Beach towel used by swimmer Victoria King at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics
date: label: date made
content: 1968
name: label: user
content: King, Victoria
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Beach towel used by swimmer Victoria King at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics is white terry cloth. At 15, Victoria King, the youngest member of USA Swimming at the 1968 Mexico City Games, was an alternate for the 800 and 400 m freestyles and the relays.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The 1968 Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad were held in Mexico City, Mexico with 110 countries and 4,735 men and 781 women athletes participating. These were also the first to be held in Latin America and the first in a Spanish speaking country. The 1968 US Olympic track and field team was one of the most successful track teams’ winning twenty-four medals, including twelve gold. The high altitude of Mexico City was attributed to many of the records broken in the short distance races although those in the endurance races suffered from the lack of oxygen. These games also introduced the world to the Fosbury flop as Dick Fosbury won the gold with a new backward approach to the high jump, 16-year-old Debbie Meyer became the first US woman to win three individual golds in swimming and newcomer, George Foreman won gold in boxing. These Games were the first to subject athletes to drug testing which led to the first disqualification of an athlete after drinking a beer before his pentathlon competition. The politically charged atmosphere around the globe that year also contributed to controversy on the medal podium when two African-American athletes held black gloved hands high and bowed their heads during the National Anthem in response to the civil rights protests prevalent in the United States. The US won the medal count with 107.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: name of sport
content: Swimming
label: level of sport
content: Olympics
label: web subject
content: Women
label: related event
content: Olympic Summer Games: Mexico City, 1968
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Sports & Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0081.04
label: accession number
content: 2018.0081
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0081.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: beach towel, summer olympics
label: Object Name
content: beach towel
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, terry cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 in x 43 in; 60.96 cm x 109.22 cm