1968 Mexico Olympics

By Steve - Personal Trainer • August 15, 2008

The first controversy of these games was a geographical one, Mexico City is 2640 metres above sea level, that is almost 11/2 miles. This meant there would be around 30% less oxygen making endurance events more difficult for most athletes, except those who lived at similar altitudes, such as some of the Africans.

Most people who watched the games will have an enduring memory of Bob Beamon’s long jump. He broke the world record by 55cms with a leap of 8.9 metres. A lesser known fact is that the optical measuring device slid off the end of the rail the jump was so far, so the officials had to ratify the distance with a metal tape.

Black Power

Politics entered the athletics arena when Tommy Smith (200 metre gold medallist) and Juan Carlos (bronze medallist) of the USA used the medal podium to show the world their black power salute, raising a fist with a black glove on.

Coleman Gets Over-excited

For team GB David Hemery took gold in the mens 400 metres with John Sherwood taking bronze. This was a David Coleman (the commentator) classic. He was so excited by Hemerys win that he hadn,t noticed we had got a bronze medallist saying, “ I don,t know who came 3rd, who cares”

The men’s 100m was won in a world record by the great Jim Hines of the USA, however, one of his team mates was Charlie Green who always wore sun glasses. Asked why he did this Green replied, “man, they ain’t sunglasses, they are my re-entry shields”

Marathon Struggle

Once again the Olympic ideal shone through in the men’s marathon. Mamo Waldi won the gold but over an hour later John Stephen Ahkwari of Tanzania hobbled into the stadium with a badly injured leg. He finished to rapturous applause from those left in the stadium. Asked why he had pushed himself to such limits he replied, “my country did not send me 5000 miles to start the race but to finish it”

Fosbury Flop Introduced

The other outstanding memory was the mens high jump when the world was introduced to the Fosbury flop as it became known. Dick Fosbury of the USA ran at the bar then turned and launched off backwards. It was a revolution in this event as previously, athletes led with one leg and rolled over the bar on their front. Some wanted it banned, but as we now know, nobody does the high jump any other way (thank goodness for the introduction of the large cushions)