ABSTRACT
Many doubted the wisdom of the IOC’s decision to award the 1968 Summer Games to Mexico City. The Games would be held at an altitude of more than 2,000m above sea level, where air pressure was significantly lower, possibly posing a threat to the health and even lives of competitors. Trial events before the Games showed these fears to be unfounded.
There was constant political unrest during the build-up to the Games, culminating in the notorious Tlatelolco massacre just 10 days before the Opening Ceremony.
With a budget less than 10 per cent of Tokyo’s four years earlier, the only option for the Olympic stadium was to extend the existing Estadio Universitario, which had been scoured out of an ancient lava bed in 1952. For the Games, spectator capacity was increased to 83,700, four distinctive lighting towers were constructed, and there was a major innovation within the arena.
All previous Summer Games had featured various forms of cinder running tracks, which had often deteriorated badly over the course of the Games. For the 1968 Games the first all-weather polyurethane track was installed, a move that was echoed by all subsequent Games.
