The+1968+Olymplics,+marking+yet+anoter+era+of+change

The 1968 olympics were held in Mexico which is the first developing country that held the olympics. Also, Mexico was the first spanish-speaking country to hold the olympics and what's even crazier is that this particular olympics is the only one ever held in Latin America! ANYWAYS the 1968 olympics had peoples of all races there! White, black, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, etc etc (you get the point. . ) and like many of the famous Olympics Games that followed the historic 1968 controviersies arouse (duh. . . ) Some of the controversies were:
 * On October 2, 1968 ten days, TEN DAYS before the opening of the Games, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, a massacre occured called the Tlatelolco Massacre. 44 people were reported dead, however despite this "minor" setback, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage decided to NOT cancel the games. This kinda created controvesy, but what was even more controvery than that, students were getting blamed for the massacre.
 * Second,On October 16, 1968, in the 200 meter dash medal award ceremony, African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold medal recipient) and John Carlos (bronze medel recipient) took their places on the podium for the medal ceremony wearing black socks without shoes and civil rights badges, lowered their heads and each defiantly raised their black-gloved fists, and bowed their heads as a symbol of "Black Power" during the time that the Star Spangled Banner was played! I have no idea whether to catorgoize this as disrespect, or to catorgorize it as an act of what they believe in, but anyway to add to that controversary, the Australian Peter Norman, who had came in second place, wore an American "civil rights" badge as support to them on the podium. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left off the Australian 1972 Olympic team. While the Olympics President looked down upon these two African Americans for displaying their beliefs and suspending them, many people praised Carlos and Smith for displaying their bravery.

The Black Panthers