These guys protested the US amateur athletic system on the victory podium in the Munich Olympics. While on the stand, they dramatized the fact that one cannot eat an Olympic medal, whether gold or silver. In doing so, they ended up sacrificing an automatic gold medal in the 4X400 meter relay. This display of courage by Collet and Matthews dwarfs any comparable gesture by Pre or Shorter. The amateur system was harder on blacks than it was on whites. I think Collet and Matthews should have been celebrated as civil rights heroes. Can anyone visualize Shorter twirling his medal on the victory stand? Can anyone even visualize Prefontaine on the victory stand, even though he went for it?