1968 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XIX Olympiad were held in Mexico City in 1968. Mexico City beat Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games. The Games were immediately preceded by the Tlatelolco massacre, in which hundred of students were killed by Mexican security forces.

Highlights

• Because of the high altitude of Mexico City (2700 m), many endurance athletes have trouble coping with the thin air.
• For the first time, athletes from East and West Germany take part in separate teams, after having competed in a combined team up to 1964.
• US discus thrower Al Oerter, wins his fourth consecutive gold medal in the event to become only the second athlete to achieve this in an individual event.
• Bob Beamon jumps 8.90 m in the long jump, a 55 cm improvement of the World Record that would stand until 1991.
• In the triple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes.
• Dick Fosbury wins the gold medal in the high jump using the radical Fosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
• In the medal award ceremony, two African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raise their black-gloved fists as a symbol of Black Power. They are banned from the Olympic Games for life.
• Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská wins the hearts of the Mexican crowd and four gold medals.
• US 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 doping tests results in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall is disqualified for alcohol use.
• John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania became internationally famous after finishing the marathon in last place despite a dislocated knee.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1968 Summer Olympics medal count)

1968 Summer Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States of America	45	28	34	107
2	USSR	29	32	30	91
3	Japan	11	7	7	25
4	Hungary	10	10	12	32
5	West Germany	9	9	7	25
6	France	7	3	5	15
7	Czechoslovakia	7	2	4	13
8	East Germany	5	11	10	26
9	Australia	5	7	5	17
10	Great Britain	5	5	3	13

See also

• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes
• 1968 Summer Paralympics

External links

• IOC Site on 1968 Summer Olympics