1964 TOKYO The first Games to be staged in Asia were a masterpiece of organisation.Don Schollander, 18, became the first swimmer to win four gold medals at one Olympics while Dawn Fraser won her third successive 100m freestyle. Peter Snell of New Zealand retained his 800m title and added the 1,500m while Bob Hayes won the 100m in a world record of 10.0sec. This performance was verified on the photo-finish device used for the first time. Judo was introduced but the Japanese lost the fourth title and most important, the open category, to Holland's Anton Geesink. Joe Frazier, another future world professional champion, won the heavyweight boxing title and India won their seventh hockey title, turning the tables on Pakistan who has broken the sequence in 1960. Larysa Latynina of the Soviet Union lost the all-round gymnastics title to Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia but collected six more medals to bring her total to 18: nine gold, five silver and four bronze. 1968 MEXICO CITY This was the year when student-led strikes in France almost toppled General de Gaulle and Soviet tanks wiped out Prague's attempts to throw out Communism. Students in Mexico disagreed about state money being spent on the Olympics and staged a series of protests, all broken up violently by the police. IOC president Avery Brundage warned the president, Diaz Ordez, that if there were demonstrations at the Olympic sites the Games would be cancelled. Ten days before the Games were to begin the army opened fire on a peaceful rally and killed nearly 300. The IOC refused to take a stand and described it as a local affair. Two weeks later, sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a Black Power salute during the American anthem. “A nasty demonstration against the United States flag by Negroes," was Brundage's response and the two men were thrown out. Significantly, the civil rights protest was supported by Australia's Peter Norman, the silver medal winner. Mexico City's rareified air helped athletes set records in the sprint events. Bob Beamon jumped 29ft 5in (8.90m) for a world record that would remain unbeaten for 23 years. But the distance runners suffered – unless they were from the east African plateau. Kip Keino won the 1,500m and a silver in 5,000m when a tactical error let in Tunisian Mohammed Gammoudi as Kenya won their first ever gold medals. Naftali Temu won the 10,000m and Amos Biwot the steeplechase. Ethiopia's Mamo Wolde won the marathon. Dick Fosbury, whose jump was nicknamed the flip but later became the flop, won the high jump and dicus thrower Al Oerter became the first man to win four athletic golds. But the hero of Mexico was Vera Caslavska, the defending All-round gymnastic champion from Czechoslovakia who had publicly come out against Soviet involvement in her country before Leonid Brezhnev sent the tanks in. She was eventually allowed to go to Mexico where she captivated the crowds, adding four gold medals and two silvers to the three gold and two silver she had won in Tokyo. To be continued
