The Tahoe, which Puma called model no. 296, was a sprint spike built for the new synthetic Tartan tracks of 1968. Instead of the usual handful of nails it had 68 pins, each 4 millimetres long, set in six rows under the forefoot, with a suede upper and a hook-and-loop strap in place of laces. The number 68 was a nod to that year's Olympics.
Puma sent about 100 of the 500 pairs made to the US Olympic trials at Echo Summit, near Lake Tahoe, which gave the shoe its name. There Vince Matthews and Lee Evans broke the 400m world record in it, and John Carlos ran 19.7 seconds for 200m, the first time under 20 seconds.
The athletics federation's rules allowed no more than eight spikes. Puma hoped each row would count as one, but on 28 September 1968, two weeks before the Games, the federation ruled the shoe out and the records set in it were not recognised. Puma's timeline says it was deemed “too dangerous”. Most pairs were destroyed after the ban, though Puma keeps a few in its archive. Accounts of adidas's role in the ban remain disputed.