Daily Archives: May 18, 2020

The Olympics in Mexico (1969)

The Olympics in Mexico (Olympiada en Mexico)
Directed by Alberto Isaac
Written by Alberto Isaac and Fernando Macotela
1969/Mexico
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

 

“If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.” – Tommie Smith, Gold Medalist 200-meter sprint 1968 Mexico City Olympics

Well, we can’t see the Tokyo Olympics so I settled for this nicely made documentary on the Mexico City Olympics

This has everything you would expect from a straight-forward Olympics documentary – highlights, athletic feats, culture and scenery.  Oh, and one very memorable award ceremony …

Back when we had idealism, live sports, and a regularly scheduled Olympic Games, Mexico City recorded its days in the sun with this very nice documentary.  It isn’t Olympia (1938) or anything.  I believe the Criterion Channel has all the films from Criterion’s huge Olympics box set available for streaming.

The Olympics in Mexico was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Features.