1968 Summer Olympics medal table

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
←  1964  · Olympics medal tables ·  1972  →

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]}

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

From left to right: Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos won silver, gold, and bronze respectively during the men's 200 metres event.

Boxer Francisco Rodríguez, the first-ever Olympic gold medalist for Venezuela

Wrestler Tömöriin Artag, one of the first Olympic medalists for Mongolia

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 tiebreaker. ^[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)

1968 Summer Olympics medal table ^[4]

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

Main article: List of stripped Olympic medals

Key

  ※   Disqualified athlete(s)

List of official changes in medal standings

Ruling date	Sport/Event	Athlete (NOC)				Total	Notes
1968	Modern pentathlon Men's team	Sweden Björn Ferm ※ Hans Jacobson ※ Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall ※			−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]
		France Raoul Gueguen Lucien Guiguet Jean-Pierre Giudicelli			+1	+1

List of official changes by country

NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Net Change
Sweden	0	0	−1	−1
France	0	0	+1	+1

References

Citations

1. "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.
2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad 1969a, p. 71.
3. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad 1969b, p. 13–16.
4. "Mexico City 1968 Olympics Medal Table – Gold, Silver & Bronze". International Olympic Committee . Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
5. "East Germany Overview". Olympedia . Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
6. "West Germany Overview". Olympedia . Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
7. "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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. "History of Mongolia at the Olympic Games". UB Post . 11 August 2016. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
12. 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.
13. "Rwabwogo is our greatest ever" . Daily Monitor . 30 July 2016. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
14. "Věra Čáslavská". Czech Olympic Committee (in Czech). Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. "Magnificent seven medals for gymnast Voronin". International Olympic Committee . Archived from the original on 30 July 2024.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. "1967: Creation of the IOC Medical Commission". International Olympic Committee . Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
24. "Mexico City 1968". Swedish Olympic Committee . Archived from the original on 21 August 2004. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
25. 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.
26. "Team, Men". Olympedia . Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.

Bibliography

• 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

• "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.