The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an internationalmulti-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 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 to be hosted outside of Europe, Australia, or the United States.
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) proved 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 like the discus throw, as well as all the men's track events of 400 meters and less.
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.
Americandiscus throwerAl 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.
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.
American swimmer Charles Hickcox won three gold medals (200m IM, 400m IM, 4x100m medley relay) and one silver medal (100m backstroke).
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 which began to cronometrate the time of the test sports
It was the first games which the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to all the world.
For this time, the rating reached 30 million people on T.V.
Controversies
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, in which more than 300 student protesters were killed by army and police. After the event, the International Olympic Committee held an urgent meeting to consider cancelling the games.
On October 16, 1968, an action by two African-American sprinters at the Mexico City Olympics shook the sporting world.
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, CzechoslovakiangymnastV?ra ?áslavská quietly turned her head down and away during the playing of the Soviet national anthem.
The action was ?áslavská's silent protest against the recent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and was repeated when she accepted her medal for her floor exercise routine. While ?áslavská'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.
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.
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