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The 1968 Games are the only Games ever held in Latin America, and were the second to be hosted outside of Europe, Australia, or the United States.

The Games were preceded by the Tlatelolco massacre (also known as The Night of Tlatelolco) , in which hundreds of students were killed by security forces ten days before the opening day.  The massacre took place on the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The death toll remains controversial: some estimates place the number of deaths in the thousands, but most sources report between 200 and 300 deaths. The exact number of people who were arrested is also controversial.  Despite the massacre the IOC decided the Games should go ahead.

Interesting Facts

• In the 200 m medal award ceremony, African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their black-gloved fists as a symbol of “Black Power”. The Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore an American “civil rights” badge as support to them on the podium. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left off the Australian 1972 Olympic team.
• The high altitude of Mexico City (2240 m) proved difficult to adjust to for many endurance athletes.
• No other Summer Olympic Games have been held at a location remotely as high as Mexico City. This high altitude and the thin air were also credited with contributing to many record-setting jumps and leaps in the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault events, and throwing events like the discus throw, as well as all the men’s track events of 400 meters and less.
• For the first time, athletes from East and West Germany were members of separate teams, after having been told to compete in a combined German team in 1956, 1960, and 1964.
• American discus thrower Al Oerter, won his fourth consecutive gold medal in that event to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event, and the first in track & field (athletics).
• Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters in the long jump, an incredible 55- centimeter improvement over the previous world record. His record would stand until 1991, when it was broken by Mike Powell (it is still the Olympic record). American athletes Jim Hines and Lee Evans also set long-standing world records in the 100 meters and 400 meters, respectively, that would last for many years to come.
  In the triple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes.
  Dick Fosbury won the gold medal in the high jump using the new, radical Fosbury flop technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
• Czechoslovakian gymnast V?ra ?áslavská won four gold medals.
• American swimmer Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle events. The 800 meters was a new long-distance event for women.
  American swimmer Charles Hickcox won three gold medals (200m IM, 400m IM, 4×100m medley relay) and one silver medal (100m backstroke).
• The introduction of doping tests resulted in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for alcohol use (he drank several beers just prior to competing).
• John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania became internationally famous after finishing the marathon, in last place, despite a dislocated knee.
• This was the first of three Olympic participations by Jacques Rogge. He competed in yachting and would later become the eighth president of the IOC.
• The Mexican athlete Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo became the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron with the Olympic flame.
• It was the first games at which there was a significant African presence in men’s distance running. Africans won at least one medal in all running events from 800 meters to the marathon, and in so doing they set a trend for future games. Most of these runners came from high-altitude areas of countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, and they were well-prepared for the 2240 meter altitude of Mexico City.
• It was the first games which began to cronometrate the time of the test sports
• It was the first games which the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to all the world.
• For this time, the rating reached 30 million people on T.V.

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