Memorable Olympics

These were the last games to bring Czechoslovakia a decent collection of medals, and also the last Games in which athletes represented an independent state. This is something hardly anybody could suspect in 1968 though. After the August occupation by the Warsaw Pact armies, Czechoslovakian participation on the Olympic Games was in jeopardy but, in the end, 122 athletes not only left for Mexico but also succeeded in bringing altogether 7 golden, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. This was a success which wouldn’t repeat itself in the future.

Altogether five and half thousand sportsmen from 112 countries came to Mexico to compete in 20 sporting events. Mexico City beat Detroit in America and became the proud host to the Olympic Games. These were the first, and up to now, the last Games to be held in Latin America, and the second Olympic Games (after Tokyo) to happen somewhere else than in Europe, Australia and the United States of America.

Another interesting fact for us is that Mexicans experienced their own revolutionary summer in 1968. Shortly before the beginning of the Games, police crushed student uprisings. According to the official reports, 37 students were killed in the so called Tlatelolco Massacre, which was far bloodier than any political disturbances in Europe and America. We also have to bear in mind that the actual number of casualties could have been up to ten times higher. Many would say that when Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was opening the Games, there was a lot of blood on his hands. This year was rather strange everywhere in the world though.

For Czechs, the XIX Olympic Games will forever be connected with Věra Čáslavská, a sportswoman who gained most of our gold and all our silver medals. She won the gold medal in the octathlon and additional gold medals on the floor, parallel bars and vault as well as two silvers, for the team competition and balancing beam. She was deservedly voted the best world sportswoman for 1968.

The OG was the last sporting event in Věra Čáslavská’s career. Shortly after the end of the competition, Čáslavská married the runner, Josef Odložil. On her return to Czechoslovakia she symbolically donated the copies of her medals to the “men of Prague Spring”, Alexandr Dubček and Ludvík Svoboda.

Gold medals were also won by other sportsmen and sportswomen. Miloslava Rezková won one in the high jump, a competition with a rather dramatic final; Jan Kůrek won in miniature rifle shooting and young Milena Duchková in high diving. Discus thrower, Ludvík Daněk, won a bronze medal, and another medal was gained by Miroslav Zeman and Petr Kment, both in Greco-Roman wrestling. The Czechoslovakian team of volleyball players also contributed, when they won the last bronze medal. This was a success that elevated Czechoslovakia to seventh in the world placing, it was exceeded only by the sporting world-powers USA, USSR, Japan, Hungary, East Germany and France. The Chinese were missing at the Olympics.

There were also few other moments that entered the history of the Olympic Games. The most significant one was, without a doubt, the famous long jump of black American Robert Beamon. He literally flew to the distance of 890 cm, beating his own record from 20th June by 57 cm. This heroic jump can be seen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIgk75Jn9ZQ, and it is up to this day the second longest jump in the discipline. In 1991 it was surpassed by Mike Powell by 5 cm.

Dick Fosbury made his mark with his new “back style” called flop, he jumped to the height of 224 cm and beat the Olympic record.

On the whole, these Olympic Games were remarkable for unusual achievements – sportsmen broke 43 world records. This may have been due to, among other factors, the high altitude of the Mexican capital city. Czech discus-thrower, Ludvíka Danek, didn’t manage to win a longed-for golden medal. It was awarded for the fourth time in a row to the American, Alfred Oerter. Daněk had to wait for his dream to come true to the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which Oerter wasn’t present.

Czechoslovakian Medals SOG 1968

• Silver – Women’s team of sport gymnastic – Věra Čáslavská, Mária Krajčírová, Jana Kubičková, Hana Lišková, Bohumila Řimnáčová, Miroslava Skleničková

Medals awarded to states

Retrospective glance at OG