Vincent "Vince" Edward Matthews (born December 16, 1947) is an American former sprinter, winner of two Olympic gold medals, at the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics.
Career
Matthews was one of the best African American long sprinters to appear in the mid-1960s, and developed a fierce rivalry with future Olympic champion Lee Evans. The pair first met in their teens, and then duelled several times in 1967, with Evans coming out on top in the AAU Championships and Pan American Games.
At the warm-up meet two weeks before the Olympic Trials in 1968, Matthews set the new world record 44.4 s in 400 m, but his time was rejected as a world record due to his use of PUMA's illegal "brush spikes". At the Trials themselves, he was then beaten out of the top three by Evans, Larry James and Ron Freeman.</blockquote>
Robert Markus reported in the Chicago Tribune on September 9, 1972
<blockquote>[Matthews] was angry at Coach Bill Bowerman-as most of the U.S. trackmen seem to be-because Bowerman had hinted he would like to remove him from the place he had earned in the 400-meter field. He was angry that he had been forced to train on his own in unsuitable facilities, had to travel 4 or 5 times from N.Y. to the west coast in order to get any kind of competition, and had been put down by some of the press as a drag on America's hopes for a 400-meter sweep.</blockquote>
The Chicago Tribune reported
<blockquote>Matthews said his and Collett's actions were directed at the U.S. coaching staff, not the flag or the National Anthem. "We were just mad about a lot of things. We didn't think it would blow up like this. We were asked to apologize. I'm not really sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for the way people took it [hoots and whistles from the stands when the anthem finished]. What I tried to get across to the Olympic Committee was if it was pre-meditated I could have done something better than that. It was just something that happened. We didn't realize the implications to the people in the stands.</blockquote>
However, in an interview after the medal ceremony with the American Broadcasting Company, Collett said the national anthem meant nothing to him. He explained that he had felt unable to honor the anthem because of the struggle faced by African Americans at the time: "I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true. I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don't think we do."
The two were banned from future Olympic competition by the IOC.
On the March 1973 cover of Track and Field News Matthews and Collett are pictured from the award stand promoting an article "All Gold Does Not Glitter."
Personal life
Matthews is also an artist - burning images onto wood panels - with works on display with the Art of the Olympians.