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Name = Games of the XIX Olympiad |
Logo = Mexico1968.jpg |
Size = 150px |
Host city = Mexico City , Mexico |
Nations participating = 112 |
Athletes participating = 5,530
(4,750 men, 780 women)|
Events = 172 in 20 Sport s |
Opening ceremony = October 12 , 1968 |
Closing ceremony = October 27 , 1968 |
Officially opened by = President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz |
Athlete's Oath = Pablo Garrido |
Judge's Oath = - |
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 held in Mexico City in 1968 . Mexico City beat out bids from Detroit , Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games in 1963 . The Games were preceded by the Tlatelolco Massacre , in which hundreds of students were killed by Mexican security forces ten days before the opening day.


Highlights

  • 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.

  • For the first time, athletes from East and West Germany were members of separate teams, after having competed in a combined team in 1964.

  • US Discus Throw er 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 . United States athletes Jim Hines and Lee Evans also set long world records in the 100m and 400m, 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 radical Fosbury Flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.

  • 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 . As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned them from the Olympic Games for life.

  • Czechoslovakia n Gymnast Věra Čáslavská won four gold medals.

  • United States swimmer Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 m Freestyle events.

  • The introduction of Pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for Alcohol use.

  • 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 .

  • Norma Enriqueta Basilio (a mexican athlete) became the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron with the Olympic flame.



Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:


Medal count

(''Host nation in bold.'')


See also



External links