From WikiRun
| 1968 Summer Olympics
|
| Olympiad
| XIX
|
| Host City
| Mexico City, Mexico
|
| # Nations
| 113
|
| Events
| 172
|
| Sports
| 18
|
| Males
| 4,750
|
| Females
| 781
|
| Total Athletes
| 5,531
|
| Stadium
| Estadio Olímpico Universitario
|
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Mexico City in October 1968. Five years earlier, Mexico City beat out bids from Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games on October 18, 1963, at the 60th IOC Session in Baden-Baden, West Germany. The Games were preceded by the Tlatelolco massacre, in which hundreds of students were killed by security forces ten days before the opening day. It is the only Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second ever outside of Europe, Australia, or the USA.
Highlights
- In the 200 m medal award ceremony, two African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their black-gloved fists as a symbol of Black Power. Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore a civil rights badge as support on the podium. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left out of the Australian 1972 Olympic team, possibly as backlash.
- The high altitude of Mexico City (2240 m) made it difficult for many endurance athletes to adapt to the oxygen-deprived air. The high altitude was also credited with contributing to many record setting jumps and leaps in the long jump, high jump and pole vault events, as well as all the track events 400m and under (men's).
- For the first time, athletes from East and West Germany were members of separate teams, after having competed in a combined team from 1956 through 1964.
- US discus thrower Al Oerter, won his fourth consecutive gold medal in the event to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event.
- Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 m in the long jump, a 55 cm improvement of the world record that would stand until 1991 (when it was broken by Mike Powell); it is still the Olympic record. United States athletes Jim Hines and Lee Evans also set long world records in the 100 m and 400 m, respectively, that would last for many years to come.
- In the triple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes.
- Richard Fosbury won the gold medal in the high jump using the radical Fosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
- The introduction of drug tests resulted in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for alcohol use (he drank several beers prior).
- 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 8th President of the International Olympic Committee.
- Mexican athlete Norma Enriqueta Basilio 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 medals in all events from 800m to the marathon and in so doing set a trend for future games.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
External links
References
