1984 Summer Olympics

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Emblem of the 1984 Summer Olympics
Host cityLos Angeles, United States
MottoPlay a Part in History
Nations140
Athletes6,800 (5,231 men, 1,569 women)
Events221 in 21 sports (29 disciplines)
OpeningJuly 28, 1984
ClosingAugust 12, 1984
Opened by
President Ronald Reagan[1]
Cauldron
Rafer Johnson[1]
StadiumLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Summer
Winter
1984 Summer Paralympics
Olympic rings
Part of a series on
1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, the first being in 1932. California was the home state of the incumbent U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The

Libya
also chose to boycott the Games for unrelated reasons.

Despite the field being depleted in certain sports due to the boycott, 140 National Olympic Committees took part in the 1984 Games, a record number at the time.[2][3] The United States won the most gold and overall medals, followed by Romania and West Germany.

The 1984 Summer Olympics are widely considered to be the most financially successful modern Olympics,[4] serving as an example on how to run an Olympic games. As a result of low construction costs, due to the use of existing sport infrastructure, coupled with a reliance on private corporate funding,[5] the 1984 Games generated a profit of over US$250 million.

On July 18, 2009, a 25th anniversary celebration of the 1984 Games was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The celebration included a speech by former Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee president Peter Ueberroth, as well as a re-enactment of the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.

Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for the third time in 2028.[6]

Host selection

After the terrorist attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the significant financial debts of Montreal (1976), and various boycotts by National Olympic Committees, few cities by the late 1970s were willing to bid for the Summer Olympics. Only two cities (Tehran[7] and Los Angeles) made serious bids for the 1984 Summer Games, but before the final selection of a "winning" city in 1978, the bid from Tehran was withdrawn in June 1977. Hence, the selection process for the 1984 Summer Olympics consisted of a single finalized bid from Los Angeles, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted. The selection was officially made at the 80th IOC Session in Athens on May 18, 1978.[8]

Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympic Games (1976 and 1980, which went to

United States Olympic Committee (USOC) had submitted at least one bid for every Olympics since 1944 but had not succeeded since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932
, the previous time only a single bid had been issued for the Summer Olympics.

1984 Summer Olympics
bidding results[9]
City Nation Votes
Los Angeles  United States Unanimous
Tehran  Iran Bid cancellation due to security issues caused by riots
See also: Financial success of Los Angeles as host city

Torch relay

Main article: 1984 Summer Olympics torch relay

The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in Los Angeles, traversing 33 states and the District of Columbia. Unlike later torch relays, the torch was continuously carried by runners on foot. The route covered more than 9,320 mi (15,000 km) and involved 3,636 runners. Noted athlete O. J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up the California Incline in Santa Monica. Gina Hemphill, a granddaughter of Jesse Owens, carried the torch into the Coliseum, completed a lap around the track, then handed it off to the final runner, Rafer Johnson, winner of the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympics. With the torch, he touched off the flame which passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo, igniting all five rings. Johnson became the first person of African descent to light the cauldron in Olympic history.[10] The flame then passed up to the cauldron atop the peristyle and remained aflame for the duration of the Games.

The Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Music

"Olympic Fanfare and Theme"
composed by
Boston Pops Orchestra
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Loverboy, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Christopher Cross, Philip Glass, Paul Engemann and Giorgio Moroder.[11][12] "Reach Out" was the main soundtrack and is the official theme song of the 1984 Summer Olympics.[13]

The Brazilian composer

churches
, schools and universities.

Etta James performed "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the Opening Ceremony.[14]

Vicki McClure, along with the International Children's Choir of Long Beach, sang "Reach Out and Touch".

Lionel Richie performed a special extended 9-minute version of his hit single "All Night Long" at the closing ceremonies.[15]

Highlights

Official poster of the 1984 Summer Olympics

Arts Festival

The 1984 Summer Olympics was preceded by the 10-week-long adjunct Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, which opened on June 2 and ended on August 12. It provided more than 400 performances by 146 theater, dance and music companies, representing every continent and 18 countries. It was organized by then-

CalArts President Robert Fitzpatrick
.

General

The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee named Ernie Barnes "Sports Artist of the 1984 Olympic Games". LAOOC President Peter V. Ueberroth said Barnes and his art "captured the essence of the Olympics" and "portray the city's ethnic diversity, the power and emotion of sports competition, the singleness of purpose and hopes that go into the making of athletes the world over." Barnes was commissioned to create five Olympic-themed paintings and serve as an official Olympic spokesman to encourage inner-city youth.

Track and field

Other sports

  • The first gold medal to be awarded at the Los Angeles Olympics was also the first-ever medal to be won by an athlete from China when
    50 m Pistol
    event.
  • Archer Neroli Fairhall from New Zealand was the first paraplegic Olympian at any Olympic Games, coming 35th in the Women's individual event.
  • wind surfing
    .
  • 2008 Olympics.[18]
  • Steve Redgrave of Great Britain won his first title in rowing of the record five he would go on to win in five Olympic competitions.
  • Victor Davis of Canada set a new world record in winning the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in swimming.
  • Mary Lou Retton of the United States became the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition.
  • In men's gymnastics, the American team won the Gold Medal.
  • France won the Olympic association football (soccer) tournament, defeating Brazil 2–0 in the final. Olympic football was unexpectedly played before massive crowds throughout America, with several sell-outs at the 100,000+ seat Rose Bowl. This interest eventually led to the U.S. hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
  • The Soviet-led boycott affected weightlifting more than any other sport: 94 of the world's top 100 ranked lifters were absent, as were 29 of the 30 medalists from the recent world championships. All 10 of the defending world champions in the 10 weight categories were absent. The success of the Eastern Bloc countries might be explained by state-run doping programs that had been developed there.[19]
  • Future
    Chris Mullin were on the team that won the gold medal in basketball. The 1984 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team was coached by Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight
    .
  • Connie Carpenter-Phinney of the United States became the first woman to win an Olympic cycling event when she won the women's individual road race.

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics
The Forum hosted the basketball events

Venues in the city of Los Angeles

Venues in Southern California

Other venues

Sports

The 1984 Summer Olympic program featured 221 events in the following 21 sports:

Demonstration sports

Calendar

All times are in
UTC-4
)
 ●  Opening ceremony     Event competitions  ●  Event finals  ●  Closing ceremony
Date July August
28th
Sat		 29th
Sun		 30th
Mon		 31st
Tue		 1st
Wed		 2nd
Thu		 3rd
Fri		 4th
Sat		 5th
Sun		 6th
Mon		 7th
Tue		 8th
Wed		 9th
Thu		 10th
Fri		 11th
Sat		 12th
Sun
Archery ● ●
Athletics ● ● ●
● ● 		● ●
● ● 		● ● ● ●
● ● ● ● 		● ●
● ● 		●
● ● 		● ●
● ● ● 		● ● ●
● ● ● ●
● ● ● ● 		●
Basketball ● ●
Boxing ● ● ● ●
● ● ● ●
● ● ● ●
Canoeing ● ● ●
● ● ● 		● ● ●
● ● ●
Cycling ● ●
●
 ● ●
● ● 		●
Diving ● ● ● ●
Equestrian
 ● ● ● ● ● ●
Fencing ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Field hockey ● ●
Football ●
Gymnastics ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
● ● ● 		● ●
● ● 		●
Handball ● ●
Judo ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Modern pentathlon ● ●
Rowing ● ● ●
● ● ● 		● ● ● ●
● ● ● ●
Sailing
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
Shooting ● ● ●
● ●
 		● ● ● ●
●
Swimming ● ●
● ● 		● ●
● ● ● 		● ●
● ● ● 		● ●
● ● ● 		● ●
● ● ● 		● ●
● ● ●
Synchronized swimming ● ●
Volleyball
●
 ●
Water polo ●
Weightlifting ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Wrestling ●
● ● 		●
● ● 		● ●
● ● 		●
● ● 		●
● ● 		● ●
● ●
Total gold medals 9 8 13 10 12 16 24 21 10 5 14 11 20 43 4
Ceremonies ● ●
Date 28th
Sat		 29th
Sun		 30th
Mon		 31st
Tue		 1st
Wed		 2nd
Thu		 3rd
Fri		 4th
Sat		 5th
Sun		 6th
Mon		 7th
Tue		 8th
Wed		 9th
Thu		 10th
Fri		 11th
Sat		 12th
Sun
July August

Medal count

Main article: 1984 Summer Olympics medal table

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1984 Games.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States*836130174
2 Romania20161753
3 West Germany17192359
4 China158932
5 Italy1461232
6 Canada10181644
7 Japan1081432
8 New Zealand81211
9 Yugoslavia74718
10 South Korea66719
Totals (10 entries)190147137474

Participating National Olympic Committees

Participating states
Number of athletes

Athletes from 140 states competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Eighteen states made their Olympic debut:

Republic of China team participated under the politically contrived name of Chinese Taipei
.

The

Romania
(the only Warsaw Pact country that had opted to ignore the Soviet demands). The Romanian team received a particularly warm reception from the United States; when the Romanian athletes entered during the opening ceremonies, they were greeted by a standing ovation from the spectators, who were mostly U.S. citizens. This would turn out to be Romania's most successful Olympic Games – they won 53 medals, including 20 golds.

In the table below, the number of athletes representing each state is shown in parentheses.

Participating National Olympic Committees

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Boycotting countries

Countries that boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics are shaded blue
Main article: 1984 Summer Olympics boycott

Fifteen countries took part in the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics:[21]

Albania, Iran, Libya and Upper Volta (changed to Burkina Faso following August 4th)[22] also boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics, citing political reasons, but these countries were not a part of the Soviet-led boycott. Albania and Iran were the only two countries to boycott both the 1980 and 1984 Summer Games.

Soviet doping plan

Documents obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated prior to the country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the program, along with suggestions for further enhancements. The communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field, was prepared by Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture. Portugalov was also one of the main figures involved in the implementation of the Russian doping program prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[23] Filmmaker and director of 2017 movie Icarus Bryan Fogel has said that stricter doping controls might have been the main reason for the Soviet boycott.[24]

Financial success of Los Angeles as host city

Newspaper vending machine announcing the 1984 Olympics.

Following the news of the massive financial losses of the

USOC vote for the American bid city was effectively the deciding vote for the 1984 Olympics host city. In this case, the Los Angeles bid received 55 votes compared with New York's 39 votes – this is the closest that the city of New York has ever come to being selected to host the Olympic Games, coming closer in 1984 than they did in their 2012 bid (when they lost to London).[25]

The low level of interest among potential host cities for the 1984 Games had been viewed as a major threat to the future of the Olympic Games. However, after the financial success of the Los Angeles Games, cities began to show a renewed interest in bidding to become host again. The Los Angeles and Montreal Games are seen as examples of best and worst practice when organizing the Olympics and serve as valuable lessons to prospective host cities.

Ambitious construction projects for the two previous Summer Olympics, Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980, had burdened organizers with substantial debts as expenses greatly exceeded revenues. Furthermore, the 1976 and 1980 Olympics were entirely government-funded. Unlike Montreal and Moscow, Los Angeles 1984 was privately funded, with strict controls imposed on expenditure; rather than constructing new venues with overly ambitious designs, the organizers chose instead to utilise existing venues and facilities wherever possible. The main example of this was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was also the Olympic Stadium for the 1932 Summer Olympics.[26] The only two new venues constructed specifically for the 1984 Summer Olympics were secured with the backing of corporate sponsors: the Olympic Velodrome was largely funded by the 7-Eleven corporation and the Olympic Swim Stadium by McDonald's.

In addition to corporate support, the Olympic committee also used the income from the exclusive television rights, and for the first time these contracts would prove to be a significant source of revenue. Adjusted for inflation, the Los Angeles Games secured twice the amount of income received by the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics and four times that of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.[27][25]

Following the success of the 1984 Games, the Los Angeles OCOG, led by Peter Ueberroth, used the profits to create the LA84 Foundation for promoting youth sports in Southern California, educating coaches and maintaining a sports library.

In popular culture

The games were the subject of the 1983–84 United States

commemorative coin series
.

American fast food chain McDonald's ran a promotion titled, "When the U.S. Wins, You Win" where customers scratched off a ticket with the name of an Olympic event on it. If the U.S. won a medal in that event, then they would be given a free menu item: a Big Mac for a gold medal, an order of french fries for a silver medal, and a Coca-Cola for a bronze medal. The promotion became more popular than expected due to the Soviet boycott which led to the U.S. winning far more Olympic medals than expected.[28] This promotion was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word", where Krusty Burger runs a similar offer. The promotion was intended to be rigged so that prizes would only be offered in events dominated by the Eastern Bloc, but the Soviet-led boycott causes Krusty to personally lose $44 million. He vehemently promises "to spit in every fiftieth burger," to which Homer retorts "I like those odds!" Chief Wiggum also exclaims that he could kiss Carl Lewis, who won four gold medals at the Games.

On NCIS, Tim McGee has an obsession with jet packs, stemming from having attended the 1984 Olympic ceremony as a child and having Bill Suitor fly over his head in his jet pack.[29] This storyline is based on the real experience of executive producer and writer Jesse Stern.[30]

Pop-punk band Bowling for Soup references the games in the song "I Can't Stand LA". During a section showing appreciation for the city, the song states, "thank you for hair metal and the '84 Olympics."

Jilly Cooper's novel Riders has a storyline set at the show jumping event at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

In the Seinfeld episode "The Gymnast", Jerry dates a woman who competed in the 1984 Olympics and won a silver medal for Romania.

In American Horror Story: 1984, the characters watch it together on the TV in the girls cabin.

In the same week that the Games began, British pop star

UK Singles Chart and number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100
in the United States. On the sleeve, the record was "dedicated to the original spirit of the Olympic Games".

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Factsheet - Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. October 9, 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  2. ^ "NO BOYCOTT BLUES". olympic.org. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "Games of the XXIII Olympiad". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on August 30, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  4. ^ Abrahamson, Alan (July 25, 2004). "LA the Best Site, Bid Group Insists; Olympics: Despite USOC rejection". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  5. ^ Clarke, Norm (April 7, 1984). "It's official: Sponsors help pay for Olympics". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 18.
  6. ^ "L.A. officially awarded 2028 Olympic Games". Los Angeles Times. September 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "ایران مهمترین شانس میزبان المپیک ۱۹۸۴". طرفداری (in Persian). August 26, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  8. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on January 24, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  9. ^ Seratnews.com, صراط نیوز | (2014). "1984 Tehran Hosting". fa (in Persian). Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  10. ^ "Rafer Johnson, the Olympic gold medalist who helped bring the games to L.A., has died". Los Angeles Times. December 2, 2020.
  11. OCLC 12601151
    .
  12. ^ "Various – The Official Music Of The XXIIIrd Olympiad – Los Angeles 1984 (LP) at Discogs". Discogs. December 8, 1984. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
  13. ^ [| Check out the credit at Music Video
  14. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Opening Ceremony Complete [Go to time stamp 29:40 for Etta James' performance. A previously cited Associated Press story (in which James was credited for singing the national anthem) was an AP reporting error. The national anthem was performed by a choir, and James appeared to perform 'When The Saints Go Marching In' later in the ceremony.]. YouTube. September 6, 2014.
  15. ^ Malone, MacKenzie (July 19, 2012). "Tuning into the Games, Watching the Olympics is the next best thing to playing". Times Union. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  16. ^ Most gold medals won at a single Summer Olympic Games - Country
  17. ^ Sky Documentary "Mary Decker vs Zola Budd", aired on Danish DR2, 2.August 2018, 23:30 CEST
  18. ^ Nick Mulvenney (August 8, 2008). "Li Ning, "Prince of Gymnasts" and businessman". Reuters.
  19. ^ "The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics". The New York Times. August 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  20. ^ Burns, John F. (May 9, 1984). "Moscow will keep its team from Los Angeles Olympics; Tass cites peril, U.S. denies it; Protests are issue". The New York Times.
  21. ^ "1984 Olympics". infoplease.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
  22. ISBN 9781609177096
    .
  23. ^ Ruiz, Rebecca R. (August 13, 2016). "The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  24. ^ "Bryan Fogel talks 1984 Summer Olympics boycott on The Jim Rome Podcast". jimrome.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  25. ^ a b Andrew H. Levin (April 27, 2007). "No Olympics, No Problem: New York City's Political Regime after the Bid for the 2012 Games" (PDF). p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
  26. ^ "Let Boston 2024 pay for the Olympics". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  27. ^ Shoval, Noam. "A New Phase in the Competition For The Olympic Gold: The London and New York Bids For The 2012 Games." Journal of Urban Affairs 24.5 (2002): 583–99.
  28. ^ Hollie, Pamela G. (August 10, 1984). "Advertising; Big Mac's Olympic Giveaway". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  29. ^ "Ignition". NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Season 7. Episode 11. January 5, 2010. 43 minutes in. CBS.
  30. ^ Stern, Jesse. The Future is Now: NCIS meets the jet pack (NCIS: The Seventh Season (Disc 3 special features)). CBS Studios.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1984 Summer Olympics.

Further reading

Summer Olympics
Preceded by XXIII Olympiad
Los Angeles
1984 		Succeeded by
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