University Olympic Stadium () is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

located inside Ciudad Universitaria in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. This stadium has a capacity of 69,000. The first major event held in the stadium was the

1955 Pan American Games The 1955 Pan American Games, officially known as II Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mexico 1955 (), opened on March 12, 1955, at University Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico, in front of a capacity crowd of 100,000 spectators. A total ...

. During the 1950s and the 1960s this stadium was used mostly for college American football matches between the largest Mexican public universities at the time: UNAM and IPN. From the late 1950s it was used for football matches, some

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

matches and athletics. American architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

called it "the most important building in the modern America". It then became the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

for the 1968 Summer Games.

History

For the 1968 Summer Olympics, the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was increased from 70,000 to 83,700 spectators (without substantially modifying the original structure) to cover the IOC requirements for an Olympic stadium. It was the location of the track and field competitions, equestrian events, certain association football matches, the arrival of the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

and the opening and closing ceremonies. This was the Olympics in which Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested the treatment of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

in the United States by performing a black power salute during the medal ceremony for the 200 metres (which occurred in this stadium). The stadium also hosted the track and field events at the 1975 Pan American Games. The stadium hosted four games of the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, but the final match was played in the bigger Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The Tartan track was the first All-weather running track to be used in the Olympics. Such a track is now a requirement. In 1985, during the second leg of the Liga MX final between Universidad Nacional and América, two hours before the start of the game, the building looked at its maximum capacity, but outside there was still a crowd of at least 30,000 more. At that time, Ciudad Universitaria did not have fences that surrounded it and it was easy to get to the access tunnels of the stadium. During the attempt of the fans to get to the pitch in one of the access tunnels () a number of people got stuck and ended with the death of 11 people and several others injured. Currently, it is the home stadium of Universidad Nacional and

team Pumas CU. This sport facility is part of the Ciudad Universitaria ("University City"), the main campus of the UNAM.

Architecture and art of the stadium

It is the work of architects Augusto Pérez, Raúl Salinas and Jorge Bravo Moro. "Estadio Universitario", its original name, was built specifically for the former practice of football. On the east side of University Olympic Stadium, is a mural by Diego Rivera, called "The University, the Mexican family, peace and youth sports. In the construction of the relief in natural colored stones shows the university shield, with the condor and the eagle on a cactus. Under their wings outstretched, Rivera placed three figures representing the family: the father and the mother giving the dove of peace to his son. At the extremes are two gigantic figures that correspond to some athletes, male and female, who light the torch of Olympic flame. A huge feathered serpent, the symbolic image of the pre-Hispanic god Quetzalcoatl, complements the composition at the bottom. Diego Rivera had planned to cover the entire outside of the stadium with designs similar to this, but the artist's death prevented him. The asymmetric shape of the stands of the stadium-side with the more developed west-emphasizes the final composition of the joint project of the University City, which finished off its axis and principal, the stands closest to the Avenida Insurgentes, emphasizes the sense league stadium to the rest of the set. Much like the Olympic cauldron on top of the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

peristyle, the upper deck on one sideline is topped by an Olympic cauldron that was installed for the Olympic Games. The other sideline is topped by a press box. Estadio_Pumas

1986 FIFA World Cup

It hosted four matches of the tournament, including a round-of-16 matchup.

References

External links

Google Maps satellite photoStadiumDB images
{{PDMF Stadiums College American football venues in Mexico College association football venues in Mexico Athletics (track and field) venues in Mexico Estadio Olimpico Universitario Estadio Olimpico Universitario Sports venues completed in 1952 Venues of the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic athletics venues Olympic equestrian venues Football venues in Mexico Sports venues in Mexico City Olympic stadiums Pan American Games opening ceremony stadiums Pan American Games athletics venues 1952 establishments in Mexico