1968 Mexico

Mexico City 1968

Acrobatic Gymnastics

Athletics

Basketball

Boxing

Canoe Flatwater

Diving

Equestrian

Fencing

Rowing

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Shooting

Swimming

Volleyball

Weightlifting

Austria

Czech Rep.

France

Georgia

Germany

Great Britain

Italy

Japan

Kenya

Mexico

Poland

Rep of Moldova

Romania

Sweden

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United States

USSR

Basilio was a 20\-year\-old Mexican runner of great promise\. She competed in the the 400m, the 4x100m relay and the 80m Hurdles, but it was her performance at the Opening Ceremony that drew her to the notice of the World\.
She received the flame outside the Olympic stadium from a

Local hero Basilio blazes trail for women at Opening Ceremony

Foreman had had a troubled childhood, leaving school at the age of 15\. He was one of seven children and turned to boxing as a way to focus his energy\.
He won the American Amateur title, but arrived in Mexico City as a&nbsp; 19\-year\-old novice by international standards, having had

Heavyweight star is born as Foreman takes gold

One of the greatest moments in Olympic Games history sees Bob Beamon's era-defying leap win long jump gold at Mexico City 1968.

Bob BEAMON

The Olympics On the Record

Originals

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Beamon Soars To Long Jump Record in Mexico 1968

Kato was part of a golden generation of Japanese gymnasts who had propelled the nation to the top of the sport\. Like Voronin, he was versatile and was entered into all eight events\. But remarkably, he took a gold medal in each of the first three – the individual all\-around,

Sawao Kato's gold haul begins in Mexico City

Čáslavská was hardly an unknown\. She was the defending all\-around champion, having won three gold medals in the Tokyo Games four years before\.The previous year, she had secured two perfect tens at the European Championships, and she was on her way to a historic achievement of winning each major all\-around

Čáslavská reigns supreme again with four gymnastics golds

&ldquo;It is useful to look at the photographs,&rdquo; Manyonga said\. &ldquo;They motivate me, I want to be in the same position\.&rdquo;

Snapped: images of Beamon’s extraordinary leap continue to inspire Manyonga

With its bright colours, psychedelic patterning and folk ethos, the avant\-garde emblem of the Games &ndash; with the number &ldquo;68&rdquo; formed of ﬁve Olympic rings &ndash; captured the spirit of the times, while being deeply rooted in native Mexican folk art\.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Mexico ’68: the look that captivates crowds to this day  

Smith was a brilliant runner who held 11 world records, indoors and outdoors, at a range of distances up to 400 metres, and who could also long jump to international standard\. Carlos, though, had beaten Smith in the national trials and was clearly a strong rival\.
A third contender emerged

200m medallists Smith and Carlos stage podium protest

“Ben” Jones finished fifth in the individual eventing competition, but it was in the team event, together with Derek Allhusen and Richard Meade, that he really impressed\. Lying fifth after the dressage, the British trio moved into the lead in the cross\-country, though they still faced stiff competition from USA,

Sergeant Jones jumps to gold

Born in Austria, his parents moved back to Italy when he was a child and it took very little time for his father to notice his promise as a diver\. There was only one choice when it came to picking a coach – father Carlo took up the challenge\. And

Dibiasi builds platform for success with first Olympic triumph

He was used to competition, and he was used to winning medals\. Voronin had won the all\-around and rings titles at the World Championships in 1966, and also took those titles at the European Championships a year later, during which he also picked up gold medals for the parallel bars

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Magnificent seven medals for gymnast Voronin

Though the USA had been the sole winners of the men’s Olympic basketball gold medal since the sport’s first appearance on the programme in 1936 and were now going for a seventh straight gold, they were not actually the favourites heading to Mexico City 1968\.

US basketball team in seventh heaven

Even the best in the world, some of the best in history, can be brought down by the unexpected\. A stumble in a track race, a fall in gymnastics, a moment's distraction for an archer\. In the case of the Hungarian canoeist Anna Pfeffer, it was an accident that surprised

Kayaker Pfeffer defies the odds to claim Olympic silver

Eulalia Rolińska, from Poland, and Gladys de Seminario, of Peru, became the first female athletes to take part in the event to compete in shooting\. These were the first Games in which the shooting was designated as an “open” event, meaning both men and women were allowed to compete\. As

Rolińska and de Seminario shoot through the glass ceiling

Born in 1950 in Thuringia, then part of the German Democratic Republic, Roland Matthes is regarded as a swimming phenomenon\. A backstroke specialist, but also highly proficient in the freestyle and medley events, he arrived at the 1968 Mexico City Games undefeated in the 100m or 200m since April 1967\.

Backstroke legend Matthes launches Olympic reign

The men’s 100m butterfly first featured on the Olympic programme at Mexico City 1968, and the event’s inaugural final will long be remembered for the titanic duel it produced between two great American swimmers\.

Spitz settles for second in first ever 100m butterfly final

Raudaschl was from sailing stock\. His father had been a boatbuilder in the village of St Gilgen in Austria's Salzkammergut district, an area known for its lakes and sailing\.
Raudaschl attended the 1960 Games as an alternate for the Austrian team but never got to compete\. Instead, he made his

Raudaschl enjoys finest hour in the Finn class

It came in the 5\.5m event, where Sweden were represented by the three Sundelin brothers\. They came from the small resort of Ektorp – Jörgen, who was 23, Peter, 21, and the oldest brother Ulf, who was 25 year old\.
Some thought they lacked experience and that three brothers would

Plain sailing for Sundelin siblings in the 5.5m

American Jim Ryun had not been beaten over the distance for three years but was hindered by illness and by the altitude\. Instead, an uncoached Nandi tribesman from Kenya, Kip Keino, emerged as a serious contender\. He had played rugby union before taking up athletics\.
But he, too, had been

Keino triumphs in 1,500m to signal dawn of Kenyan greats

Born and brought up in Arizona, he went to university in Indiana, where his athletic ability was honed\. He was a national champion seven times but it is his Olympic appearances&nbsp; and world records that have earned him a place in swimming legend\.
Between 1967 and 1968, Hickcox set eight

Triple gold for medley maestro Hickcox

Before Fosbury, high jumpers used the straddle technique in which an athletes ran at the bar and hoisted their legs over one at a time\. To modern eyes it seems ungainly but at the time it was universally used\. Or at least it was – until Fosbury came along\.
He

Revolutionary Fosbury raises the bar

Meyer grew up in California and had to cope with childhood asthma, but from a young age it was clear that she was more than just another talented swimmer\. Hers was a very special talent\.
She trained under the practiced eye of Sherman Chavoor, a coach known for making his

Three golds and three Olympic records in the pool for teenager Meyer

Held on an idyllic, willow\-lined stretch of water situated some 2,200 metres above sea level and known as Lake Xochimilco, the rowing events at Mexico City 1968 reached a climax with the eights final, the most eagerly awaited race of all\.

West Germans resist Aussie charge in the rowing eights

When he was 12 years old, Bill Toomey was playing with a piece of ceramic pottery when it shattered and severed the nerves in his right wrist\. Doctors told him that he would never again be able to use the hand – a prognosis that he later to confound by

Toomey's law of averages leads to decathlon gold

To the astonishment of the crowd, she simply walked back to the start, took off her running shoes and sat down\.
Her decision mystified observers, and has never been clearly explained – some saying she reacted against the pressure that had been piled upon her; others blamed the altitude problems

Manning makes her mark in the women's 800m

He didn't win a medal. In fact, he came nowhere near. But, in defeat and in pain, he came to represent something much more profound and enduring than many sportsmen achieve in illustrious careers.
John Stephen Akhwari was never likely to win the men's marathon, but his chances were wrecked

John Stephen Akhwari finishes Olympic marathon at Mexico 1968 Games

Marathon man Akhwari demonstrates superhuman spirit

The top 12 400m runners in the World in 1968 all came from the United States but, of course, only three could compete at the Olympic Games\. Lee Evans was among the fastest of them – he had won national championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968 and established himself as

Evans leads US clean sweep of 400m

The Olympic Games have always had the ability to turn young athletes into superstars and to propel little\-known newcomers into global stars\.
But there has always been a place for those at the other end of the age school – those who have persevered and tried throughout their career without

Manoliu wins discus gold at fifth time of asking

Beamon arrived in Mexico on the back of a strong run of form\. He had won 22 of his preceding 23 competitions and was the national champion at both long jump and triple\-jump\.
He had a problem, though\. He was more prone to foul jumps than his rivals, a weakness

Beamon leaps into the record books

He established his own leather business, but his heart still focused on his dreams of taking on the world on the cycle track\. For it was the short distances that fascinated Trentin\. While so many of his contemporaries were glued to road racing – particularly, of course, the annual Tour

Time trial and tandem gold for cycling supremo Trentin

Balas had set 14 world records over the previous decade and won 150 consecutive competitions, and in her absence it was hard to decided the favourite\.
Most people predicted victory for one of the Soviet jumpers; few had drawn much attention to a teenager from Czechoslovakia\. She was about to

Iolanda BALAS

Režková marks Olympic debut with high jump gold 

The first sign that this would be one of the sport's most extraordinary competitions came in the qualifying round thanks Italy's Giuseppe Gentile, a 25\-year\-old law student who was later to appear opposite the legendary singer Maria Callas in a film\. Gentile was a talented athlete, who had was the

Saneyev tops world-beating field in the triple jump

Few sportsmen have lived a life of such colour\. Pawlowski become interested in fencing&nbsp; at the comparatively late age of 16 after watching films of the 1948 Olympics in London\. He continued after joining the Polish army as a teenager, by now focused on the sabre\.
Success came quickly\. Despite

Erudite Pawlowski reigns supreme in the sabre

For the men, though, the competition could hardly have started any worse\. They were beaten by the US in their opening match, despite leading the match by two sets to one\. In their second game, the Soviet malaise continued as the first set was lost against Brazil &ndash; but then

Soviet teams secure impressive volleyball double

Biwott had taken up the sport on a whim\. He wanted to represent Kenya in either the 5000m or the 10,000m but was not selected for either event\. Instead, having finished fourth in a 10,000m race in a provincial championship, he put his name down for the steeplechase that afternoon\.

Inimitable Biwott beats his own path to steeplechase gold

At the end, they might just struggle to know where they've finished, particularly if it's a photo\-finish\.
David Hemery wasn't sure where he'd finished in the final of the 400m hurdles\. He saw a BBC commentator running towards him, holding a microphone, so he asked him what had happened\. “Did

David Hemery - 400m hurdless men - Athletics

Despite having won the Olympic gold three times in a row, Oerter wasn't even the top American thrower going into this competition\.
That honour went instead to Jay Silvester, the 31\-year\-old World Record holder, who had won 20 of his previous 22 competitions\. For all Oerter's pedigree, Silvester seemed like

Oerter makes it four straight golds in the discus

In the first round, the three American athletes all equalled the Olympic Record of 11\.12secs, setting the scene for a scintillating competition\. The World Record of 11\.11secs was tied by Ferrell and Bailes while Tyus set a wind\-assisted time of 11\.0secs\. The bar had been raised even higher\.
Even though

Wyomia Tyus fait valser les records du monde de sprint

The Swedes had gone for a particularly interesting team\. Leading it was a very familiar name – Gösta Pettersson, who had already won a bronze medal in the individual road race\. Alongside him were his three brothers – Erik, Tomas and Sture\. The Pettersson brothers had come together to represent

Pettersson, Pettersson, Pettersson and Pettersson make team time trial a family affair

Robert Hayes has equalled the world record in the 1964 Games by running the race in 10 seconds flat\. Three other men had all recorded the same time\.
It wasn't until 1968 that someone finally achieved the mark, and it was an American who did it\.&nbsp; James Hines, known as

Record-breaker Hines goes sub-10 to take 100m gold 

Temu had made his Olympic debut four years earlier when he finished a distant 49th in the marathon\. Now, though, he was a more prepared, focused and fitter athlete\.
First up was the 10,000m, an exhausting race dominated by athletes from high\-altitude countries\.
It was an arduous event, with a

Electric Temu digs deep to win 10,000m

Mexico 1968 - Stories Mosaic

Britain's Chris Finnegan outpointed Aleksei Kiselev of the Soviet Union to take the Olympic middleweight title at the 1968 Mexico City Games. Finnegan received a hero's welcome on his return home to England.

Christopher Martin FINNEGAN

Mexico 1968 | Olympic Games

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Chris Finnegan wins gold for Britain in Mexico City

The Japanese weightlifter is dreaming of winning gold in Tokyo like her uncle did in 1964.

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Miyake aims to add to family legacy at home Olympics

In our latest exclusive video interview, Dick Fosbury, who was crowned Olympic men’s high jump champion at Mexico City 1968, tells the story of that victory and of how he came to reshape his discipline forever with the invention of the ‘Fosbury Flop’.

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Olympic Games Mexico City 1968

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