• 1 For a biographical study of Pierre de Coubertin and his actions towards the consolidation of modern (...)
• 2 This idea was inspired by the work of Marteen van Bottenburg, Global Games, Urbana, University of I (...)

2The most common approach in the study of the modern Olympic Games is to begin with the founders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the late nineteenth century. The approach usually begins with figures such as Alphonse Chodron, Demetrius Vikelas, José Benjamin Zubiaur, and most notably, Pierre de Coubertin. Consequently, studies look at how different nations adhered to IOC regulations.1 In this article, I question this simplified genealogy of the modern Olympic Games. On its single forms, Olympism, Olympic culture, or Olympic movement, can limit the understanding to merely the process of centralization and unification that IOC members began in 1894, and that has continued until the present.2

• 3 I am aware that there are different concepts to trace the historical processes that resulted in the (...)

3Instead, I propose that the plural form, Olympic cultures, is more useful since it highlights the multiple forms of experiencing and implementing ideas of physical culture among different individuals and communities over time. This concept tries to go beyond the centralization of practices and ideas by the IOC, and acknowledge that there is a more complex history behind the consolidation of what has been labelled as Olympism. Many sport organizations and individuals around the world shaped cultural practices, consumer dynamics, public policies, spectatorship, and specialized workforce that then contributed to contemporary understanding of the Olympic movement, Olympism, or Olympic Culture.3

• 4 While making this argument, I acknowledge that sport was and has been interconnected to broader iss (...)

4Using the concept of Olympic Cultures is a political positioning that openly questions Eurocentric explanations of the Modern Olympic Games. The argument defended here is that physical cultures developed prior and parallel to the institutionalization of Olympism by the IOC from 1894 onward. In this article, the Mexican example is used as one of many that can speak about the traditions that fed the Olympic movement over the twentieth century. I focus on the actions in Mexico City because it was historically the urban center that received most of the infrastructure in the country. In doing so, I am fully aware that the national context is more complex and needs a diversified approach to these dynamics.4

• 5 According to an 1895 newspaper written in English and printed in Mexico City, Pierre de Coubertin f (...)
• 6 Ana Laura de la Torre Saavedra, Cruzadas olí́mpicas en la Ciudad de México: cultura física, juve (...)

7According to historian Ana Laura de la Torre, the international dissemination of European Olympism in the late nineteenth century had a fertile ground in Mexico given the country’s prior development of sport and physical activities. Pierre de Coubertin and the members of the first IOC congress in Paris 1894 openly acknowledged the inspiration they had taken from sport and physical activation programs in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.5 These influences came from British public schools, but also from religious organizations through the application of ideas labelled as “muscular Christianity.”6 De la Torre claims that examples of cultura física (physical culture) were present in Mexico City at least since the 1870s. This occurred decades before the IOC was created.

• 7 In 1896, a newspaper reported the matches played in Mexico City, while also describing the bets pla (...)
• 8 Ana Laura de la Torre Saavedra, Cruzadas olí́mpicas…, op. cit., p. 16. See also María José Garrido (...)
• 9 There were other signs of physical activities, by the 1890’s journalists in Mexico City were writin (...)

9Religious groups were not the only ones to implement sport and physical activities prior to the 1890’s. The construction of tennis courts and horse racing tracks in Mexico City show that there were dedicated spaces for competitive activities and for their spectators in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.7 Historian María José Garrido Asperó has shown that pelota/ball and wall sports (deportes de frontón) were practiced in territory we now know as Mexico in the latter decades of the colonial period (1521-1821).8 These signs could be seen in venues built for these activities.9

• 10 Even though most of the political and cultural celebrations were held in Mexico City during the col (...)
• 11 Marteen van Bottenburg, Global Games, op. cit.

10In addition to frontón, late eighteenth-century bullfighting in New Spain works for the argument presented here. Even though in present standards, bullfighting does not tend to be labelled as a sport, there were venues built for spectators to watch bullfighters and bulls.10 Bullfighting rituals were part of socio-cultural and economic dynamics in the colonial period as well as in the first years of independent Mexico. The findings of scholars such as Garrido Asperó are in line with Maarten van Bottenburg’s claim that sport developed in different areas of the world, and not only in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.11

• 12 There are reports of cockfights being held in Mexico City since the eighteenth century: see Juan Fr (...)
• 13 The turn of the twentieth century was marked by the control of General Porfirio Díaz. Díaz was offi (...)
• 14 William Beezley, Judas at the Jockey Club and other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico, Lincoln, Universi (...)

11By the turn of the twentieth century, Jesuits and the YMCA were promoting physical activities, while bull and cock fighting, horse and dog racing had a spectatorship that was evident in the architecture of the city, as well as in the interest of the readers in the press.12 During this period, non-Mexican communities played a significant role in the promotion of organized sport.13 According to historian William Beezley, the presence in Mexico of companies from France, United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Germany, also meant the promotion of certain physical activities.14

• 15 Linnete Manrique, “Dreaming of a cosmic race: José Vasconcelos and the politics of race in Mexico, (...)

13Government officials promoted physical activation programs through massive educational campaigns such as those led by José Vasconcelos, Secretary of education from 1921 to 1924.15 Other actions were taken with the creation of the Mexican Olympic Committee in 1923. This process was soon followed by the creation of the Confederación Deportiva Mexicana de Aficionados (Mexican Amateur Sport Confederation), and the Consejo Nacional de Cultura Física (Mexican Council for Physical Culture). These organizations promoted hygiene through physical mobility, while they were also an important step that mirrored the international sport system that was being directed by members of France, Great Britain, and the United States of America, among others.

• 16 In 1929, President Plutarco Elías Calles led the creation of the state party, the PNR (Partido Naci (...)

14The public policies implemented by government officials had nation building objectives. With the creation of sport organizations that resembled others created around the globe, Mexico City was able to organize the first Central American and Caribbean Games alongside Cuba and Guatemala. Mexico City became the first host of the first sub-continental sport event in the world.16 Mexican government officials aligned with IOC regulations by creating a national Olympic committee and responding to hygienic ideas and practices. Mexico also participated in the Olympic Games from 1924 to Berlin 1936, before these were interrupted by World War II.

• 17 Brenda Elsey, “Cultural Ambassadorship and the Pan-American Games of the 1950s”, International Jour (...)

15After 1945, government officials and the state party placed even more importance on competitive sport as part of their nation building and cultural diplomacy strategies. Mexican government officials alongside their Argentine peers, worked to implement a project of continental unity through a sport mega-event, the Pan-American Games. After some years of planning and debates, Buenos Aires hosted the first Pan-American Games in 1951, followed by Mexico City in 1955.17 These efforts were taken to a new level when government officials placed bids to host the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympic Games.

• 18 Benjamín Flores Hernández, “Organización de corridas de toros en la Nueva España del siglo XVIII y (...)

19Just as there are examples of public policy measures taken in the field of sport and physical activities before the Olympics, there are also signs in architecture and urbanisms. Bullrings such as the Real Plaza de toros (Royal Plaza Bull Ring) were built in the 1780’s and stood for the last decades of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, before Mexico gained its independence. Once Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, other bullrings such as the Plaza de toros del Paseo Nuevo (Paseo Nuevo Bull Ring) were used for bullfighting in Mexico City.18

• 19 “Carreras de caballos”, La Voz de México, 29 January 1908, p. 3. According to the same newspaper, t (...)
• 20 The Hipódromo de la Condesa worked as a space for presentations of physical activity, not only for (...)

20These buildings are relevant because they reflect an existing spectatorship for physical activities. The same can be said about racing tracks such as the Hipódromo de Peralvillo and that of La Condesa, where the press reported President Porfirio Díaz’s regular attendance.19 Tennis courts are another relevant case and point since there were examples of courts with seating for spectators.20

• 21 This list does not include sport complexes built beyond Mexico City nor large sport venues such as (...)
• 22 “Gráficas de las trasnscendentales ceremonias verificadas ayer”, El Nacional, 21 November 1929, p.  (...)
• 23 The sport complex was named after the six-year plan that the state party, the PNR had created in 19 (...)
• 24 This sport complex was relevant because it was nearly the size of Plan Sexenal and Venustiano Carra (...)
• 25 The inauguration consisted of a sport parade, and discourses by President Adolfo Ruíz Cortines and (...)

21Regarding sport infrastructure, there are four significant state-funded projects prior to the 1968 Olympics which were not intentionally planned for Mexico’s adherence to the IOC, but ended up contributing to this process.21 The first happened during the nineteenth anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution, 20 November 1929, when President Emilio Portes Gil (1928-1930) inaugurated the 54,210 m² of the Venustiano Carranza Sport Centre (Deportivo Venustiano Carranza).22 The second one in 1938 when President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) inaugurated the 85,194 m² of the Deportivo Plan Sexenal (Sexennial Plan Sport Centre).23 The third one was the 120,000 m² that comprised the Plutarco Elías Calles Sport Centre (Centro Deportivo Plutarco Elías Calles).24 The fourth, Sport City (Ciudad Deportiva) consisted of 2,350,000 m² of sports grounds. Mayor Ernesto P. Uruchurtu (1952-1966) and President Adolfo Ruíz (1952-1958) inaugurated the sport complex on 16 November 1958.25

• 26 Besides Neguib, the “Compañía commercial ‘ciudad de los deportes’” had support from other businessm (...)

22The Mexican government implemented these projects to signpost modernity by providing areas for the leisure of the citizenry, mainly middle classes. Nevertheless, besides the state-led projects, there were other created with private funds. From 1944 to 1946, businessman Neguib Simón, led the project that invested 5 million pesos to create an area dedicated to sport in the western part of the city.26 The City of Sports (Ciudad de los Deportes) was located in an area less prone to flooding, and preferred by the middle and higher classes. The project intended to have sport grounds but ended up being a bullfighting ring and a football stadium.

• 27 International Olympic Committee, Minutes of the 60^th Session, Baden-Baden, International Olympic Co (...)
• 28 Organizing Committee of the XIX Olympic Games, Mexico 68. Official Report, Mexico City, Editorial M (...)

23The sport grounds were meant for physical activation of the citizenry, but these were also included in Mexico City’s bid to host the 1968 Olympic Games. Since the city fulfilled the formal requirements it made it to the elections with Detroit, Lyon, and Buenos Aires. Mexico City won the elections on 18 October 1963 during the sixtieth IOC session held in Baden-Baden.27 Immediately after the IOC elections were communicated, Mexico City’s major, Ernesto P. Uruchurtu, as well as the two IOC members, Marte R. Gómez, and José de Jesús Clark Flores, celebrated the results of the elections. Gómez and Clark Flores “offered their thanks and formally pledged themselves to carry out all that had been promised.”28 Mexico City’s bidding team had offered low-cost Olympics. The organizers celebrated the decision and dedicated the following five years to organize the Olympic Games.

• 29 Ibid.
• 30 Mary Jane Lightbow, “Mexico City’s Olympic Feats”, Fortune, March 1968.

25Even though Mexico’s economy experienced economic growth for several decades, the country’s economy was not as strong as that of previous Olympic hosts. The organizers spent less than its post-World War II predecessors, Rome, and Tokyo, but this was still a considerable sum for Mexico. According to the Organizing Committee of the XIX Olympic Games, 84 million dollars were spent for the Olympic Games.29 For journalist, Mary Jane Lightbow, the 84 million dollars figure was split almost evenly between the costs associated with the construction and refurbishing of sport venues, and the wages of the people and institutions organizing the event. Lightbow claimed that 84 million dollars figure did not consider the costs of urban renewal projects, nor the private capital invested to improve services.30

• 32 Archivo General de la Nación, Dirección General de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociales, Box 911, F (...)

27President Díaz Ordaz would then claim that the country had spent what was necessary to comply with the rules of the ISFs and the IOC, but that unlike previous hosts, there had been no “luxurious expenses.” Instead, Díaz Ordaz claimed that there had been an investment in the “genius, knowledge, good taste and spirit of the hard-working Mexicans.” The foreign service replicated similar messages.32

• 33 Organizing Committte, Mexico 68…, op. cit, vol. 2, p. 73.

29The Centro Deportivo Olímpico Mexicano (Mexican Olympic Sport Centre) was built in this period. According to the Official Report of the Organizing Committee, the Centro Deportivo Olímpico Mexicano (CDOM, Mexicano Olympic Sport Centre) was built specifically for the nineteenth Olympic Games. The CDOM was the first training center built intentionally for athletes that would represent Mexico. Besides CDOM, the Mexican government planned for the refurbishing of the tracks in the Olympic Stadium and built new ones in the Olympic Village. Wrestling and boxing facilities were included in the latter as well.33 These facilities were refurbished as part of the organization of the Olympic Games which was led by the organizing committee.

• 34 Camilo Vicente Ovalle, [Tiempo Suspendido] Una Historia de La Desaparición Forzada En México, 1940- (...)

30It is also important to highlight that the 1968 Olympic Games took place in a highly political year for Mexico City. Youth groups, mainly students, took to the streets from July to October to protest against historical state repression. The youth protests contrasted starkly with the messages of peace and unity that organizers communicated with the slogan: “Everything is possible in Peace.” The student protests have captured much of the attention on the studies on Mexico 1968 given the violent state repression that happened in Tlatelolco. Nevertheless, as historians Camilo Vicente Ovalle and Jaime Pensado have shown in their own work, the student massacre of 2 October 1968 contributed to a broader picture of state-led violence.34

• 35 Fabio Chisari, “An Armchair Seat at the Olympics’ BBC Television and the 1968 Mexico City Olympic G (...)

34Both the Olympic movement and broadcasting technology expanded over the course of the twentieth century. Historian, Fabio Chisari, traced the first television broadcasting of sport to Wimbledon in 1937 and the BBC first broadcast of the Olympics were those for London 1948. Despite these antecedents, Chisari also claimed that it was not until the sixties that the Olympics became “part of the national sporting calendar”, and Mexico 68 was a turning point.35

• 36 Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante, Richard Cole, Muy buenas noches: México, Television, and the Cold W (...)

35The sixties saw a rise in population growth and consumer capacity. The consumption of the offer in television and radio increased as well. As historian, Celeste González de Bustamante, states: “Between 1950 and 1970 the number of television sets throughout the country skyrocketed from a mere hundred receivers to 4.5 million.”36 This increase in television owner and viewership had an impact on the development of the Olympic sport, as well as in the construction of global spectatorship.