These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country.
They were also the first Games to be held in a developing country (previously, all Olympic Games had been held in First World countries).
They were also the first Games to use an all-weather (hard) track for track and field events instead of a traditional cinder track.
The 1968 Games were the third to be held in autumn, after the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the 1964 Games in Tokyo.
The Mexican Student Movement of 1968 happened and the Olympic Games were correlated to the government's repression.