The Olympics: The Games Begin

The Olympics always present a surpassing spectacle, and Mexico City last week greeted the greatest gathering of athletes in history; 7,226 competitors from 119 nations. In Olympic Stadium, to the boom of cannon salutes and the blare of bands, the teams marched in review before Mexico’s President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and 80,000 cheering spectators. As always, the parade was led by the Greek team and wound up by the host nation. The formation was familiar, but this year its colors were uncommonly bright. The Mexicans were dazzling in white. There were green-gowned Nigerians and Australian girls in yellow dresses; the Americans wore red blazers and the Russians chose blue. The Japanese were decked out in uniforms of cerise and white, and there was a magnificent Mongolian flag-bearer in red loincloth, salmon cape, fur hat and leather knee boots.

Some 40,000 balloons soared aloft, and 6,000 pigeons fluttered skyward. The blazing torch arrived—borne for the first time by a woman, Mexico’s 20-year-old Norma Enriqueta Basilio Sotelo—to end a 10,000-mile odyssey that started at Olympia. After a final 21-gun salute, the games of the XIX Olympiad were officially under way.

For all the pageantry, the wonder was that the games were taking place at all. Rarely has the path to the Olympics been littered with so much angry controversy. From the moment Mexico City was named as the site, arguments raged over the possible effects of its 7,349-foot altitude on the athletes. Sex became a bitter issue when international sports federations started demanding a gender test of all female competitors, and some girls withdrew rather than submit to the embarrassment. A worldwide protest that threatened to close down the whole show forced the International Olympic Committee to reinstate its ban on segregated South Africa. All year long, black militants in the U.S. tried — and fortunately failed—to organize a boycott by Negro athletes. In a final crisis, the bloody student riots in Mexico City almost caused cancellation of the games.

During it all, Mexican laborers worked furiously to get everything ready for the games and the spectators flooding in from all over the world. The government spent something like $150 million. University City Stadium, for track competition, was enlarged. Other facilities: a second, 100,000-seat stadium for soccer, a 22,000-seat geodesic-domed Sports Palace for basketball and boxing, a suspended-roof pool with unobstructed sight lines for 10,000 spectators for the swimming events. For the competitors themselves, there was a $12.5 million Olympic Village with 29 six-and ten-story apartment buildings, six mess halls, a Tartan training track, a shopping center and a clinic.

Superlative was the word for the facilities. Judged by their past performances and present eagerness, the athletes seem sure to match them.