Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
No. of events	36
Competitors	1031 from 93 nations
←  1964 1972  →

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, 36 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 12 for women. There were a total number of 1031 participating athletes from 93 countries. ^{[1] [2]}

These games were notable for a number of Olympic firsts and numerous world records. These included:

• Dick Fosbury introduced the Fosbury Flop to the high Jump by jumping over backwards, whereas the prevailing methods involved jumping forwards or sideways.
• The first African Gold Medallists in the 1500 m and 3000 m Steeplechase, as well as many other medals in middle and long distance events. Particularly symbolic of Africa's newfound dominance was the victory by Kenyan athlete Kip Keino in the 1500 m final.
• Bob Beamon broke Ralph Boston's 1965 and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan's 1967 World Record in the Men's Long Jump by 55 cm (22 in). This record was not broken until 1991. It remains the second-best legal jump in history.
• The World Record was broken in the Men's Triple Jump five times by three athletes, including the final jump of the event. The top five finishers all beat the previous world record.
• The Black Power salute: Tommie Smith and John Carlos wore black gloves and bowed their heads on the medal podium after their medals in the 200 m.
• Jim Hines became the first sprinter to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 metres. ^[3]

This was the first Olympics to use an all-weather track surface now used in every major international athletics competition.

Medal summary

Men

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Jim Hines   United States	9.95 WR	Lennox Miller   Jamaica	10.04	Charles Greene   United States	10.07
200 metres details	Tommie Smith   United States	19.83 WR	Peter Norman   Australia	20.06 NR	John Carlos   United States	20.10
400 metres details	Lee Evans   United States	43.86 WR	Larry James   United States	43.97	Ron Freeman   United States	44.41
800 metres details	Ralph Doubell   Australia	1:44.40 WR	Wilson Kiprugut   Kenya	1:44.57	Tom Farrell   United States	1:45.46
1500 metres details	Kipchoge Keino   Kenya	3:34.91 OR	Jim Ryun   United States	3:37.89	Bodo Tümmler   West Germany	3:39.08
5000 metres details	Mohammed Gammoudi   Tunisia	14:05.01	Kipchoge Keino   Kenya	14:05.16	Naftali Temu   Kenya	14:06.41
10,000 metres details	Naftali Temu   Kenya	29:27.40	Mamo Wolde   Ethiopia	29:27.75	Mohammed Gammoudi   Tunisia	29:34.2
110 metres hurdles details	Willie Davenport   United States	13.33 OR	Ervin Hall   United States	13.42	Eddy Ottoz   Italy	13.46
400 metres hurdles details	David Hemery   Great Britain	48.12 WR	Gerhard Hennige   West Germany	49.02	John Sherwood   Great Britain	49.03
3000 metres steeplechase details	Amos Biwott   Kenya	8:51.02	Benjamin Kogo   Kenya	8:51.56	George Young   United States	8:51.86
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States  (USA) Charles Greene Mel Pender Ronnie Ray Smith Jim Hines	38.24 WR	Cuba  (CUB) Hermes Ramírez Juan Morales Pablo Montes Enrique Figuerola	38.40	France  (FRA) Gérard Fenouil Jocelyn Delecour Claude Piquemal Roger Bambuck	38.43
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States  (USA) Vincent Matthews Ron Freeman Larry James Lee Evans	2:56.16 WR	Kenya  (KEN) Daniel Rudisha Munyoro Nyamau Naftali Bon Charles Asati	2:59.64	West Germany  (FRG) Helmar Müller Manfred Kinder Gerhard Hennige Martin Jellinghaus	3:00.57
Marathon details	Mamo Wolde   Ethiopia	2:20:27	Kenji Kimihara   Japan	2:23:31	Mike Ryan   New Zealand	2:23:45
20 kilometres walk details	Volodymyr Holubnychy   Soviet Union	1:33:58	José Pedraza   Mexico	1:34:00	Nikolay Smaga   Soviet Union	1:34:03
50 kilometres walk details	Christoph Höhne   East Germany	4:20:14	Antal Kiss   Hungary	4:30:17	Larry Young   United States	4:31:55
High jump details	Dick Fosbury   United States	2.24 m OR	Ed Caruthers   United States	2.22 m	Valentin Gavrilov   Soviet Union	2.20 m
Pole vault details	Bob Seagren   United States	5.40 m OR	Claus Schiprowski   West Germany	5.40 m	Wolfgang Nordwig   East Germany	5.40 m
Long jump details	Bob Beamon   United States	8.90 m WR	Klaus Beer   East Germany	8.19 m	Ralph Boston   United States	8.16 m
Triple jump details	Viktor Saneyev   Soviet Union	17.39 m WR	Nelson Prudêncio   Brazil	17.27 m	Giuseppe Gentile   Italy	17.22 m
Shot put details	Randy Matson   United States	20.54 m OR	George Woods   United States	20.12 m	Eduard Gushchin   Soviet Union	20.09 m
Discus throw details	Al Oerter   United States	64.78 m OR	Lothar Milde   East Germany	63.08 m	Ludvík Daněk   Czechoslovakia	62.92 m
Hammer throw details	Gyula Zsivótzky   Hungary	73.36 m OR	Romuald Klim   Soviet Union	73.28 m	Lázár Lovász   Hungary	69.78 m
Javelin throw details	Jānis Lūsis   Soviet Union	90.10 m OR	Jorma Kinnunen   Finland	88.58 m	Gergely Kulcsár   Hungary	87.06 m
Decathlon details	Bill Toomey   United States	8193 OR	Hans-Joachim Walde   West Germany	8111	Kurt Bendlin   West Germany	8064

Women

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Wyomia Tyus   United States	11.08 WR	Barbara Ferrell   United States	11.15	Irena Szewińska   Poland	11.19
200 metres details	Irena Szewińska   Poland	22.58 WR	Raelene Boyle   Australia	22.74	Jenny Lamy   Australia	22.88
400 metres details	Colette Besson   France	52.03	Lillian Board   Great Britain	52.12	Natalya Pechonkina   Soviet Union	52.25
800 metres details	Madeline Manning   United States	2:00.92 OR	Ileana Silai   Romania	2:02.58	Mia Gommers   Netherlands	2:02.63
80 metres hurdles details	Maureen Caird   Australia	10.39 OR	Pam Kilborn   Australia	10.46	Chi Cheng   Taiwan	10.51
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States  (USA) Margaret Bailes Barbara Ferrell Mildrette Netter Wyomia Tyus	42.88 WR	Cuba  (CUB) Violetta Quesada Miguelina Cobián Marlene Elejarde Fulgencia Romay	43.36	Soviet Union  (URS) Galina Bukharina Lyudmila Samotyosova Vera Popkova Lyudmila Zharkova	43.41
High jump details	Miloslava Rezková   Czechoslovakia	1.82 m	Antonina Okorokova   Soviet Union	1.80 m	Valentina Kozyr   Soviet Union	1.80 m
Long jump details	Viorica Viscopoleanu   Romania	6.82 m WR	Sheila Sherwood   Great Britain	6.68 m	Tatyana Talysheva   Soviet Union	6.66 m
Shot put details	Margitta Gummel   East Germany	19.61 m WR	Marita Lange   East Germany	18.78 m	Nadezhda Chizhova   Soviet Union	18.19 m
Discus throw details	Lia Manoliu   Romania	58.28 m OR	Liesel Westermann   West Germany	57.76 m	Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek   Hungary	54.90 m
Javelin throw details	Angéla Németh   Hungary	60.36 m	Mihaela Peneș   Romania	59.92 m	Eva Janko   Austria	58.04 m
Pentathlon details	Ingrid Becker   West Germany	5098	Liese Prokop   Austria	4966	Annamária Tóth   Hungary	4959

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States  (USA)	15	6	7	28
2	Kenya  (KEN)	3	4	1	8
3	Soviet Union  (URS)	3	2	8	13
4	Australia  (AUS)	2	3	1	6
	East Germany  (GDR)	2	3	1	6
6	Romania  (ROU)	2	2	0	4
7	Hungary  (HUN)	2	1	4	7
8	West Germany  (FRG)	1	4	3	8
9	Great Britain  (GBR)	1	2	1	4
10	Ethiopia  (ETH)	1	1	0	2
11	Czechoslovakia  (TCH)	1	0	1	2
	France  (FRA)	1	0	1	2
	Poland  (POL)	1	0	1	2
	Tunisia  (TUN)	1	0	1	2
15	Cuba  (CUB)	0	2	0	2
16	Austria  (AUT)	0	1	1	2
17	Brazil  (BRA)	0	1	0	1
	Finland  (FIN)	0	1	0	1
	Jamaica  (JAM)	0	1	0	1
	Japan  (JPN)	0	1	0	1
	Mexico  (MEX)	0	1	0	1
22	Italy  (ITA)	0	0	2	2
23	Netherlands  (NED)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand  (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Taiwan  (ROC)	0	0	1	1
Totals (25 entries)		36	36	36	108

References

1. Sports Reference
2. IOC. "Mexico City 1968 Athletics - Olympic Results by Discipline". Olympics.com. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
3. Sports Reference Sports Reference

• International Olympic Committee results database
• Athletics Australia