Mexico Mexico
XIX Summer International Olympic Games

Totally, 5516 athletes (including 781 female ones) of 112 nations competed at the Summer Olympics. Athletes of Barbados, British Honduras, Virgin Islands (USA), Guinea, Honduras, Congo (Kinshasa), Kuwait, Libya, Nicaragua, Paraguay, El Salvador, Surinam, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic made their first appearance at the Games. East and West Germany athletes, who earlier composed the United Team, were members of two separate teams in Mexico. South Africa was again banned from the Summer Olympics due to the apartheid policies. The USSR delegation included 313 athletes. They competed in all sports except football (they lost the qualifying matches) and field hockey. Totally, 172 sets of medals had been played for in 20 sports.
For the first time in the Olympic history, the Olympic Flame was lit by a Mexican female athlete Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo. The Athlete’s Oath was voiced by Mexican athlete Pablo Garrido. The Games of the XIX Olympiad were officially opened by President of the United Mexican States Gustavo Díaz Ordaz.

WINNER MEDALS
The design of the medal itself, its obverse and reverse, remained traditional. A new element was a suspension device with a lug and suspension ring linking the lug with the medal. On the obverse of the suspension device is a graphic symbol (pictogram) of the sport concerned; on the reverse, its name in Spanish. The suspension device itself was suspended from a ribbon.
OBVERSE: a figure of the Greek Goddess of Victory, holding a laurel wreath in her right hand, hand raised, and a palm leaf in her left hand. On the left of the goddess, there is a Panathenaean amphora standing on a shelf rock, with depicted competing athletes. A view of an amphitheatre looking like the Roman Coliseum appears on the right of the goddess. A four-line inscription in Spanish reading “XIX – Olimpiada – Mexico – 1968” is engraved in the right upper segment. As distinct from the Tokyo Olympics the obverse lacks the sport concerned
REVERSE: a scene of an Olympic champion with a palm leaf in his left hand carried in triumph by other athletes; his right hand is raised to hail. The designer’s initials “G.C.” (Giuseppe Cassioli) are engraved at the right edge of the medal next to an athlete figure.

COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL
The medal is a regular square plaque with rounded corners.
OBVERSE: there are pictographic icons of Olympic sports arranged in a quasi-chessboard pattern, four lines by five columns. The third and fourth lines are divided with the Mexico Olympic logo (the name of the host-city and year in Spanish) – “MEXICO 68” , with the Olympic rings superimposed on the year.
REVERSE: a legend in Spanish between two parallel lines reads “Juegos De La XIX Olimpiada” (English: Games of XIX Olympiad)

GOLD WINNER MEDAL (FIRST PRIZE) 

Metal	silver-gilt
Diameter	60 mm
Thickness	3,5 mm
Weight	130 g
Designer	Ciuseppe Cassioli
Mint	N/A

SILVER WINNER MEDAL (SECOND PRIZE)

Metal	silver
Diameter	60 mm
Thickness	3,5 mm
Weight	129 g
Designer	Ciuseppe Cassioli
Mint	N/A

BRONZE WINNER MEDAL (THIRD PRIZE)

Metal	bronze
Diameter	60 mm
Thickness	3 mm
Weight	87 g
Designer	Ciuseppe Cassioli
Mint	N/A

COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL

Metal	copper
Height	50 mm
Width	50 mm
Thickness	5 mm
Weight	116 g
Designer	Lance Wyman
Mint	N/A