Home > 1968 Summer Olympics

1 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 OerterAlfred Adolf "Al" Oerter, Jr. born September 19, 1936) is a former American athlete, four times Olympic Champion in the discus throw. Born in Astoria, New York, Al Oerter began his career at the age of 15 when a discus landed at his feet and he threw it b, wins his fourth consecutive gold medal in the event to become only the second athlete to achieve this in an individual event.
• Bob BeamonRobert "Bob" Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American track and field athlete, best known for his long-standing world record in the long jump. Beamon, from Jamaica, New York, set a world record for the long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico C jumps 8.90 m in the long jumpThe long jump (formerly called broad jump is an athletic (track and field) event in which athletes attempt to land as far from their take-off points as possible. Competitors sprint down a runway (at elite level, usually coated with the same rubberised sur, a 55 cm improvement of the World Record that would stand until 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac.
• In the triple jumpThe triple jump is an athletics (track and field) event, previously also known as "hop, step and jump", whose various names describe the actions a competitor takes. The athlete runs down a runway until he reaches a designated mark, from which the jump is, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes.
• Dick FosburyRichard Douglas "Dick" Fosbury (born March 6, 1947) is an American athlete who revolutionised the high jump using a back-first technique, now known as the Fosbury flop. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backwards ove wins the gold medal in the high jumpThe high jump is an athletics/ track and field event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights. History Although the event was likely competed in as early as the ancient Greek Olympics, the first recorded high jump co 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.