1968 Summer Olympics

Games of the XIX Olympiad

Host city	Mexico City, Mexico
Nations participating	112
Athletes participating	5,530 (4,750 men, 780 women)
Events	172 in 20 sports
Opening ceremony	October 12
Closing ceremony	October 27
Officially opened by	President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Athlete's Oath	Pablo Garrido
Olympic Torch	Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo
Stadium	Estadio Olímpico Universitario

The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country (followed in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain). It is the first Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second after 1964 Summer Olympics to be hosted outside of Europe, Australia, or the United States. It was also the third Olympic Games to be held in autumn, then followed by the 1988 Summer Olympics.

The Mexican Student Movement of 1968 happened concurrently and the Olympic Games were correlated to the government's response.

Opening ceremony at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City

Host city selection

Main article: Bids for the 1968 Summer Olympics

On October 18, 1963, at the 60th IOC Session in Baden-Baden, West Germany, Mexico City finished ahead of bids from Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games.^[1]

1968 Summer Olympics bidding result[2]
City	Country	Round 1
Mexico City	Mexico	30
Detroit	United States	14
Lyon	France	12
Buenos Aires	Argentina	2

Highlights

• In the medal award ceremony for the men's 200 meter race, African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) took a stand for human rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes. The Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore an American "civil rights" badge as support to them on the podium. As punishment, the IOC banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left off of Australia's Olympic team in 1972.
• The high elevation of Mexico City, at 2,240 m (7,350 ft) above sea level, influenced many of the events, particularly in track and field. No Summer Olympic Games before or since have been held at high elevation. Although a performance reducer for endurance athletes, the thin air contributed to many record-setting jumps, leaps, vaults, and throws, as well as all of the men's track events of 400 meters and less. As a reminder of this fact, one of the promotional articles of these Olympics was a small metallic box labeled "Aire de México" (Air of Mexico), that was "Especial para batir records" (Special for breaking records).
• In addition to high elevation, this was the first Olympics to use a synthetic all-weather surface for track and field events; the "Tartan" surface was originally developed by 3M for horse racing, but didn't catch on. The tracks at previous Olympics were conventional cinder.
• For the first time, East and West Germany competed as separate teams, after being forced by the IOC to compete as a combined German team in 1956, 1960, and 1964. Beethoven's Ode to Joy was played when East and West Germany arrived in the stadium.
• Al Oerter of the U.S. won his fourth consecutive gold medal in the discus to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event, and the first in track & field (athletics).
• Bob Beamon of the U.S. lept 8.90 m (29.2 ft) in the long jump, an incredible 55 cm (22 in) improvement over the previous world record. It remains the Olympic record and stood as the world record for 23 years, until broken by American Mike Powell in 1991. American athletes Jim Hines and Lee Evans also set long-standing world records in the 100 m and 400 m, respectively.
• In the triple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes.
• Dick Fosbury of the U.S. won the gold medal in the high jump using his unconventional Fosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
• Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia won four gold medals in gymnastics.
• Debbie Meyer of the U.S. became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle events. The 800 m was a new long-distance event for women. Meyer was only 16 years old, a student at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California.
• American swimmer Charles Hickcox won three gold medals (200m IM, 400m IM, 4x100m medley relay) and one silver medal (100m backstroke).
• The introduction of doping tests resulted in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for alcohol use (he drank several beers just prior to competing).
• John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania became internationally famous after finishing the marathon, in last place, despite a dislocated knee.
• This was the first of three Olympic participations by Jacques Rogge. He competed in yachting and would later become the eighth president of the IOC.
• Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo of Mexico became the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron with the Olympic flame.
• It was the first games at which there was a significant African presence in men's distance running. Africans won at least one medal in all running events from 800 meters to the marathon, and in so doing they set a trend for future games. Most of these runners came from high-altitude areas of countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, and they were well-prepared for the 2240 m elevation of Mexico City.
• It was the first games where the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to all the world.

Controversies

Tlatelolco massacre

Main article: Tlatelolco massacre

On October 2, 1968, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics the Plaza de las Tres Culturas was the scene of the Tlatelolco massacre. Kate Doyle had confirmed the death of forty four people including a soldier named Pedro Gustavo López Hernández.^[3] Avery Brundage, president of the IOC, decided not to cancel the games. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre most prominent Mexicans, with the exception of Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes, condemned the violence but blamed the students for the massacre. As a response, during the opening ceremony, students flew a bird-shaped kite over the presidential box to shape a black dove as a silent protest for the repression.

Black Power salute

Main article: 1968 Olympics Black Power salute

On October 16, 1968, an action by two African-American sprinters at the Mexico City Olympics shook the sporting world.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze medalists in the men's 200-meter race, took their places on the podium for the medal ceremony wearing black socks without shoes and civil rights badges, lowered their heads and each defiantly raised a black-gloved fist as the Star Spangled Banner was played. Both of them were members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

Some people (particularly IOC president Avery Brundage) felt that a political statement had no place in the international forum of the Olympic Games. In an immediate response to their actions, Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team by Brundage and banned from the Olympic Village. Those who opposed the protest said the actions disgraced all Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, praised the men for their bravery.

Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who came second in the 200 m race, and Martin Jellinghaus, a member of the German bronze medal-winning 1600-meter relay team, also wore Olympic Project for Human Rights badges at the games to show support for the suspended American sprinters.

In another incident, while standing on the medal podium after the balance beam event final, Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská quietly turned her head down and away during the playing of the Soviet national anthem. The action was Čáslavská's silent protest against the recent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and was repeated when she accepted her medal for her floor exercise routine. While Čáslavská's countrymen supported her actions and her outspoken opposition to Communism (she had publicly signed and supported Ludvik Vaculik's "Two Thousand Words" manifesto), the new regime responded by banning her from both sporting events and international travel for many years.

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1968 Summer Olympics

• Agustín Melgar Olympic Velodrome - Cycling (track)
• Arena México - Boxing
• Avándaro Golf Club - Equestrian (eventing)
• Campo Marte - Equestrian (dressage, jumping individual)
• Campo Militar 1 - Modern pentathlon (riding, running)
• Club de Yates - Sailing
• Estadio Azteca - Football (final)
• Estadio Cuauhtémoc - Football preliminaries
• Estadio Nou Camp - Football preliminaries
• Estadio Olímpico Universitario - Athletics (also 20 km and 50 km walk), Ceremonies (opening/ closing), Equestrian (jumping team)
• Fernando Montes de Oca Fencing Hall - Fencing, Modern pentathlon (fencing)
• Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool - Diving, Modern pentathlon (swimming), Swimming, Water polo
• Insurgentes Ice Rink - Wrestling
• Insurgentes Theatre - Weightlifting
• Jalisco Stadium - Football preliminaries
• Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gymnasium - Volleyball
• Juan Escutia Sports Palace - Basketball, Volleyball
• Municipal Stadium - Field hockey
• National Auditorium - Gymnastics
• Revolution Ice Rink - Volleyball
• Satellite Circuit - Cycling (individual road race, road team time trial)
• University City Swimming Pool - Water polo
• Vincente Suárez Shooting Range - Modern pentathlon (shooting), Shooting
• Virgilio Uribe Rowing and Canoeing Course - Canoeing, Rowing
• Zócalo - Athletics (marathon start)

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Athletics Basketball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics

Field Hockey Modern pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Swimming Volleyball Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling

Demonstration sports

• Baseball^{[citation needed]}
• Basque pelota
• Tennis

The organizers declined to hold a judo tournament at the Olympics, even though it had been a full-medal sport four years earlier. This was the last time judo was not included in the Olympic games.

Participating nations

participants

East Germany and West Germany competed as separate entities for the first time in at a Summer Olympiad, and would remain so through 1988. Barbados competed for the first time as an independent country. Also competing for the first time in a Summer Olympiad were British Honduras (now Belize), Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (as Congo-Kinshasa), El Salvador, Guinea, Honduras, Kuwait, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, and the United States Virgin Islands. Singapore returned to the Games as an independent country after competing as part of the Malaysian team in 1964.

Afghanistan Algeria Argentina Australia Austria Bahamas Barbados Belgium Bermuda Bolivia Brazil British Honduras Bulgaria Burma Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Ceylon Chad Chile Colombia Congo Kinshasa Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Cuba Czechoslovakia Denmark Dominican Republic

Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Fiji Finland France East Germany West Germany Ghana Great Britain Greece Guatemala Guinea Guyana Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan

Kenya South Korea Kuwait Lebanon Libya Liechtenstein Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Mali Malta Mexico (Host nation) Monaco Mongolia Morocco Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland

Portugal Puerto Rico Romania San Marino Senegal Sierra Leone Singapore Soviet Union Spain Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Uganda United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands Yugoslavia Zambia

Boycotting countries

North Korea withdrew its athletes from Cuba immediately prior to the beginning of the Olympics when the IOC refused to refer to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK.

Medal count

Main article: 1968 Summer Olympics medal table

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games (host Mexico won 3 of each color of medal):

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	45	28	34	107
2	Soviet Union	29	32	30	91
3	Japan	11	7	7	25
4	Hungary	10	10	12	32
5	East Germany	9	9	7	25
6	France	7	3	5	15
7	Czechoslovakia	7	2	4	13
8	West Germany	5	11	10	26
9	Australia	5	7	5	17
10	Great Britain	5	5	3	13
15	Mexico	3	3	3	9

See also

Olympics portal

• 1968 Summer Paralympics
• 1968 Winter Olympics

• Summer Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes
• 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute

References

1. ^ IOC Vote History
2. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xFvf0ufx. Retrieved 17 March 2011. 
3. ^ "The Dead of Tlatelolco". Gwu.edu. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB201/index.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-23. 

• "Mexico City 1968". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Mexico-City-1968. 
• "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1333852&Country=&Sport=&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30. 
• The Politics of Hypocrisy - Mexico '68
• Luis Castañeda, "Beyond Tlatelolco: Design, Media and Politics at Mexico ‘68" article in Grey Room 40 (Summer 2010)

External links

• "Mexico City 1968". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Mexico-City-1968. 
• Result of the 1968 Summer Olympics host city candidacies
• An article on the American Sprinters Controversy
• The program of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

Preceded by Tokyo

Summer Olympic Games Mexico City XIX Olympiad (1968)

Succeeded by Munich