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MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2002

At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Oglala Lakota athlete Billy Mills won the gold medal for the 10,000-meter run. He broke the record and still remains the only American to have won the title.

But decades later, Mills has found that speed, strength and courage can't always overcome prejudice and racism. During a speech Friday in Billings, Montana, Mills recounted some of the discrimination he has encountered, from being denied admission into a college fraternity to a more recent incident.

Sitting with his family in Spain at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Mills said his name came up during a discussion by American journalists. When one man opined on where Mills was today, the words of one shocked him so much that he almost couldn't react.

"I’ll tell you where Billy Mills is," Mills recalled the man as saying. "He’s just like all the rest of the Indians. They’re quitters. He’s an alcoholic. He’s drug-addicted. That’s the way they all are."

After prodding by his daughter, Mills got up and told the man who he was. The man apparently apologized, but then told Mills not to be so sensitive.

Get the Story:
Gold-medal runner Billy Mills speaks in advance of torch relay (The Billings Gazette 1/26)

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