The final countdown to the two biggest years in Brazil's sporting history has begun. Hosting the World Cup and Olympic Games in such quick succession was always going to call for "order and progress" two words that adorn their national flag.

In the sixties and seventies, Mexico and Munich both staged the two biggest events in world sport in succession, albeit, the other way round.

In 1963, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Mexico City as host city for the 1968 Olympics. The following autumn, FIFA also chose Mexico to stage the 1970 World Cup.

Concerns over altitude were there from the start. At the Olympic vote, the Mexicans even offered to pay the expenses of those wanting to acclimatise and in the years that followed, tried to downplay the issue.

"Ultimately, the fears and admonitions expressed by a large segment of the world press proved to be founded almost entirely on mere conjecture," they claimed.

"There are those who will die," warned Swedish athletics coach Onni Niskanen. He lived in Addis Ababa, 7,000 feet above sea level and trained Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde, Olympic marathon champions both.


Existing facilities had been the cornerstone of Mexico City's Olympic bid, but the showpiece University stadium, built in the fifties received a facelift. This included a new track, improved floodlights, an electronic scoreboard and lifts. Seating capacity was increased and improved, especially in the VIP areas.

The Azteca Stadium staged both the 1968 Olympic football tournament and the World Cup final two years later. The Brazilians played all but one of their matches in 1970 at Guadalajara's Jalisco Stadium, upgraded for the Olympics. The Cuauhtémoc Stadium in Puebla was new for the Olympics and was also a World Cup centre.

The organisers sent out lavish brochures and on the orders of President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, much of the official Games report was later devoted to showing Mexico as a modern state.

But In a country of extreme wealth and poverty, many were deeply troubled by the vast sums spent on the Games. A few days before the Olympics, the students demonstrated in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. Almost 300 were killed when security forces moved in.

"It was like the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid," said veteran reporter John Rodda. He had been an eyewitness to a massacre.


David Hemery, the 400m hurdles gold medallist, later told how "A student came to the edge of the compound area. He was trying to say this was not personal, this has nothing to do with the Olympics. We respect what you are here for, but the world's press are here and we have no better time to challenge the regime."

Mexico '68 did go ahead, televised across the world thanks to the new satellite technology but the spectre of altitude returned as soon as competition began.

"Altitude wins the first gold of the Games," trumpeted one newspaper. Kenya's Naftali Temu won the 10,000 metres, while Australian Ron Clarke described his legs as "like iron" and lay prostrate on the track for a worryingly long time afterwards. He blamed subsequent health problems on his exertions in Mexico.

Runners who lived at altitude dominated longer distances but the explosive events also benefitted from the thin air and American long jumper Bob Beamon produced the leap of his life.

Politics were never far from the surface. Sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Power salute at their medal ceremony. The US Olympic Committee threw them out of the Games with a life ban.


The issue of altitude would simply not go away. In 1970, reigning world champions England did all they could to learn from the Olympics and acclimatised with matches in Colombia and Ecuador. Even so, many felt the Europeans were at a disadvantage. High profile matches kicked off at noon local time to suit European television.

For all that, the 1970 World Cup is considered perhaps of the greatest of all time. The Brazilians, with Pelé back to his best, became world champions for the third time and received the Jules Rimet trophy for keeps. West Germany, the next hosts, reached the semi-finals.

The seeds of their future triumph had been sown in 1966. Although they lost the World Cup final, they came away from London with a bigger prize, the right to stage the 1974 World Cup. The final would be in Munich. A few months before the Bavarian city had successfully bid for the 1972 Olympics.

They spoke of "the dark picture of the decline of an event which like no other had found an echo in the world" and "A dangerous disintegration of the ethical foundations of the Games and cultural world in the sixties."

In the final vote, they beat Madrid, Detroit and Montreal.

The 1972 Games would include two German teams. Before the vote, bid leader Willi Daume had met the Soviet sports leadership to give the necessary assurances. The East German men incidentally wore identical light blue jackets to the West Germans.

Construction on Munich's Olympic Stadium, the Olympic and World Cup centrepiece was soon underway. The Olympic village was right next door.


"Military uniforms were not desired. Sport clothing worn by the surveillance personnel was to have created a cheerful climate and would have discreetly blended into the Olympic rainbow of colour. The same concept was also valid for the Olympic Village. This should be no enclosed fortress with walls," said Olympic Organisers.

Their words came back to haunt them. Terrorists infiltrated the village and eleven members of the Israeli team were killed. The tragedy overshadowed all else. Organising committee President Daume spoke sadly of "a legacy of dangers and political problems".

Two years later the 16 teams at the 1974 World Cup were surrounded by intense security in stark contrast to the Olympics.

The dates for the tournament had been selected by computer to ensure the best weather. Despite this, an electrical storm interrupted television coverage during Holland's 4-0 win over Argentina. The host nation's classic victory over Sweden was also played in a downpour.


In Munich itself, they even needed the heavy roller to remove surface water before West Germany beat Poland in the final group match, effectively a semi-final. So much for the computer.

In the final West Germany came from behind to beat the Dutch so Franz Beckenbauer lifted the newly designed FIFA World Cup.

Few would deny the sporting success of the double headers in Mexico and Munich, but as Brazil may well discover, they could be vulnerable to events away from the field of play.

Born in Hackney, a stone's throw from the 2012 Olympic Stadium, Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Sky Sports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and TalkSPORT, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications.