2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympic Games known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and known as Sydney 2000 or the Millennium Olympic Games/Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event, held between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956. Sydney was selected as the host city for the 2000 Games in 1993. Teams from 199 countries participated; the Games’ cost was estimated to be A$6.6 billion. The Games received universal acclaim, with the organisation, volunteers and Australian public being lauded in the international media. Bill Bryson from The Times called the Sydney Games "one of the most successful events on the world stage", saying that they "couldn't be better". James Mossop of the Electronic Telegraph called the Games "such a success that any city considering bidding for future Olympics must be wondering how it can reach the standards set by Sydney", while Jack Todd in the Montreal Gazette suggested that the "IOC should quit while it's ahead.
Admit there can never be a better Olympic Games, be done with it," as "Sydney was both exceptional and the best". In preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Lord Coe declared the Sydney Games the "benchmark for the spirit of the Games, unquestionably" and admitting that the London organising committee "attempted in a number of ways to emulate what the Sydney Organising Committee did." These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch. These were the second Olympic Games to be held in spring and is to date the most recent games not to be held in its more traditional July or August summer slot; the final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by Russia and China with host Australia at fourth place overall. Several World and Olympic records were broken during the games. With little or no controversies, the games were deemed successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Sydney won the right to host the Games on 24 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin and Manchester in four rounds of voting, at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The Australian city of Melbourne had lost out to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics four years earlier. Beijing lost its bid to host the games to Sydney in 1993, but was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics in July 2001 after Sydney hosted the previous year, it would be awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics twenty-two years in 2015. Although it is impossible to know why members of the International Olympic Committee voted for Sydney over Beijing in 1993, it appears that an important role was played by Human Rights Watch's campaign to "stop Beijing" because of China's human rights record. Many in China were angry at what they saw as U. S.-led interference in the vote, the outcome contributed to rising anti-Western sentiment in China and tensions in Sino-American relations. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics at USD 5 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 90% in real terms; this includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g. expenditures for technology, workforce, security, catering and medical services, direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g. the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, media and press center, which are required to host the Games.
Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Sydney 2000 compares with a cost of USD 4.6 billion for Rio 2016, USD 40–44 billion for Beijing 2008 and USD 51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD 5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%. In 2000, the Auditor-General of New South Wales reported that the Sydney Games cost A$6.6 billion, with a net cost to the public between A$1.7 and A$2.4 billion. Many venues were constructed in the Sydney Olympic Park, which failed in the years following the Olympics to meet the expected bookings to meet upkeep expenses. In the years leading up to the games, funds were shifted from education and health programs to cover Olympic expenses, it has been estimated that the economic impact of the 2000 Olympics was that A$2.1 billion has been shaved from public consumption.
Economic growth was not stimulated to a net benefit and in the years after 2000, foreign tourism to NSW grew by less than tourism to Australia as a whole. A "multiplier" effect on broader economic development is not realised, as a simple "multiplier" analysis fails to capture is that resources have to be redirected from elsewhere: the building of a stadium is at the expense of other public works such as extensions to hospitals. Building sporting venues does not add to the aggregate stock of productive capital in the years following the Games: "Equestrian centres, softball compounds and man-made rapids are not useful beyond their immediate function." In the years after the games, infrastructure issues have been of growing concern to citizens those in the western suburbs of Sydney. Proposed rail links to Sydney's west have been estimated to cost in the same order of magnitude as the public expenditure on the games. Although the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was not sc
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. In the Seoul Games, 159 nations were represented by a total of 8,391 athletes: 6,197 men and 2,194 women. 237 events were held and 27,221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics. 11,331 media showed the Games all over the world. These were the last Olympic Games for the Soviet Union and East Germany, as both ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games; the Soviets utterly dominated the medal table, winning 132 total medals. No country came close to this result after 1988; the games were boycotted by its ally, Cuba. Ethiopia and the Seychelles did not respond to the invitations sent by the IOC. Nicaragua did not participate due to financial considerations; the participation of Madagascar had been expected, their team was expected at the opening ceremony of 160 nations. However, the country withdrew because of financial reasons.
Nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the previous three Summer Olympics were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era. Seoul was chosen to host the Summer Games through a vote held on 30 September 1981, finishing ahead of the Japanese city of Nagoya. Below was the vote count that occurred at the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, West Germany. After the Olympics were awarded, Seoul received the opportunity to stage the 10th Asian Games in 1986, using them to test its preparation for the Olympics. In its final Olympics, the Soviet Union utterly dominated the medal table winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. No country came close to this result after 1988. Soviet Vladimir Artemov won four gold medals in gymnastics. Daniela Silivaş of Romania won three and equalled compatriot Nadia Comăneci's record of seven Perfect 10s in one Olympic Games. After having demolished the world record in the 100 m dash at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, U.
S. sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner set an Olympic record in the 100-metre dash and a still-standing world record in the 200-metre dash to capture gold medals in both events. To these medals, she added a gold in the 4×100 relay and a silver in the 4×400. Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100 m final with a new world record, but was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. Johnson has since claimed. In the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team All-Around Competition, the U. S. women's team was penalized with a deduction of five tenths of a point from their team score by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique after the compulsory round due to their Olympic team alternate Rhonda Faehn appearing on the podium for the uneven bars during the duration of Kelly Garrison-Steve's compulsory uneven bars routine, despite not competing, having been caught by the East German judge, Ellen Berger. The U. S. finished fourth after the completion of the optional rounds with a combined score of 390.575, three tenths of a point behind East Germany.
This still remains controversial in the sport of gymnastics, as the U. S. performed better than the East German team and they would have taken the bronze medal in the team competition had they not been penalized or had an inquiry accepted to receive the points back. Phoebe Mills won an individual bronze medal on the balance beam, shared with Romania's Gabriela Potorac, making history as the first medal won by a U. S. woman in artistic gymnastics at a attended games. The USSR won their final team gold medals in artistic gymnastics on both the men's and women's sides with scores of 593.350 and 395.475 respectively. The men's team was led by Vladimir Artemov. Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class, was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor, he arrived in 21st place, but was recognized by the IOC with the Pierre de Coubertin medal honoring his bravery and sacrifice. U. S. diver Greg Louganis won back-to-back titles on both diving events despite hitting his head on the springboard in the third round and suffering a concussion.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany became the first athlete to win Olympic medals at the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in the same year. She added a cycling silver to the speed skating gold she won earlier in the Winter Olympics of that year in Calgary. Anthony Nesty of Suriname won his country's first Olympic medal by winning the 100 m butterfly, scoring an upset victory over Matt Biondi by.01 of a second. Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals. Other multi-medalists in the pool were Janet Evans. Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm became the first woman to take part in seven Olympics. Swimmer Mel Stewart of the U. S. was the most anticipated to win the men's 200 m butterfly final but came in 5th. Mark Todd of New Zealand won his second consecutive individual gold medal in the three-day event in equestrian on Charisma, only the second time in eventing history that a gold medal has been won consecutively. Baseball and Taekwondo were demonstration sports; the opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison.
This was the last time the U. S. was represented by a basketball tea
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating; the Olympic Games are held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896; the IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games; some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a disability, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental games, the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.
The Deaflympics and Special Olympics are endorsed by the IOC. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic and technological advancements; the abuse of amateur rules by the Eastern Bloc nations prompted the IOC to shift away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialisation of the Games. World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games; the Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees, organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, organises and funds the Games according to the Olympic Charter; the IOC determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.
Over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals: gold and bronze, respectively; the Games have grown so much. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, bribery, a terrorist attack in 1972; every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to showcase themselves to the world; the Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. Competition was among representatives of several kingdoms of Ancient Greece; these Games featured athletic but combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration and chariot racing events. It has been written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished.
This cessation of hostilities was known as truce. This idea is a modern myth; the truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus. The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in legend. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years; the myth continues that after Heracles completed his twelve labours, he built the Olympic Stadium as an honour to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion", which became a unit of distance; the most accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon, wrestling and equestrian events. Tradition has it that a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion; the Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honouring both Zeus and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia.
Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were immortalised in poems and statues; the Games were held every four years, this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Games were part of a cycle known as the Panhellenic Games, which included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games; the Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Gr
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Spain from July 25 to August 9, 1992. Beginning in 1994, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the games in alternating even-numbered years; the games were the first to be unaffected by boycotts since 1972 and the first summer games since the end of the Cold War. The Unified Team topped the medal table, winning 112 overall medals. Barcelona is the second-largest city in Spain, the hometown of then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch; the city was a host for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. On October 17, 1986, Barcelona was selected to host the 1992 Summer Games over Amsterdam, The Netherlands. With 85 out of 89 members of the IOC voting by secret ballot, Barcelona won a majority of 47 votes. Samaranch abstained from voting. In the same IOC meeting, France, won the right to host the 1992 Winter Games. Barcelona had bid for the 1936 Summer Olympics, but they lost to Berlin.
At the Opening Ceremony Greek mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa sang "Romiossini" as the Olympic flag was paraded around the stadium. Alfredo Kraus sang the Olympic Hymn in both Catalan and Spanish as the flag was hoisted; the Olympic flame cauldron was lit by a flaming arrow, shot by Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo. The arrow had been lit by the flame of the Olympic Torch. Rebollo shot above the cauldron; the arrow landed outside the stadium. This was the original design of the lighting scheme, to avoid any chance that the arrow would land in the stadium if Rebollo missed his target. South Africa was allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1960 Summer Olympics, after a long suspension for its apartheid policy. After a close race in the Women's 10,000 metres event, white South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu ran a victory lap together, hand-in-hand. Following its reunification in 1990, Germany sent a single, unified Olympic team for the first time since the 1964 Summer Olympics.
As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia and Lithuania, sent their own teams for the first time since 1936. Other former Soviet republics preferred to compete as the Unified Team; this team consisted of present-day Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The team finished first in the medal standings; the separation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led to the Olympic debuts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to United Nations sanctions, athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were not allowed to participate with their own team. However, some individual athletes competed under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants. In basketball, the admittance of NBA players led to the formation of the "Dream Team" of the United States, featuring Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and other NBA stars. Prior to 1992, only European and South American professionals were allowed to compete, while the Americans used college players.
The Dream Team won the gold medal and was inducted as a unit into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Fermín Cacho won the 1,500 metres in his home country, earning Spain's first-ever Olympic gold medal in a running event. Chinese diver Fu Mingxia, age 13, became one of the youngest Olympic gold medalists of all time. In men's artistic gymnastics, Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus, won six gold medals, including four in a single day. Scherbo tied Eric Heiden's record for individual gold medals at a single Olympics, winning five medals in an individual event. In women's artistic gymnastics, Tatiana Gutsu took gold in the All-Around competition edging the United States' Shannon Miller. Russian swimmers dominated the men’s freestyle events, with Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi each winning two events. Sadovyi won in the relays. Evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay, making her one of only four female athletes to have achieved this in history; the young Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary won three individual swimming gold medals.
In women's 200 metre breaststroke, Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan won a gold medal at age of 14 years and six days, making her the youngest-ever gold medalist in swimming competitions at the Olympics. Algerian athlete Hassiba Boulmerka, criticized by Muslim groups in Algeria who thought she showed too much of her body when racing, received death threats and was forced to move to Europe to train, won the 1,500 metres holding the African women's record in this distance. After being demonstrated in six previous Summer Olympic Games, baseball became an Olympic sport. Badminton and women's judo became part of the Olympic program, while slalom canoeing returned to the Games after a 20-year absence. Roller hockey, Basque pelota, taekwondo were all demonstrated at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Several of the U. S. men's volleyball gold medal team from the 1988 Olympics returned to vie for another medal. In the preliminary round, they lost a controversial match to Japan, sparking them to shave their heads in protest.
This notably included player Steve
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics called the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event in Montreal, Quebec, in 1976, the first Olympic Games held in Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles, it was the first and, so far, only Summer Olympic Games. Calgary and Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively. Twenty-nine countries African, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo; the vote occurred on May 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, Netherlands. While Los Angeles and Moscow were viewed as the favourites given that they represented the world's two main powers, many of the smaller countries supported Montreal as an underdog and as a neutral site for the games.
Los Angeles was eliminated after the first round and Montreal won in the second round. Moscow would go on to host Los Angeles the 1984 Summer Olympics. One blank vote was cast in the final round. Toronto had made its third attempt for the Olympics but failed to get the support of the Canadian Olympic Committee, which selected Montreal instead. Robert Bourassa the Premier of Quebec, first asked Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to advise Canada's monarch, Elizabeth II, to attend the opening of the games. However, Bourassa became unsettled about how unpopular the move might be with sovereigntists in the province, annoying Trudeau, who had made arrangements; the leader of the Parti Québécois at the time, René Lévesque, sent his own letter to Buckingham Palace, asking the Queen to refuse her prime minister's request, though she did not oblige Lévesque as he was out of his jurisdiction in offering advice to the Sovereign. In 1976, succumbing to pressure from the Communist Chinese, issued an order barring Taiwan from participating as China in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, although technically it was a matter for the IOC.
His action strained relations with the United States – from President Ford, future President Carter and the press. The Oxford Olympics Study estimates the outturn cost of the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics at USD 6.1 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 720% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g. expenditures for technology, workforce, security, catering and medical services, direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g. the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games; the cost overrun for Montreal 1976 is the highest cost overrun on record for any Olympics.
The cost and cost overrun for Montreal 1976 compares with costs of USD 4.6 billion and a cost overrun of 51% for Rio 2016 and USD 15 billion and 76% for London 2012. Average cost for the Summer Games from 1960 to 2016 is 5.2 billion 2015 US dollars, average cost overrun is 176%. Much of the cost overruns were caused by the Conseil des métiers de la construction union whose leader was André "Dede" Desjardins, who kept the construction site in "anarchic disorder" as part of a shakedown; the French architect Roger Taillibert who designed the Olympic stadium recounted in his 2000 book Notre Cher Stade Olympique that he and Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau tried hard to buy off Desjardins taking him to a lunch at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton hotel in a vain attempt to end the "delays". Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa made some sort of secret deal to buy off Desjardins, which allowed work to proceed. Taillibert wrote in Notre Cher Stade Olympique "If the Olympic Games took place, it was thanks to Dede Desjardins.
What irony!" The opening ceremony of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games was held on Saturday, July 17, 1976, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec in front of an audience of some 73,000 in the stadium, an estimated half billion watching on television. Following an air show by the Canadian Forces Air Command's Snowbirds aerobatic flight demonstration squadron in the sunny skies above the stadium, the ceremony began at 3:00 pm with a trumpet fanfare and the arrival of Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada; the Queen was accompanied by Michael Morris, Lord Killanin, President of the International Olympic Committee, was greeted to an orchestral rendition of'O Canada', an arrangement that for many years would be used in schools across the country as well as in the daily sign off of TV broadcasts in the country. The queen entered the Royal Box with her consort, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, her son, Prince Andrew, she joined a number of Canadian and Olympic dignitaries, including: Jules Léger, Governor General of Canada, his wife, Gabrielle.
The parade o
Mexico City
Mexico City, or the City of Mexico, is the capital of Mexico and the most populous city in North America. Mexico City is one of the most important financial centres in the Americas, it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus in the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 meters. The city has 16 boroughs; the 2009 population for the city proper was 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometers. According to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the population of Greater Mexico City is 21.3 million, which makes it the largest metropolitan area of the Western Hemisphere, the eleventh-largest agglomeration, the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. Greater Mexico City has a GDP of $411 billion in 2011, making Greater Mexico City one of the most productive urban areas in the world; the city was responsible for generating 15.8% of Mexico's GDP, the metropolitan area accounted for about 22% of total national GDP.
If it were an independent country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America, five times as large as Costa Rica and about the same size as Peru. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Native Americans, the other being Quito, Ecuador; the city was built on an island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325 as Tenochtitlan, completely destroyed in the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan and subsequently redesigned and rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, as of 1585, it was known as Ciudad de México. Mexico City was the political and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the federal district was created in 1824. After years of demanding greater political autonomy, residents were given the right to elect both a Head of Government and the representatives of the unicameral Legislative Assembly by election in 1997.
Since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them. The city has several progressive policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, same-sex marriage. On January 29, 2016, it ceased to be the Federal District, is now known as Ciudad de México, with a greater degree of autonomy. A clause in the Constitution of Mexico, prevents it from becoming a state, as it is the seat of power in the country, unless the capital of the country were relocated elsewhere; the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. The old Mexica city, now referred to as Tenochtitlan was built on an island in the center of the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico, which it shared with a smaller city-state called Tlatelolco. According to legend, the Mexicas' principal god, indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear devouring a rattlesnake. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco and in the Valley of Mexico.
When the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the other native peoples, arriving there on November 8, 1519. Cortés and his men marched along the causeway leading into the city from Iztapalapa, the city's ruler, Moctezuma II, greeted the Spaniards. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest. Tensions increased until, on the night of June 30, 1520 – during a struggle known as "La Noche Triste" – the Aztecs rose up against the Spanish intrusion and managed to capture or drive out the Europeans and their Tlaxcalan allies. Cortés regrouped at Tlaxcala; the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521. For three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans.
Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island and fought their way through the city. Cuauhtémoc surrendered in August 1521; the Spaniards razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order, he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown. The first Spanish viceroy arrived in Mexico City fourteen years later. By that time, the city had again become a city-state, having power that extended far beyond its borders. Although the Spanish preserved Tenochtitlan's basic layout, they built Catholic churches over the old Aztec temples and claimed the imperial palaces for themselves. Tenochtitlan was renamed "Mexico"; the city had been the capital of the Aztec empire and in the colonial era, Mexico City became the capital of New Spain. The viceroy of Mexico or vice-king lived in the viceregal palace on Zócalo; the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishopric of New Spain, was const
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, from October 12th to the 27th. These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country, they were the first Games to use an all-weather track for track and field events instead of the traditional cinder track. The 1968 Games were the third to be held in the last quarter of the year, after the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the 1964 Games in Tokyo; the Mexican Student Movement of 1968 happened concurrently and the Olympic Games were correlated to the government's repression. On October 18, 1963, at the 60th IOC Session in Baden-Baden, West Germany, Mexico City finished ahead of bids from Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games; the 1968 torch relay recreated the route taken by Christopher Columbus to the New World, journeying from Greece through Italy and Spain to San Salvador Island, on to Mexico. American sculptor James Metcalf, an expatriate in Mexico, won the commission to forge the Olympic torch for the 1968 Summer Games.
In the medal award ceremony for the men's 200 meter race, black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos took a stand for civil rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes. The Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore an American "civil rights" badge as support to them on the podium. In response, the IOC banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, Norman's omission from Australia's Olympic team in 1972 was as punishment. George Foreman won the gold medal in heavyweight boxing division by defeating Soviet Ionas Chepulis via a second-round TKO. After the victory, Foreman waved a small American flag; the high elevation of Mexico City, at 2,240 m above sea level, influenced many of the events in track and field. No other Summer Olympic Games before or since have been held at high elevation. In addition to high elevation, this was the first Olympics to use a synthetic all-weather surface for track and field events; the tracks at previous Olympics were conventional cinder.
For the first time and West Germany competed as separate teams, after being forced by the IOC to compete as a combined German team in 1956, 1960, 1964. Al Oerter won his fourth consecutive gold medal in the discus to become only the second athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event, the first in track & field. Bob Beamon leapt 8.90 m in the long jump, an incredible 55 cm improvement over the previous world record. It remained the Olympic record and stood as the world record for 23 years, until broken by American Mike Powell in 1991. Jim Hines, Tommie Smith and Lee Evans set long-standing world records in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m, respectively. In the triple jump, the previous world record was improved five times by three different athletes. Winner Viktor Saneev won in 1972 and 1976, won silver in 1980. Dick Fosbury won the gold medal in the high jump using his unconventional Fosbury flop technique, which became the dominant technique in the event. Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia won four gold medals in gymnastics and protested the Soviet invasion of her country.
Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals, in the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle events. The 800 m was a new long-distance event for women. Meyer was only 16 years old, a student at Rio Americano High School in California. Meyer was the first of several American teenagers to win the 800 m. American swimmer Charlie Hickcox won three gold medals and one silver medal; the introduction of doping tests resulted in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for alcohol use. John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania became internationally famous after finishing the marathon, in the last place, despite a dislocated knee; this was the first of three Olympic participation by Jacques Rogge. He competed in yachting and would become the president of the IOC. Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo of Mexico became the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron with the Olympic flame, it was the first games. Africans won at least one medal in all running events from 800 meters to the marathon, in so doing they set a trend for future games.
Most of these runners came from high-altitude areas of countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, they were well-prepared for the 2240 m elevation of Mexico City. Kipchoge Keino of Kenya, competing in spite of unexpected bouts of severe abdominal pain diagnosed as a gall bladder infection, finished the 10,000 meters in spite of collapsing from pain with two laps to go, won silver in the 5000, won gold in the 1500 meters, it was the first Olympic games in which the closing ceremony was transmitted in color to the world, as well as the events themselves. South Africa was provisionally invited to the Games, on the understanding that all segregation and discrimination in sport would be eliminated by the 1972 Games. However, African countries and African American athletes promised to boycott the Games if South Africa was present, Eastern Bloc countries threatened to do likewise. In April 1968 the IOC conceded that "it would be most unwise for South Africa to participate". Responding to growing social unrest and protests, the government of Me
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