Backgrounder: Olympic Games Mexico City 1968: Controversy in Latin America

Mexico City was selected to host the Olympic Games during International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Assembly in 1963, in Baden-Baden, Germany, after competing against other cities such as Lyon in France, Detroit in the United States and Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

After evaluating everything, Mexico City won 30 of the 58 votes while Detroit received 14, Lyon 12 and Buenos Aires 2.

The Mexican capital's victory meant that the Games would be held in Latin America for the very first time. However, the international sporting event took place for a third time in autumn, from October 12 to 27, instead of traditionally in the summer mainly due to the city being affected by the rainy season between the start of May and the start of October.

Before the Opening Ceremony, the alleged lack of oxygen caused by Mexico City's altitude became a controversial topic. Many athletes and coaches criticized the IOC for having chosen Mexico without thinking about how the altitude could affect the health of the participants.

However, the IOC stood by their decision by saying that the altitude could not be so dangerous if over six million people were peacefully living in the city and annually over a million tourists visited from different climates and altitudes.

However, these fears were widely nullified during the International Sporting Week in Mexico City, like the IOC had predicted. The physiological investigations carried out by scientists from the participating countries resolved all the controversy surrounding the altitude once and for all and the nations, convinced by the results, sent their complete delegations to the Games.

Internal and external politics in 1968 also tarnished the Games in Mexico City.

The attempt to liberalize Czechoslovakia was crushed by the Soviet troops, the French government was caught up in student demonstrations and throughout the United States, peace and civil rights movements were taking place.

Mexico was not forgotten in this wave of revolution. On October 2, 10 days before the Opening Ceremony, the Mexican Army opened fire on an undetermined number of students and members of several social organizations that were protesting in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Square of the Three Cultures). They were protesting to show their rejection of the then government's authoritarianism rule. Almost fifty years later and the true death toll is still being disputed.

The IOC considered what happened to be an internal problem that should not affect the Games and decided not to cancel them.

During the Olympics, no protests were registered but that could be because the city was being closely watched by the Mexican Army.

The slogan adopted for the 19th edition was "The Olympics of Peace" but it was also known as the "Black Power Olympics," due to the acts of racial protest carried out by some of the African-American athletes.

During the awards ceremonies, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medals in the 200 meters, respectively, raised a black-gloved fist and hung their heads when their country's national anthem was played.

In doing this, they were protesting against racial segregation in the United States and were subsequently expelled from the U.S. team and the Olympic Village. Their professional and social lives were also affected by their protest.

In terms of the sporting facilities, the Mexicans renovated the Ciudad Universitaria (CU) stadium to hold 80,000 spectators with lights for the evening competitions. The Sports Palace with a capacity of 22,000 people was built to hold the basketball events.

For this Olympics, one of Mexico's brightest gems in sporting architecture was built: the Azteca Stadium, a magnificent and mythical soccer stadium with room to comfortably welcome and seat 98,500 people at the time. Mexico became the first Olympic host country in history to choose a woman to be the last bearer of the Olympic Torch and light the cauldron. The national athletics champion, in 80 meters hurdle, Enriqueta Basilio, completed the last 400 meters of the Torch's journey with splendid strides.

A total of 5,516 athletes (781 women) from 112 countries came together in the Mexican capital to compete in 172 events.

U.S. athlete Bob Beamon took home the gold in the long jump. With a distance of eight meters and 90 centimeters. He became an Olympic and World Record holder. He maintained the World Record for 23 years until Mike Powell from the U.S. broke it in 1991. However, Beamon's Olympic Record still stands.

Another U.S. athlete worthy of mentioning was Dick Fosbury. He revolutionized the high jump by using a different style, now known as the Fosbury Flop. This style has since become the most common one.

The most popular female athlete was Czechoslovakian gymnast Vera Caslavska, who won four gold medals and two silver.

For the first time in Olympic history, the winners had to undergo a doping test and sadly, Mexico also saw the first athlete to be disqualified for using banned substances: Swedish modern pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, who tested positive for alcohol use.

OLYMPIC GAMES MEXICO CITY 1968 MEDAL TABLE

COUNTRY GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL

U.S. 45 28 34 107

USSR 29 32 30 91

Japan 11 7 7 25

Hungary 10 10 12 32

East Germany 9 9 7 25

France 7 3 5 15

Czechoslovakia 7 2 4 13

West Germany 5 11 10 26

Australia 5 7 5 17

UK 5 5 3 13

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