Summer Olympics 1964-1976
1964
Tokyo,
Japan
The XVIII Olympiad had 5,140 athletes from 93 nations compete in 163 events in 19 sports. The first Asian Olympics were held from October 10 to 24.
South Africa was banned from competing in the Games because of its apartheid government, where a small white minority controlled the black majority.
The Tokyo Games produced 25 new world and Olympic records, 18 of them in swimming. Dawn Fraser of Australia became the first swimmer to win the same event for three consecutive Olympics with her victory in the 100m freestyle. Don Schollander of the U.S. was the first swimmer to win four gold medals.
Peter Snell of New Zealand was the first runner since 1920 to win gold medals in both the 8000m and 1500m races.
Abele Bikila of Ethiopia was the first athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in the marathon, the first she won barefoot!
Bob Hayes of the U.S. had a stellar performance in which he won the 100m sprint while tying the world record time, 10.00. In the 4x100m relay, in which he anchored the American team, he led the U.S. to a come-from-behind victory, while running the 100m in under nine seconds.
Larissa Latzvina of the USSR, now Ukraine, won six gymnastics medals for the second time in a row, bringing her gold medal total to nine.
The USSR won the most medals with 96.
1968
Mexico
City, Mexico
The XIX Olympiad was held from October 12 to 27 hosting 5,530 athletes from 112 nations in 172 events in 18 sports.
The high altitude in which the Games were held helped sprinters and other track and field athletes, though it hurt the distance runners, who need a lot of air. As a result, many records were broken and amazing feats accomplished.
Lee Evans of the U.S. won the 400m sprint gold medal in 43.36 seconds, a world record that would stand for 29 years.
Another U.S. track and field athlete, Bob Beaman, had a long jump of 8.9 meters, a spectacular distance for jumping.
In the triple jump, five athletes broke the current world record.
Wyomia Tyus of the U.S. became the first woman to win back-to-back 100m sprints in the Olympics.
African-American runners Tommie Smith, the gold medallist, and John Carlos, the bronze medallist in the 200m sprint gave the Black Power salute during the American national anthem to protest the discrimination of blacks in the U.S. They wore no shoes and socks to symbolize slavery that Africans endured in the U.S., and civil rights pins. Both athletes were thrown out of the Olympics and Mexico for bringing politics into the Games.
Another unfortunate occurrence was the disqualification of Hans-Gunnor Liljenwall, a modern pentathlete, for alcoholism.
The U.S. won the most medals with 107.
1972
Munich,
West Germany (now Germany)
The XX Olympiad was held from August 26 to September 11 and attracted 7,123 athletes from 121 nations who participated in 195 events in 21 sports.
Mark Spitz of the U.S. won four individual and three relay swimming gold medals.
The U.S. basketball team’s 62 game undefeated streak was ended in the gold medal game against the USSR. The USSR won 51-50 after being given three chances to score on a last-second inbound pass. The U.S., feeling the calls that gave the Soviet Union multiple chances were bad, refused the silver medal.
Rick DeMont, an American swimmer, was disqualified for taking an asthma medication.
However, something happened at the Munich Games that made athleticism, great or controversial, seem frivolous. Eight Palestinians took 11 Israeli athletes hostage in the Olympic Village. They killed two, and the rest died along with five of the Palestinians during a police attack on a grounded helicopter.
The USSR won the most medals with 99.
1976
Montreal,
Canada
The XXI Olympiad was held from July 17 to August 1.
Competing in 198 events in 21 sports were 6,098 athletes from 92 nations.
Thirty-two African countries boycotted the 1976 Games because New Zealand’s rugby team had competed in South Africa, a nation outcast for its racist policies. Taiwan also did not compete because Canada had been pressured by its trading partner China into not letting Taiwan compete under the name of the Republic of China. Taiwan’s Olympic Committee, angered, decided not to compete at all.
The Montreal Olympics had very tight security because of what had happened in Munich four years before. One Argentine judge was beaten up by police for parking in an unauthorized space. Because the official couldn’t speak French and understand what happened, he was thought to be refusing to cooperate.
Swimming was an exciting sport to watch during this Olympics. World records were broken in 21 of the 26 events. In the women’s races, Kornelia Ender of East Germany, now Germany, won four gold medals and led the East German team to win 11 of the 13 events. In the men’s races, John Naber of the U.S. won four gold medals and helped the American team to win 12 of the 13 events.
Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast, won three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. She scored seven perfect 10s, including the first 10 ever achieved in the asymmetrical bars.
The USSR won the most medals with 126.
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