1968 Summer Olympics Explained

Host City:Mexico City, Mexico
Nations:112
Athletes:5,516 (4,735 men, 781 women)
Events:172 in 18 sports (24 disciplines)
Opening:12 October 1968
Closing:27 October 1968
Opened By:President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz[1]
Cauldron:Enriqueta Basilio
Stadium:Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Summer Prev:Tokyo 1964
Summer Next:Munich 1972
Winter Prev:Grenoble 1968
Winter Next:Sapporo 1972

The 1968 Summer Olympics (Spanish; Castilian: Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad (Spanish; Castilian: Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (Spanish; Castilian: México 1968), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country, as well as meaning for 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 an all-weather (smooth) track for track and field events instead of the traditional cinder track, as well as the first example of the Olympics exclusively using electronic timekeeping equipment.[2]

The 1968 Games were the third to be held in the last quarter of the year, after the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the 1964 Games in Tokyo. The 1968 Mexican Student Movement was crushed days prior, hence the Games were correlated to the government's repression.

The United States won the most gold and overall medals for the last time until the 1984 Summer Games.

Host city selection

On 18 October 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.[3]

1968 Summer Olympics bidding results[4]
City Country Round 1
30
14
12
2

Olympic torch relay

The 1968 torch relay recreated the route taken by Christopher Columbus to the New World, journeying from Greece through Italy and Spain to San Salvador Island, Bahamas, and then on to Mexico.[5] American sculptor James Metcalf, an expatriate in Mexico, won the commission to forge the Olympic torch for the 1968 Summer Games.[6]

Highlights

Controversies

South Africa

After being banned from participating in 1964, South Africa - under its new leader John 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 and African 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".[21] It was thus the first Olympics where South Africa was positively excluded, which continued until the Olympics of 1992.

Tlatelolco massacre

See main article: Tlatelolco massacre. Responding to growing social unrest and protests, the government of Mexico had increased economic and political suppression, against labor 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. President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz ordered the police occupation of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in September, but protests continued. Using the prominence brought by the Olympics, students gathered in Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco 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!").[22] [23]

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 200 tankettes 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.[24] [25] [26]

Black Power salute

See main article: 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.

On 16 October 1968, African American sprinters 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 human rights badges and black socks without shoes, lowered their heads and each defiantly raised 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 the Olympic Project for Human Rights. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery 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.[27]

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[28] and a reprimand by his country's Olympic authorities. He was not sent to the 1972 games, despite several times making the qualifying time,[29] though opinions differ over whether that was due to the 1968 protest.[30] When Australia hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics, he had no part in the opening ceremony, though the significance of that is also debated. In 2006, after Norman died of a heart attack, Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at Norman's funeral.[31]

Věra Čáslavská and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia

In another notable incident in the gymnastics competition, while standing on the medal podium after the balance beam event final, in which Natalia Kuchinskaya of the Soviet Union had controversially taken the gold, 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. Her protest was repeated when she accepted her medal for her floor exercise routine when the judges changed the preliminary scores of the Soviet Larisa 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 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 and made her an outcast from society until the fall of communist regime in Czechoslovakia.[32]

Venues

See main article: Venues of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Sports

The 1968 Summer Olympic program featured 172 events in the following 18 sports:

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.

Baseball had been featured as a demonstration sport at the 1964 Tokyo Games, but not in 1968, despite Mexico's baseball heritage. Instead, a separate international tournament was held in Mexico City, shortly after the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

Participating National Olympic Committees

East Germany and West Germany competed as separate entities for the first time 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, the 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. Suriname and Libya actually competed for the first time (in 1960 and 1964, respectively, they took part in the Opening Ceremony, but their athletes later withdrew from the competition). The People's Republic of China last competed at the 1952 Summer Games but had since withdrawn from the IOC due to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China.[33]

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Calendar

All dates are in Central Time Zone (UTC-6)

OCOpening ceremonyEvent competitions1Gold medal eventsCCClosing ceremony
style=width:10%; colspan=19
style=width:18%; colspan=2October 1968style=width:4%;12th
Sat
style=width:4%;13th
Sun
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Mon
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Tue
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Wed
style=width:4%;17th
Thu
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Fri
style=width:4%;19th
Sat
style=width:4%;20th
Sun
style=width:4%;21st
Mon
style=width:4%;22nd
Tue
style=width:4%;23rd
Wed
style=width:4%;24th
Thu
style=width:4%;25th
Fri
style=width:4%;26th
Sat
style=width:4%;27th
Sun
style=width:6%;Events
Ceremonies OCCC
Aquatics
<-- 12 -->●<-- 18 -->1<-- 19 -->●<-- 20 -->1<-- 21 -->●<-- 23 -->1<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->●<-- 26 -->1<-- 27 -->33
<-- 12 -->2<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->4<-- 20 -->3<-- 21 -->3<-- 22 -->3<-- 23 -->4<-- 24 -->4<-- 25 -->3<-- 26 -->3<-- 27 -->
<-- 12 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 22 -->●<-- 23 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->●<-- 26 -->1<-- 27 -->
Athletics<-- 12 -->1<-- 14 -->4<-- 15 -->4<-- 16 -->7<-- 17 -->6<-- 18 -->5<-- 19 -->2<-- 20 -->7<-- 21 -->36
Basketball<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 23 -->1<-- 24 -->1
Boxing<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 22 -->●<-- 23 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->11<-- 27 -->11
Canoeing<-- 12 -->●<-- 23 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->7<-- 26 -->7
<-- 12 -->1<-- 16 -->1<-- 24 -->7
<-- 12 -->1<-- 18 -->1<-- 19 -->1<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->2<-- 22 -->
Equestrian<-- 12 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->2<-- 22 -->1<-- 24 -->1<-- 25 -->1<-- 26 -->1<-- T -->6
Fencing<-- 12 -->●<-- 16 -->1<-- 17 -->1<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->1<-- 20 -->1<-- 21 -->1<-- 22 -->1<-- 23 -->●<-- 24 -->1<-- 25 -->1<-- 26 -->8
Field hockey<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 22 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->●<-- 26 -->1<-- 27 -->1
Football<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 23 -->●<-- 25 -->1<-- 27 -->1
Gymnastics<-- 12 -->●<-- 22 -->●<-- 23 -->2<-- 24 -->2<-- 25 -->4<-- 26 -->6<-- 27 -->14
Modern pentathlon<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->2<-- 18 -->2
Rowing<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->7<-- 20 -->7
Sailing<-- 12 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->5<-- 22 -->5
Shooting<-- 12 -->2<-- 19 -->1<-- 20 -->1<-- 22 -->1<-- 23 -->2<-- 24 -->7
Volleyball<-- 12 -->●<-- 14 -->●<-- 15 -->●<-- 16 -->●<-- 17 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 20 -->●<-- 21 -->●<-- 22 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->●<-- 26 -->2<-- 27 -->2
Weightlifting<-- 12 -->1<-- 14 -->1<-- 15 -->1<-- 16 -->1<-- 17 -->1<-- 18 -->1<-- 19 -->1<-- 20 -->7
Wrestling<-- 12 -->●<-- 18 -->●<-- 19 -->●<-- 20 -->8<-- 21 -->●<-- 24 -->●<-- 25 -->●<-- 26 -->8<-- 27 -->16
Daily medal events 2 5 6 9 13 10 17 20 14 5 12 8 16 34 1 172
Cumulative total 2 713 223545628296101113121137171 172
style=width:18%; colspan=2October 1968style=width:4%;12th
Sat
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Sun
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Mon
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Tue
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Wed
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Thu
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Fri
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Sat
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Sun
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Mon
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Wed
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Thu
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Fri
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Sat
style=width:4%;27th
Sun
style=width:6%;Total events

Boycotting countries

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 rival Games 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".[34]

Medal count

See main article: 1968 Summer Olympics medal table. These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1968 Games. Host Mexico won nine medals in total.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Factsheet - Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad. live . International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160814215458/https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/Reference_documents_Factsheets/Opening_ceremony_of_the_Games_of_the_Olympiad.pdf . 14 August 2016. 22 December 2018.
  2. Web site: Omega, the Olympics, and the innovations required to time the Earth's Best. 2021-07-24. SecondTime. en.
  3. Web site: IOC Vote History . 11 June 2008 . 25 May 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080525070757/http://www.aldaver.com/votes.html . dead .
  4. Web site: Past Olympic host city election results . . 17 March 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110124022022/http://www.gamesbids.com/eng/past.html . 24 January 2011 . live .
  5. Web site: Mexico 1968 Summer Olympics - results & video highlights. 18 December 2018. International Olympic Committee. en. 19 January 2019.
  6. News: Adrian. Dannatt. James Metcalf: US sculptor who led a community of artists and artisans in Mexico . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/james-metcalf-us-sculptor-who-led-a-community-of-artists-and-artisans-in-mexico-6988891.html . 1 May 2022 . subscription . live . . 17 February 2012 . 25 February 2012.
  7. Web site: 2 Black Power Advocates Ousted From Olympics. archive.nytimes.com. 4 June 2018.
  8. News: The third man: The forgotten Black Power hero. Montague. James . CNN. 4 June 2018.
  9. Book: Matthews, Peter. Historical Dictionary of Track and Field. 22 March 2012. Scarecrow Press. 9780810879850. en.
  10. Book: Matthews, Peter. Historical Dictionary of Track and Field. 22 March 2012. Scarecrow Press. 9780810879850. en.
  11. News: Al Oerter, Olympic Discus Champion, Is Dead at 71. Litsky. Frank. . 2 October 2007. 25 January 2017. Proquest Newspapers.
  12. https://books.google.com/books?id=V36zXZm2bJ4C&q=Fosbury+%22mexico+city%22&pg=PA333 The Sports of the Times: A Day-by-Day Selection of the Most Important, Thrilling and Inspired Events of the Past 150 Years
  13. News: 'I will sweat blood to defeat invaders' representatives' - 1968's forgotten Olympic protest . BBC Sport . https://web.archive.org/web/20230221225620/https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/45900544 . 2023-02-21 . live .
  14. News: Mexico 1968 Swimming - Results & Videos. 8 September 2016. International Olympic Committee. 13 February 2017. en.
  15. Mason . Christopher . Gold medals, vitamin V and miscreant sports . Canadian Medical Association Journal . July 29, 2008 . 179 . 3 . 219–222 . 10.1503/cmaj.080993 . 18663195 . 2474878 . June 25, 2022.
  16. Web site: Tanzania's most inspirational athlete : IOC – HUB . 2 October 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161001035332/https://hub.olympic.org/news/tanzanias-most-inspirational-athlete/ . 1 October 2016 . dead .
  17. News: Count Jacques ROGGE - Comité Olympique et Interfédéral Belge, IOC Member since 1991. 17 January 2017. International Olympic Committee. en. 19 January 2017.
  18. The Complete Book of the Olympics, 2012 edition, David Wallechinsky, Jaime Loucky, London, England, UK: Aurum Press Ltd, 2012, "Track & Field (Men): 1500 Meters," page 108.
  19. News: Keino Reflects on Legendary Race: Now 63 and an IOC member, ever-humble Kenyan takes a lap around Mexico City track where he ran memorable 1,500 . . Alan . Abrahamson . 28 November 2002.
  20. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-summer-olympic-games-to-be-televised-in-colour/ Guinness World Records - First summer Olympic Games televised in colour
  21. Book: Espy, Richard . The Politics of the Olympic Games: With an Epilogue, 1976-1980 . 125–8 . 16 June 2013 . 1981 . University of California Press . 9780520043954 .
  22. http://www.adnpolitico.com/2012/2012/08/07/mexico-1968-las-olimpiadas-10-dias-despues-de-la-matanza México 1968: Las Olimpiadas 10 días después de la matanza
  23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/2/newsid_3548000/3548680.stm 1968: Student riots threaten Mexico Olympics
  24. Werner, Michael S., ed. Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture. Vol. 2 Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
  25. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/mexican-students-protest-greater-democracy-1968 Mexican students protest for greater democracy, 1968
  26. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB201/ The Dead of Tlatelolco
  27. http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/September-October-08/On-this-Day--US-Athletes-Give-Black-Power-Salute-on-Olympic-Podium.html On This Day: Tommie Smith and John Carlos Give Black Power Salute on Olympic Podium
  28. News: Mike. Wise. Clenched fists, helping hand. The Washington Post. 5 October 2006. 9 November 2008.
  29. News: The other man on the podium . BBC News. 9 November 2008 . 17 October 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081020092915/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7674157.stm . 20 October 2008. Caroline . Frost.
  30. News: Messenger. Robert. Leigh sprints into wrong lane over Norman. 12 November 2015. Sydney Morning Herald. 24 August 2012.
  31. News: Martin. Flanagan. Martin Flanagan (journalist). Olympic protest heroes praise Norman's courage. The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 October 2006. 9 November 2008.
  32. News: 'I will sweat blood to defeat invaders' representatives' - 1968's forgotten Olympic protest. BBC Sport.
  33. Web site: China and the Olympic Movement. Xiao. Li. China Internet Information Center. August 4, 2011.
  34. Book: Grasso. John. Mallon. Bill. Heijmans. Jeroen. Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. https://books.google.com/books?id=uCN1CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA316. 5th. 2015. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Lanham. 978-1-4422-4860-1. 316. Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (North Korea) (PRK).