” Flo Jo died from epilepsy in 1998. She was 38.

Michael Johnson

Now retired, Johnson won four Olymic gold medals, and holds the world and Olympic records in the 400 meter and 4x 400 meter races. During the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials, he ran the 200 meter and 400 meter events in 19.66 seconds, breaking the 17-year record time of 19.72 previously held by Pietro Mennea. By year’s end he was honored with the James E. Sullivan Award, as the top amateur athlete in any sport in America.

Alice Coachman

Specializing in the high jump, Coachman was the first black woman to win a gold medal, at the 1948 Olympic games. She lept a whopping 1.6 meters (or 5 ft. 6 1/8 in) on her very first try.

Carl Lewis

With a career spanning over two decades, Carl Lewis is an athletic marvel. He’s won 10 Olympic gold medals, nine of which just happen to be gold. The Birmingham, Alabama native took home medals in the 1982, 1984, 1988, and 1996 Olympics in the long jump, 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4×100 meter relay competitions, and is known as the World’s Fastest Man.

BONUS

Tommie Smith and John Carlos

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos silently protested the the treatment of African-American’s back home in the States by raising the Black Power fist while accepting their medals in the 200M. They were vilified for their overt political statement, but nevertheless, remain the ultimate examples of Black excellence.