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Muhammad Ali 1996 Olympics Autograph
A Large 16x20 Inches Colour Glossy Photograph
taken at the 1996 Los Angeles Olympics games Opening Ceremony
in which Muhammad Ali lit the olympic flame. Signed in Gold
Sharpie and comes complete with a video and photograph of
the signing.
We only have one of these signed photographs to ensure exclusivity.
All Postage and shipping costs will be calculated at checkout.
This item will be shipped within seven business days.
SOLD
At the 1996 olympic games, the world and his
country honored Muhammad Ali by choosing him for the honor
of lighting the Olympic flame in Atlanta, Georgia. At the
same Olympics, Muhammad Ali was also presented with a replacement
gold medal. Ali had supposedly thrown his previous gold
medal, won in 1960, into the Ohio River after being refused
entry to a restaurant, confirming his own suspicions that
even with a gold medal, he would not be treated any different
in the South.
Throughout his career and life, Ali has always
professed to want to help other black Americans--and he
has, time and time again. When he returned from Italy, having
just won an Olympic gold medal, he was so proud of his trophy
that he wore it day and night and showed it to everyone,
whether they wanted to see it or not. In the Philadelphia
Inquirer Ali's first wife remembered him saying "I
was young, black Cassius Marcellus Clay, who had won a gold
medal for his country. I went to downtown Louisville to
a five-and-dime store that had a soda fountain. I sat down
at the counter to order a burger and soda pop. The waitress
looked at me.... 'Sorry, we don't serve coloreds,' she said.
I was furious. I went all the way to Italy to represent
my country, won a gold medal, and now I come back to America
and can't even get served at a five-and-dime store. I went
to a bridge, tore the medal off my neck and threw it into
the river. That gold medal didn't mean a thing to me if
my black brothers and sisters were treated wrong in a country
I was supposed to represent."
Muhammad Ali again stood alone in the spotlight.
With the world watching, his hands trembling, he steadied
them to light the flaming cauldron to signal the start of
the Olympic Games. Tears were shed by many, as the man whose
beliefs had once divided a nation, was now a unifying and
beloved force.
