Video: 'Full Olympic Film - Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games'

(Saturday, October 12, 1968, 11:00 a.m. CST) — President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of Mexico formally proclaimed the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics (officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad) today in a setting of pageantry, brotherhood and peace before a crowd of 100,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City.

These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country.

5,516 (4,735 men, 781 women) from 112 nations competed in 172 events in 18 sports (24 disciplines) through Oct. 27, 1948.

The United States won the most gold medals (45) and took home the most medals (107).