Saneyev began a decade of dominating the Olympic triple jump; he would win again in 1972 and 1976 as well as taking silver in 1980.

With the best athletes jumping at high altitude in the Olympics, the world record was set multiple times.

The world and Olympic record were smashed in the qualifying round by Giuseppe Gentile, with a 17.10 on his second attempt (after fouling the first).

In 1975 in this same stadium, João Carlos de Oliveira made a .45 m (1 ft 5+1⁄2 in) "beamonesque" improvement to the record that held for almost 10 years.

[3] During the competition, five men exceeded the previous world record though Nikolay Dudkin's jumps were wind aided.

Szmidt had won the European championship again in 1962 and would have been the favorite but for a recent knee surgery that made his ability to repeat questionable.