Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Richard Douglas Fosbury (March 6, 1947 – March 12, 2023) was an American high jumper, who is considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, revolutionizing the high jump event with a "back-first" technique now known as the Fosbury flop. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backward over the bar, which gave him a much lower center of mass in flight than traditional techniques. Debbie Brill was developing her similar "Brill Bend" around the same time. This approach has seen nearly universal adoption since Fosbury's performance in Mexico. Though he never returned to the Olympics, Fosbury continued to be involved in athletics after retirement and served on the executive board of the World Olympians Association.In 2014, Fosbury unsuccessfully challenged Steve Miller for a seat in the Idaho House of Representatives. Fosbury ran for Blaine County Commissioner against incumbent Larry Schoen in 2018, won the seat, and took office in 2019.

James Ronald Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes. He is the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. Ryun later served in the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing Kansas's 2nd congressional district.

Jocelyn Delecour (born 2 January 1935) is a retired French sprinter. He competed in various sprint events at the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1964 in the 4×100 metre relay, together with Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur and Claude Piquemal. Four years later he and Piquemal teamed up with Gérard Fenouil and Roger Bambuck to win the bronze medal once again in the same event.At the European Championships, Delecour won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m (1966), 100 m (1962) and 200 m (1958) events, respectively.

Berit Berthelsen (née Tøien, 25 April 1944 – 13 February 2022) was a Norwegian athlete. She represented IL Tyrving, as well as her national team.

Jean-Paul Villain (born 1 November 1946) is a retired French runner. In 1971 he won the steeplechase at the European Championships and Mediterranean Games. He competed in this event at the 1968, 1972 and in 1976 Summer Olympics with the best result of ninth place in 1968.

Robert Sainte-Rose (born 5 July 1943 in Fort-de-France, Martinique) is a French athlete who specialises in the men's high jump. Sainte-Rose competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics and 1968 Summer Olympics.

Maryvonne Samson Dupureur (24 May 1937 – 7 January 2008) was a French middle-distance runner. Competing in the 800 m event she won silver medals at the 1964 Olympics and 1967 European Indoor Games; she also took part in the 1960 and 1968 Olympics.Between 1959 and 1969 Dupureur won ten national titles: six in the 800 m, three in the 400 m and one in the 1500 m. She was an Olympic silver medalist in the 800
metres in Tokyo in 1964 after leading for most of the race but being overtaken in the final 100 metres by Great Britain’s Ann Packer, who set a new world record. Dupurer lived for many years in Brittany, and taught physical education and sport at a high school in Saint-Brieuc until her retirement.

Jacques "Jacky" Boxberger (16 April 1949 – 9 August 2001) was a track and field athlete from France who specialized in long-distance races.
He was the great hope of French middle-distance running, breaking the junior world record in the 1500 metres at Stade Charléty in 1968. He represented France at the 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics, placing sixth in the 1968 1500 metres and 42nd in the 1984 marathon. He also won the Paris Marathon in 1983 and 1985, the 1500 metres title at the 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships, the Marrakech Marathon in 1987, and French titles in the 1500 metres, 5000 metres, and 10000 metres. He suffered a knee injury during his military service with the Joinville battalion. His career was the most brilliant among male French distance runners of his era behind only that of former world mile record-holder Michel Jazy.Boxberger was part of the French team that finished third at the World Cross Country Championships in 1976.
In 2001, Boxberger was on vacation with his family in Kenya. While he was trying to film an elephant on a safari, the animal picked him up with its trunk, threw him against a tree, and trampled him to death.The middle distance runner Ophélie Claude-Boxberger is his daughter.

Franz-Josef Kemper (born 30 September 1945) is a German athlete, Olympian, and official. He achieved his greatest success as a middle-distance runner in the 1960s and 1970s.

Colette Besson (7 April 1946 – 9 August 2005) was a French athlete, the surprise winner of the 400 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.