1968 Summer Olympics Information
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 only Games ever held in Latin America (until Rio de Janeiro hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics) 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.
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Selection
Main article: Bids for the 1968 Summer OlympicsOn 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.
| City | Country | Round 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico City | Mexico | 30 |
| Detroit | United States | 14 |
| Lyon | France | 12 |
| Buenos Aires | Argentina | 2 |
Highlights
- In the 200 m medal award ceremony, African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their black-gloved fists as a symbol of "Black Power". The Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore an American "civil rights" badge as support to them on the podium. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left off the Australian 1972 Olympic team.
- The high altitude of Mexico City (2240 m) was suspected to be difficult to adjust to for many endurance athletes. No other Summer Olympic Games have been held at a location remotely as high as Mexico City. This high altitude and the thin air were also credited with contributing to many record-setting jumps and leaps in the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault events, and throwing events such as the discus throw, as well as all the men's track events of 400 meters and less. As a reminder of this fact, one of the promotional articles of these games was a little metallic box with "Aire de Mexico" (Air of Mexico), that was "Especial para batir records" (Special for breaking records).
- For the first time, athletes from East and West Germany were members of separate teams, after having been told to compete in a combined German team in 1956, 1960, and 1964. Ode to Joy was played when East Germany and West Germany arrived to the stadium.
- American discus thrower Al Oerter, won his fourth consecutive gold medal in that event to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event, and the first in track & field (athletics).
- Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters in the long jump, an incredible 55-centimeter improvement over the previous world record. His record would stand until 1991, when it was broken by Mike Powell (it is still the Olympic record). American athletes Jim Hines and Lee Evans also set long-standing world records in the 100 meters and 400 meters, 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.
- Dick Fosbury won the gold medal in the high jump using the new, radical Fosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
- Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská won four gold medals.
- American swimmer Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle events. The 800 meters was a new long-distance event for women. Debbie was only 16 years old at the time, attending 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.
- The Mexican athlete Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo 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 meter altitude of Mexico City.
- It was the first games where the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to all the world.
Controversies
Main article: Tlatelolco massacreOn 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.[2] 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.
Main article: 1968 Olympics Black Power saluteOn 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:
Demonstration sports
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
participantsEast 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.
Boycotting countries
North Korea withdrew its athletes from Mexico City 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 tableThese 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 |
- Summer Olympic Games
- Olympic Games
- International Olympic Committee
- List of IOC country codes
- 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
References
- ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xFvf0ufx. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "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
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1968 Summer Olympics |
- "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 |
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Categories: 1968 Summer Olympics | 1968 in Mexico | Sports festivals in Mexico | Sport in Mexico City
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Fosbury flopJan 16, 2011 ... AeditA Etymology. Named for Dick Fosbury, who brought the technique to light in the 1968 Summer Olympics . ...