"The Olympics came to Mexico City, and the world was on fire," Williams reads, with nods to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War's deadliest year, before adding, "The world came together, even as it was tearing at the seams."
The doc, effectively titled 1968, addresses other matters of state, sport and more, including Czechoslovakian gymnast Vera Caslavska's protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of her country, as that now-defunct state "crushed the Prague Spring," per NBC's 1968 release. U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists and looked down during their own medal ceremony. For their strong-willed efforts, Caslavska, Smith and Carlos were all criticized heavily or, in the sprinters' case, even removed from the Games.
The likes of sports icons George Foreman and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are interviewed betwixt sections of the four-time Olympic gold medalist Williams' narration. (She won her quartet of top-flight hardware across three Olympics Games in 2000, 2008 and 2012.)
If you missed the early showings of 1968 on NBC and NBCSN, it's continually available at NBCSports.comand the NBC Sports mobile app. Watch your own television listings for other opportunities to view the film on that family of channels.
Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.
