The traditional vote on the choice of the venue for the XIX Olympic Games took place in the fall of 1963 in Baden-Baden, Germany. It was at the 60th session of the International Olympic Committee, and the voting list contained four items. Only one of them was assigned to a European city, and in the rest, overseas applicants were presented.
The 1968 Summer Olympics could have taken place in France, the United States or Argentina, but the cities representing these countries could not compete with the Mexican capital. In the very first round of voting, Mexico City received two more votes than all other cities combined, and this was the end of the selection of the capital of the XIX Summer Games. As a result, for the first and so far the only time in the history of the Olympiads, this sports festival of a planetary scale was held in Latin America.
Mexico City is a city that was founded in 1521 and since then bears the name of the Aztec god of war. The number of inhabitants in the Mexican capital exceeds 8.5 million, and taking into account the suburbs, this number can be increased to 21 million. To host the Olympic tournaments in Mexico City, 88 projects were implemented to improve urban and transport infrastructure, an "Olympic village" was created and more than a dozen new sports facilities were built. The total number of sports venues at which the competition took place was 25. The opening and closing ceremonies of the games took place at the 60,000-seat stadium previously built for the Pan American Games.
The capital of the 1968 Summer Olympics is located on a mountain plateau, at an altitude of more than 2200 meters above sea level, and this in a certain way affected the results of the competition. The thinner air of the highlands has contributed to better results in sports that require athletes to perform relatively briefly. For example, it was at these games that American Bob Beamon set his phenomenal long jump record for those times, having flown 8 meters and 90 centimeters. He improved the previous world achievement by more than half a meter. This record was broken only 23 years later. And in triple jump competitions, the Olympians renewed the previous record five times. At the same time, in sports that primarily require endurance, athletes experienced additional difficulties due to lack of oxygen.
The XIX Summer Olympics began in the fall, October 12, 1968, and ended on October 27. 172 sets of medals were played on it, and the number of participants exceeded 5, 5 thousand.
