Mexico: Carrying the Torch in ’68

The symbolic torch of the Olympic games has burned in many places, but never in Latin America. As the International Olympic Committee met in the West German resort of Baden-Baden last week to pick the site for the 1968 summer games, the French city of Lyon poured out the champagne and was full of effervescent expectations. Michigan’s Governor George Romney flew over from the U.S. to plead Detroit’s impressive case (its seventh attempt) with the help of a 37-minute movie including a special pitch by President Kennedy. Of the two Latin American contenders, Mexico and Argentina, the men from Buenos Aires gave it only a halfhearted try.

The Mexicans were more enthusiastic. They were among the first to arrive at Baden-Baden, spent five days buttonholing committee members in the corridors. On presentation day, they flashed Cinerama shots of stadiums, swimming pools and sports centers used in the 1955 Pan American Games, and displayed a model of the 110,000-seat stadium under construction. They promised to charge athletes only $2.80 a day for room and board¢ lower than Detroit—and crowds would be no problem for their tourist-oriented city. And what about the 7,400-ft. altitude? Snorted a Bulgarian delegate: “Horses never have trouble getting acclimatized down there. And if horses can stand it, so can the humans.”

Mexico City won hands down with 30 votes, v. 14 for Detroit, 12 for Lyon, 2 for Buenos Aires. “What helped Mexico,” says Avery Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee, “was that it is one of the smaller countries, and some members felt that they could do more for the Olympic movement on the whole by giving encouragement to such a country.”