The 1968 Olympics Taught Athletes to Sleep at Altitude

Mexico City's 1968 Summer Olympics took place at 2,240 metres above sea level — higher than any previous Games. The effects split along event lines in ways that left commentators struggling to explain them live.

In sprints and jumps, the thin air meant less resistance. Bob Beamon long-jumped 8.90 metres on October 18, 1968 — a margin so far beyond the world record that the measuring device ran out of range and officials had to fetch a tape measure. The record stood for 23 years. Jim Hines ran the 100m in 9.95 seconds, the first sub-10 legal time ever recorded.

Distance events ran the opposite direction. Marathon winner Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia finished in 2:20:26 — slower than the previous three Olympic marathon times. The 10,000m was won in 29:27, more than a minute slower than the 1964 winner's time. Athletes who had trained at sea level were running on borrowed oxygen.

Sports scientists pieced together what happened: at altitude, the body produces more red blood cells to compensate. Athletes who lived or trained at altitude arrived with a natural advantage; those who flew in late were behind from the first lap. Within a decade, purpose-built altitude camps appeared in Colorado, Font Romeu in France, and the Ethiopian highlands. The practice — live high, train high — became standard protocol for any endurance athlete chasing Olympic qualification.