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1968 Summer Olympics
See also: 1968 Summer Paralympics[?]
The Games of the XIX Olympiad were held in 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico. Mexico beat Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyons to host the Games.
- Because of the high altitude of Mexico City, many endurance athletes had 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 Oerter[?], wins his fourth consecutive gold medal in the event to become only the second athlete to achieve this in an individual event.
- Bob Beamon[?] jumps 8.90 m in the long jump, a 55 cm improvement of the World Record that would stand until 1991.
- Dick Fosbury[?] wins the gold medal in the high jump using the radical Fosbury flop[?] technique, which quickly became the dominant technique in the event.
- In the medal award ceremony, black American athletes Tommy Smith[?] and John Carlos[?] raise their black-gloved fists as a symbol of "Black Power". They are expelled by the US National Olymic Committee.
- Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská wins the hearts of the Mexican crowd and four gold medals.
- American swimmer Debby Meyer[?] wins 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.
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
| Pos | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
Summer Olympics
1896 | 1900 | 1904 | 1906 | 1908 | 1912 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012
Winter Olympics
1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010