Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games:

Gary Hall had set the world record in July 1968 with 4:43.4 at a meet in Los Angeles, California. But one month later [Charles Hickcox] blasted that with 4:39.4 in Long Beach. Hickcox had already won the 200 individual medley and a silver in the 100 back in Mexico City by the time this race started. They were the two fastest qualifiers. Hall and Hickcox swam together almost throughout, with the lead exchanged several times, but with never more than ½ second between them. Hickcox pulled ahead on the breaststroke leg and led at 300 metres, but Hall caught him on the penultimate lap, as they turned even. But Hickcox was stronger on the final 50 and won the gold medal by 3/10ths of a second. Germany’s [Michael Holthaus] was never close but was third from 200 metres in and won the bronze medal.