The1968 Summer Olympics (Spanish:Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as theGames of the XIX Olympiad (Spanish:Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and officially branded asMexico 1968 (Spanish:México 1968), were an internationalmulti-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968 inMexico City, Mexico. These were the firstOlympic Games to be staged inLatin America, the first to be staged in aSpanish-speaking country, and the first to be staged in theGlobal South. Consequently, these games also marked the first time that there would be a gap of two Olympic Games not to be held in Europe. They were also the first Games to use anall-weather (smooth) track fortrack and field events instead of the traditionalcinder track, as well as the first example of the Olympics exclusively using electronic timekeeping equipment.[2]
Opening Ceremony of the 1968 Summer Olympic Games at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City
On 18 October 1963, at the 60thIOC Session inBaden-Baden,West Germany, Mexico City finished ahead of bids from Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games.[3]
The logo is viewed as a Mexicancultural icon.[7][8] It was the subject of dispute between American designerLance Wyman and Mexican architectPedro Ramírez Vázquez over who originated the graphic concepts.[7] Architect Eduardo Terrazas also worked under Ramirez's direction to develop the concept.[9][10] A pinkchacmooljaguar, which was sold in souvenir shops, is considered an unofficialmascot.[11] Thedove of peace was also a symbol of the Games, which was appropriated by student protesters with abayonet piercing it.[12]
Adolfo López Mateos, President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964 and first chairman of the Organization Committee of the 1968 Summer Olympics
In the medal award ceremony for themen's 200 metres race,Black American athletesTommie Smith (gold) andJohn Carlos (bronze) took a stand forcivil rights by raising theirblack-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes. The AustralianPeter Norman, who had run second, wore an American "human rights" badge as a gesture of support to them on the podium. In response, theIOC banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman's omission from Australia's Olympic team in 1972 was allegedly as punishment.[13][14]
George Foreman won the gold medal in heavyweight boxing division by defeating SovietJonas Čepulis via a second-round TKO. After the victory, Foreman waved a small American flag as he bowed to the crowd.[15]
The highelevation ofMexico City, at 2,240 m (7,350 ft)above sea level, influenced many of the events, particularly in track and field. No other Summer Olympic Games before or since have been held at high elevation.[16]
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 by3M for horse racing, but did not catch on. The tracks at previous Olympics were conventionalcinder.[17]
For the first time,East andWest Germany competed as separate teams, after being forced by the IOC to compete as acombined German team in 1956, 1960, and 1964.
Al Oerter won his fourth consecutivegold medal in thediscus to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event, and the first inathletics.[18]
Bob Beamon leapt 8.90 m (29 ft 2.39 in) in thelong jump, an incredible 55 cm (22 in) improvement over the previous world record. It stood as the world record for 23 years, until broken by AmericanMike Powell in 1991; yet it has stood as the current Olympic record for 57 years.Jim Hines,Tommie Smith andLee Evans also set long-standing world records in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m, respectively.[citation needed]
In thetriple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes. WinnerViktor Saneev also won in 1972 and 1976, and won silver in 1980.
Dick Fosbury won the gold medal in thehigh jump using his unconventionalFosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.[19]
Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 mfreestyle events. The 800 m was a new long-distance event for women. Meyer was only 16 years old, a student atRio Americano High School inSacramento, California. Meyer was the first of several American teenagers to win the 800 m, withKatie Ledecky being her notable successor.
American swimmerCharlie Hickcox won three gold medals (200 m IM, 400 m IM, 4 × 100 m medley relay) and one silver medal (100 m backstroke).[21][citation needed]
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 likeKenya andEthiopia, and they were well-prepared for the 2240 m elevation ofMexico City.[25]
Kipchoge Keino of Kenya, competing in spite of unexpected bouts of severe abdominal pain later diagnosed as a gall bladder infection, finished the 10,000 meters in spite of collapsing from pain with two laps to go, won silver in the 5000, and won gold in the 1500 meters.[26][27]
It was the first Olympic games in which the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to the world, as well as the events themselves.[28]
After being banned from participating in 1964,South Africa - under its new leaderJohn Vorster - had made diplomatic overtures to improve relations with neighboring countries and internationally, suggesting legal changes to allow South Africa to compete with an integrated, multiracial team internationally. The nominal obstacle behind South Africa's exclusion thus removed, the country was thus provisionally invited to the Games, on the understanding that all segregation and discrimination in sport would be eliminated by the 1972 Games. However, African countries andAfrican American athletes promised to boycott the Games if South Africa was present, and Eastern Bloc countries threatened to do likewise. In April 1968 the IOC conceded that "it would be most unwise for South Africa to participate".[29] It was thus the first Olympics where South Africa was positively excluded, which continued until the Olympics of 1992.
Responding to growing social unrest and protests, the government of Mexico had increased economic and political suppression, againstlabor unions in particular, in the decade building up to the Olympics. A series of protest marches in the city in August gathered significant attendance, with an estimated 500,000 taking part on 27 August. PresidentGustavo Díaz Ordaz ordered the police occupation of theNational Autonomous University of Mexico in September, but protests continued. Using the prominence brought by the Olympics, students gathered inPlaza de las Tres Culturas inTlatelolco to call for greater civil and democratic rights and showed disdain for the Olympics with slogans such as¡No queremos olimpiadas, queremos revolución! ("We don't want Olympics, we want revolution!").[30][31]
Ten days before the start of the Olympics, the government ordered the gathering in Plaza de las Tres Culturas to be broken up. Some 5000 soldiers and 200tankettes surrounded the plaza. Hundreds of protesters and civilians were killed and over 1000 were arrested. At the time, the event was portrayed in the national media as the military suppression of a violent student uprising, but later analysis indicates that the gathering was peaceful prior to the army's advance.[32][33][34]
Gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos (right) showing the raised fist on the podium after the 200 m race
On 16 October 1968, African American sprintersTommie Smith andJohn Carlos, the gold and bronze medalists in the men's 200-meter race, took their places on the podium for the medal ceremony wearing human rights badges and black socks without shoes, lowered their heads and eachraised a black-gloved fist as "The Star Spangled Banner" was played, in solidarity with the Black Freedom Movement in the United States. Both were members of theOlympic Project for Human Rights.International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidentAvery Brundage deemed it to be a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games were intended to be. In response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the US team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Brundage threatened to ban the entire US track team. This threat led to the expulsion of the two athletes from the Games.[35]
Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who came second in the 200-meter race, also wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge during the medal ceremony. Norman was the one who suggested that Carlos and Smith wear one glove each. His actions resulted in him being ostracized by Australian media[36] and a reprimand by his country's Olympic authorities. He was not sent to the1972 games, despite several times making the qualifying time,[37] though opinions differ over whether that was due to the 1968 protest.[38] When Australia hosted the2000 Summer Olympics, he had no part in the opening ceremony, though the significance of that is also debated.[38] In 2006, after Norman died of a heart attack, Smith and Carlos werepallbearers at Norman's funeral.[39]
Věra Čáslavská and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
In another notable incident in the gymnastics competition, while standing on the medal podium after thebalance beam event final, in whichNatalia Kuchinskaya of theSoviet Union had controversially taken the gold,CzechoslovakiangymnastVěra 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 recentSoviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Her protest was repeated when she accepted her medal for herfloor exercise routine when the judges changed the preliminary scores of the SovietLarisa Petrik to allow her to tie with Čáslavská for the gold. While Čáslavská's countrymen supported her actions and her outspoken opposition to Soviet control (she had publicly signed and supportedLudvik Vaculik's "Two Thousand Words" manifesto), the new regime responded by banning her from both sporting events and international travel for many years and made her an outcast from society until the fall of communist regime in Czechoslovakia.[40]
The organizers declined to hold ajudo tournament at the Olympics, even though it had been a full-medal sportfour years earlier. This was the last time judo was not included in the Olympic games.
North Korea withdrew from the 1968 Games because of two incidents that strained its relations with the IOC. First, the IOC had barred North Korean track and field athletes from the 1968 Games because they had participated in the rivalGames of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) in 1966. Secondly, the IOC had ordered the nation to compete under the name "North Korea" in the 1968 Games, whereas the country itself would have preferred its official name: "Democratic People's Republic of Korea".[42]
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