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	Last updated: Saturday 9 Aug 2008	1XTRA NEWS: THE REAL TALK OF THE STREETS

The Greatest Athlete Never Known: Jim Hines

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The name Jim Hines should be high up on the list of the best ever athletes in the world.

Instead he's the forgotten man of Olympic sprint history.

Forty years on, Jim Hines tells 1Xtra his story.

He was the first man to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds to take gold at the 1968 Olympics.

His time of 9.9 seconds made Jim Hines the fastest man on the planet - a record he held for 15 years.

That race was also famous for being the first ever all-black final in Olympic history.

Jim Hines' achievement was lost in the controversy of the iconic black power salute made on the 200m medal podium by his American team mates Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

Jim Hines didn't agree with what they did at the Games and felt their gesture made him guilty by association.

He says that's the reason why he's unknown even among athletics fans.

Jim Hines had run his last race by the time he was 22 and says the fall-out also lost him more than a million pounds in sponsorship deals.

Did you know about Jim Hines? Was he right to distance himself from the black power Olympic protest? Jim Hines considers himself the greatest sprinter of all time, is he right or is someone else the best? Who is your all-time greatest Olympian? Send us your thoughts

Ian Batson-Wright
A million pounds is a lot of money to lose, because of someone else's actions, but many believe (myself included) that what Tommie Smith and John Carlos did was right. They both lost out financially and in other ways for what they did, but it wasn't done for their personal benefit, but for the civil and human rights of US citizens. But I'm sure it must have been difficult for Jim Hines.