The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, from 12 to 27 October. A total of 5,516 athletes from 112 nations participated in 172 events in 18 sports across 24 different disciplines. These were the first games to be held in Latin America.[1][2][3]
| 1968 Summer Olympics medals | |
|---|---|
 Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia was the most successful competitor at the games, winning four gold and two silver medals in artistic gymnastics | |
| Location | Mexico City,  Mexico |
| Highlights | |
| Most gold medals |  United States (45) |
| Most total medals | United States (107) |
| Medalling NOCs | 44 |
Overall, athletes from 44 nations received at least one medal, and 39 nations won at least one gold medal. Athletes from the United States won the most gold medals, with 45, and the most medals overall, with 107.[4] Teams from East Germany and West Germany won their nations' first Summer Olympic medals of every color at their first Summer Olympic appearance.[5][6] Teams from Kenya,[7] Tunisia,[8] and Venezuela won their nations' first Olympic gold medals,[9] while athletes from Cameroon,[10] Mongolia,[11][12] and Uganda won their nations' first Olympic medals.[13]
Artistic gymnast Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia was the most successful competitor at the games, winning six medals (four gold and two silver).[14] After her gold medal wins at these games, Čáslavská held the record for the most individual Olympic gold medals by a female athlete with seven, until Katie Ledecky of the United States surpassed it at the 2024 Summer Olympics with eight.[15][16] Artistic gymnast Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union won the most total medals at the games with seven (two golds, four silvers, and one bronze).[17]
Medal table
edit
The medal table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC conventional sorting in its published medal tables. The table uses the Olympic medal table sorting method. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.[19][20] Two bronze medals were awarded in each boxing event to the losing semi-finalists, as opposed to them fighting in a third place tie breaker.[21]
In gymnastics, two gold medals (and no silver medal) were awarded in the men's horizontal bar and women's floor exercise due to a first-place tie in both events.[17][22]
* Host nation (Mexico)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 45 | 28 | 34 | 107 |
| 2 |  Soviet Union | 29 | 32 | 30 | 91 |
| 3 |  Japan | 11 | 7 | 7 | 25 |
| 4 |  Hungary | 10 | 10 | 12 | 32 |
| 5 |  East Germany | 9 | 9 | 7 | 25 |
| 6 |  France | 7 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 7 |  Czechoslovakia | 7 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| 8 | West Germany | 5 | 11 | 10 | 26 |
| 9 |  Australia | 5 | 7 | 5 | 17 |
| 10 |  Great Britain | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| 11 |  Poland | 5 | 2 | 11 | 18 |
| 12 |  Romania | 4 | 6 | 5 | 15 |
| 13 |  Italy | 3 | 4 | 9 | 16 |
| 14 |  Kenya | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 15 | Mexico* | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 16 |  Yugoslavia | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 17 |  Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 18 |  Bulgaria | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 19 |  Iran | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 20 |  Sweden | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 21 |  Turkey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 |  Denmark | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 23 |  Canada | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 24 |  Finland | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 |  Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 Norway | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 27 |  New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 28 |  Tunisia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 |  Pakistan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Venezuela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 31 |  Cuba | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 32 |  Austria | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 33 |  Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 34 |  Mongolia | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 35 |  Brazil | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 36 |  Belgium | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 South Korea | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Uganda | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 39 |  Cameroon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Jamaica | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 41 |  Argentina | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 42 |  Greece | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 India | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Taiwan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (44 entries) | 174 | 170 | 183 | 527 | |
Changes in medal standings
edit- Key
※ Disqualified athlete(s)
| Ruling date | Sport/Event | Athlete (NOC) | 
|
|
|
Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Modern pentathlon Men's team |
−1 | −1 | Following the introduction of anti-doping regulations by the International Olympic Committee in 1967,[23] these Olympics saw the first disqualification for drug use in the Olympic Games. Modern pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was reported to have drunk beers beforehand to calm down his nerves before the pistol shooting event.[24] He and the rest of his team were disqualified after he tested positive for excessive alcohol consumption and had to give the bronze medals they had won to the French team.[25][26] | |||
| +1 | +1 |
| NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Net Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden (SWE)
|
0 | 0 | −1 | −1 |
| France (FRA)
|
0 | 0 | +1 | +1 |
References
editCitations
edit- ^ "Factsheet The Games of the Olympiad" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 20 June 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad 1969a, p. 71.
- ^ Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad 1969b, p. 13–16.
- ^ a b "Mexico City 1968 Olympics Medal Table – Gold, Silver & Bronze". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "East Germany Overview". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ "West Germany Overview". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ "Kenya's first Olympic gold medallist Temu dies". World Athletics. 10 March 2003. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ Adrega, Pedro (29 July 2021). "Hafnaoui: Where there's a will there's a way". World Aquatics. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024.
- ^ a b Chappell, Bill (7 August 2012). "Venezuela's Olympic Hero Gets A Parade To Celebrate Long-Awaited Gold". NPR. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Eboulé, Christian (18 July 2024). "Mexico 1968: Joseph Bessala, premier médaillé olympique camerounais" [Mexico 1968: Joseph Bessala, first Cameroonian Olympic medalist]. TV5Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 21 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ a b "History of Mongolia at the Olympic Games". UB Post. 11 August 2016. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ a b Etchells, Daniel (20 October 2017). "Mongolian National Olympic Committee celebrates anniversary of Mexico City 1968 Games". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Rwabwogo is our greatest ever". Daily Monitor. 30 July 2016. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ "Věra Čáslavská". Czech Olympic Committee (in Czech). Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Shinn, Peggy (3 August 2024). "With Nine Olympic Gold Medals and 14 Total, Katie Ledecky Becomes The Most Decorated U.S. Female Olympian". United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Forde, Pat (31 July 2024). "Katie Ledecky Ties Women's Swimming World Record for Total Medals at Paris Olympics". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024.
- ^ a b "Magnificent seven medals for gymnast Voronin". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 30 July 2024.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (20 October 2018). "Finally, the real story about Peter Norman and the black power salute". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Townsend, Mark (7 August 2021). "US finds its own way to top the medal table at Tokyo Olympics". The Observer. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Flanagan, Aaron (18 August 2016). "How does the Olympic medal table work?". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Ansari, Aarish (1 August 2021). "Explained: Two bronze medals are awarded in the Olympics boxing competition". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
- ^ Reynolds, Tom (20 October 2018). "Vera Caslavska and the forgotten story of her 1968 Olympics protest". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024.
- ^ "1967: Creation of the IOC Medical Commission". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ "Mexico City 1968". Swedish Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 21 August 2004. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ Mackay, Duncan (29 February 2012). "The first athlete to be disqualified from the Olympics for using a banned substance was Swedish pentathlete Hans-Grunner Liljenwall, who tested positive for excessive alcohol at the 1968 Games in Mexico City". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ "Team, Men". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
Bibliography
edit- Mexico 68 (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad. 1969. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via LA84 Foundation.
- Mexico 68 (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad. 1969. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via LA84 Foundation.
External links
edit- "Mexico City 1968". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
- "1968 Summer Olympics". Olympedia.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- "Olympic Analytics/1968_1". olympanalyt.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2020.