Mexico City 1968

The Games of the XIX Olympiad provided spectators with a combination of high octane, low oxygen record-breaking surprises, talented performances, and cultural delights as Mexico welcomed the world.

A look back at the history of the 1968 Olympic Games that took place in Mexico City is most often linked to photographic images of Bob Beamon leaping through the air, or of the “Black Power” salute from American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

The highlights of these Games, however, included more than just the impacts of politics and the effects of altitude on athletic performances.

A Controversial Choice

The choice of Mexico City to host the 1968 Olympics was a controversial one because of the city’s high altitude at 2,300m, which meant that the air contained 30% less oxygen than at sea level.

Sure enough, the rarefied air proved disastrous to many athletes competing in endurance events.

On the other hand, the high altitude led to world records in all of the men’s races that were 400m or shorter, including both relays as well as the 400m hurdles, long jump and triple jump.

The 1968 Games saw the first drug disqualification, as a Swedish entrant in the modern pentathlon, Hans-Gunnar Lilkenwall, tested positive for excessive alcohol.

The Mexico City Olympics, the first Summer Games to include sex testing for women, were blessed with many outstanding heroines.

Jim Hines set the 100m world record. Hines ran the first Olympic-sub-zero time in 9.95s, making him the fastest man on the planet.

George Foreman won the heavyweight boxing event but the most popular athlete on show was female Vera Caslavska, the Czech gymnast.

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia two months before the Olympics, Caslavska went into hiding for three weeks. She emerged to win four gold medals and two silvers.

Tanzania's John Stephen Akhwari also became internationally famous after finishing the marathon, in last place, despite a dislocated knee.

However, the Games were to be remembered for three standout performances, with differing reasons.

Beamon’s Giant Jump

Bob Beamon set a world record for the long jump with a leap of 8.90m in what was one of the most astounding feats in the history of the Olympics.

In fact, the New Yorker was lucky to even reach the final as the first two attempts of his qualification jump were 'no jumps'.

The 22-year-old then steadied himself and his third and final jump took him into the final.

Then, 19 strides later, a jump and after a total of six seconds, Beamon sent shockwaves around the sports world with a giant leap.

Beamon landed his jump near the far end of the sand pit but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length, and slid off its rail.

This forced the officials to measure the jump manually after calling for the steel measuring tape, which added to the jump’s aura.

When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, an astonished Beamon collapsed to his knees and placed his hands over his face in shock after obliterating the world record.

In one of the more enduring images of the Games, his competitors then helped him to his feet.

One journalist called Beamon “the man who saw lightning” while sports journalist Dick Schaap wrote a book about the leap, called "The Perfect Jump".

Such was the impact of Beamon’s jump that 1962 Olympic champion Lynn Davies, who had just lost his title, went up to the American and said “You have just destroyed this event.”

Prior to Beamon’s jump the world record had been broken 13 times since 1901, with an average increase of 6cm. Beamon’s gold medal mark bettered the existing record by 55cm as he became the first person to reach both 28 and 29 feet.

Bob Beamon’s spectacular long jump of 8.90m would last as a world record for 22 years.

After winning the gold medal in Mexico City, he never again jumped over 8.22m. His world record stood for 23 years, and was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century.

Mike Powell finally broke the record in 1991, jumping 8.95m at the World Championships in Tokyo. But Beamon’s jump is still the Olympic record and 40 years later remains the second longest jump all of all time.

Fosbury Flops To Glory

Dick Fosbury’s performance in the 1968 Olympic Games revolutionised high jump. Now every jumper in the world uses the technique that has since come to be know as the ‘Fosbury Flop’

Dick Fosbury broke the Olympic high-jump record with style that would revolutionise the sport.

Coming to the event as overwhelming favourite, Fosbury had to wait until his last attempt to break the Olympic record and claim gold after jumping 2.24m.

Fosbury’s jump would stand as an Olympic best until 1976, when Poland’s Jacek Wszola jumped 2.25m in Montreal.

'Black Power' Salute

The 1968 Games was also remembered for the black power salute - a black nationalist protest and one of the most overtly political statements in the 110-year history of the modern Olympic Games.

African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed their Power to the People salute after Smith won the 200m race in a then-world-record time of 19.83s, and Carlos third in 20.10s.

After the race was completed, the two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty.

Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride while Carlos wore beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage.”

Smith and Carlos then shared a black glove, and when the American national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, both delivered the black power salute with heads bowed. A gesture which became front page news around the world. As they left the podium they were booed by the crowd.

In an immediate response to their actions, IOC president Avery Brundage ordered Smith and Carlos to be suspended from the US team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Avery threatened to ban the entire US track team and this threat led to the two athletes being expelled from the Games.

Medal Table

1) USA 107 medals

2) Soviet Union 91

3) Hungary 32

4) West Germany 26

5-) East Germany 25

5-) Japan 25

A spokesperson for the organisation said it was “a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit”.

Smith and Carlos were largely ostracised by the US sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to abuse, with their families receiving death threats.

However, the two overcame the incident in the years following the statement and are now seen as heroic, and as an important part of the Civil Rights Movement.

In total, 112 nations were represented by 5,516 athletes (4,735 men and 781 women) in 172 events at 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Do you remember the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City? Did you watch Bob Beamon's record-breaking jump or Dick Fosbury's flop?

Let us know what you remember by leaving a comment in the box below. Alternatively, share your thoughts in the 50connect forums.

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