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 was the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, with the first in (/wiki/1932_Summer_Olympics). 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 1984 Games were boycotted by fourteen Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany, in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Romania was the only Soviet-aligned state that opted to attend the Games. Albania, Iran, Libya and Upper Volta also chose to boycott the Games, but 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. 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, serving as a model 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, the 1984 Games generated a profit of over US$250 million.

Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for the third time in (/wiki/2028_Summer_Olympics), becoming the third city in the world—following London and Paris—to do so.

Host selection

Main article: Los Angeles bid for the 1984 Summer Olympics

After some difficult times for the Olympics in the 1970s, only two cities wanted to host the 1984 Summer Games: Tehran and Los Angeles. Los Angeles was chosen as the host city during a meeting in Athens on May 18, 1978. Los Angeles had tried to host the Olympics before but had not succeeded until then.

Development and preparations

The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee was created in 1978 to manage the games using private funds. Peter Ueberroth was chosen as its president in 1979.

This was the first time that all athletes had to stay in the same place in the Olympic Village, instead of being separated by gender or political groups. The village used student housing at UCLA, which hosted 4,000 athletes. Other schools like USC and UCSB also provided housing.

The committee needed to prepare 26 competition venues. Twenty were already existing, while three new ones were built: the Olympic Velodrome, Prado Park for shooting, and the Olympic Swim Stadium. Temporary venues were set up at several locations around Southern California.

Budget

The Games cost $546 million at the time ($1.7 billion today). The committee needed to make six times more money than previous games from sponsorships, TV rights, and ticket sales. Sponsors like Coca-Cola and Fuji Film paid large amounts to support the Games. All the money was put into interest-bearing accounts, which helped cover most of the costs.

Security

A large security force was organized for the Games, including the Los Angeles Police Department, federal agents, and temporary security workers. Security was very important because of past problems at other Olympics. The federal government and the committee each provided millions of dollars for security. No major incidents happened during the Games.

Transportation

Los Angeles buses were used to move athletes, coaches, officials, and media around the city. Special bus routes and express lanes were set up to help with traffic. City leaders asked people to take buses instead of driving to avoid traffic jams. More than a million people followed this advice, and there were no major traffic or air quality problems.

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics

Venues in the city of Los Angeles

• Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics
• Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena – boxing
• Dodger Stadium – baseball
• Pauley Pavilion, University of California, Los Angeles – gymnastics
• Eagle's Nest Arena, California State University, Los Angeles – judo
• Olympic Swim Stadium, University of Southern California – swimming, diving, synchronized swimming
• Olympic Village (athlete housing), University of Southern California
• Los Angeles Tennis Center, University of California, Los Angeles – tennis
• Athletes Village, University of California, Los Angeles
• Albert Gersten Pavilion, Loyola Marymount University, Westchester, California – weightlifting
• Streets of Los Angeles – athletics (marathon)

Venues in Southern California

• El Dorado Park, Long Beach, California – archery
• The Forum, Inglewood, California – basketball and team handball finals
• Lake Casitas, Ventura County, California – canoeing, rowing
• Olympic Velodrome, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, California – cycling (track)
• Mission Viejo, Orange County, California – cycling (individual road race)
• Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California – equestrian
• Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe, California – equestrian sports (eventing endurance)
• Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, California – fencing
• Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California – football (final)
• Titan Gymnasium, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California – handball
• Weingart Stadium, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, California – field hockey
• Coto de Caza, Orange County, California – modern pentathlon (fencing, riding, running, shooting)
• Olympic Shooting Range, Prado Recreational Area, Chino, California – shooting
• Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California – volleyball
• Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California – water polo
• Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California – wrestling
• Long Beach Shoreline Marina, Long Beach, California – sailing
• Artesia Freeway – cycling (road team time trial)
• Heritage Park Aquatic Center, Irvine, California – modern pentathlon (swimming)
• Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California – athletics (marathon start)
• Santa Monica, California – athletics (marathon)

Other venues

• Harvard Stadium, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts – football preliminaries
• Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland – football preliminaries
• Stanford Stadium, Stanford University, Stanford, California – football preliminaries

Olympic Arts Festival

The 1984 Summer Olympics had a 10-week Olympic Arts Festival before the Games. It featured over 400 performances by theater, dance, and music groups from around the world, along with art exhibitions and films. Local artist Rodolfo Escalera created paintings of the Games, and Ernie Barnes was named the "Sports Artist of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games."

Olympic Music

John Williams composed the theme for the Games, called "Los Angeles Olympic Theme" or "Olympic Fanfare and Theme." This music became very famous and won a Grammy award. Other composers also created music for the Games, including a song called "Power" by Bill Conti to inspire weightlifters. An album with music from the Games included tracks by artists like Foreigner, Toto, and Herbie Hancock. The main theme song was "Reach Out."

Torch relay

The Olympic Torch Relay started in New York City and ended in Los Angeles, traveling through 33 states. Over 3,600 runners carried the torch for more than 9,320 miles. The relay raised $10.31 million for charity. Gina Hemphill, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, carried the torch into the Coliseum and passed it to Rafer Johnson, who lit the Olympic cauldron.

Tickets

Tickets went on sale to the public in June 1983. Prices ranged from $3 to $95, with opening and closing ceremonies costing $50 to $200. A record 5.7 million tickets were sold, which was 83% of capacity. The remaining tickets went to Olympic family members, sponsors, or corporations.

Marketing

The emblem for the 1984 Summer Olympics was designed by a local company and showed stars and stripes to celebrate the American spirit. It had three stars for first, second, and third place, along with stripes to show speed and pride.

The look of the Games was created by two designers who used bright colors and simple shapes to make the Olympics look fun and exciting. This helped make the games look the same in every place they were held.

The mascot was an eagle named Sam, representing the United States. Many companies helped support the games, giving money and supplies. This was the first time so many businesses worked together for the Olympics. Television rights were sold to ABC, who paid a large amount of money to show the games to people all over the United States.

Participating National Olympic Committees

Athletes from 140 countries took part in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Eighteen countries joined the Olympic family for the first time: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Grenada, Mauritania, Mauritius, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates. Zaire had previously competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics as Congo-Kinshasa. The People's Republic of China returned to the Summer Olympics for the first time since (/wiki/1952_Summer_Olympics), and the team from the Republic of China competed under the name Chinese Taipei.

The Soviet Union and many of its allies chose not to attend the Games, as a response to a boycott of the earlier Moscow Olympics by many Western countries. Still, some communist countries, like Yugoslavia, the People's Republic of China, and Romania, took part. Romania received a very warm welcome from the United States during the opening ceremony.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Boycotting countries

Fifteen countries chose not to attend the 1984 Summer Olympics, following the lead of the Soviet Union:

• Afghanistan
• Angola
• Bulgaria
• Cuba
• Czechoslovakia
• East Germany
• Ethiopia
• Hungary
• Laos
• Mongolia
• North Korea
• Poland
• Soviet Union
• South Yemen
• Vietnam

Albania, Iran, Libya, and Upper Volta (which later became Burkina Faso) also did not attend the Games, giving their reasons as political, though they were not part of the Soviet-led group. Albania, Iran and Upper Volta missed both the 1980 and 1984 Summer Games.

Soviet doping plan

A paper found in 2016 by the New York Times showed that the Soviet Union had plans for special training methods to help athletes perform better in the 1984 Summer Olympics. This was before they decided not to take part in the Games. The paper talked about existing methods and ideas for more improvements.

Calendar

All times are in Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7); the other two cities, Boston and Annapolis use Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

The Games

Ceremonies

For the first time, the International Olympic Committee let the opening ceremony mix formal parts with cultural performances.

The event began with Bill Suitor arriving using a rocket pack. Etta James sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the Opening Ceremony. Lionel Richie performed a long version of his song "All Night Long" at the closing ceremonies.

Sports

The 1984 Summer Olympics included 221 events across 21 sports:

• Aquatics
  • Diving
  • Swimming
  • Synchronized swimming
  • Water polo
• Archery
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Field hockey
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Handball
• Judo
• Modern pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Volleyball
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Demonstration sports

• Baseball
• Tennis

6,829 athletes participated in the Games.

Athletic Achievements

• Carl Lewis of the United States won four gold medals, matching a famous achievement from 1936.
• Edwin Moses of the United States won gold in the 400m hurdles again, eight years after his first win.
• Joaquim Cruz of Brazil set an Olympic record in the 800 meter run.
• Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco became the first female Olympic champion from a Muslim nation in the 400 m hurdles.
• Carlos Lopes of Portugal won the Marathon, setting an Olympic record that lasted many years.
• A marathon for women was held for the first time, won by Joan Benoit of the U.S.
• Daley Thompson of Great Britain won gold in the decathlon.
• Sebastian Coe of Great Britain won consecutive gold medals in the 1500m.
• Maricica Puică of Romania won the 3000 meters.
• Xu Haifeng of China won the first gold medal of the Olympics, in the 50 m Pistol event.
• Neroli Fairhall of New Zealand was the first paraplegic Olympian.
• Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics were introduced as Olympic events.
• Li Ning of China won six medals in gymnastics and later lit the Olympic Cauldron in 2008.
• Steve Redgrave of Great Britain won his first Olympic gold in rowing.
• Victor Davis of Canada set a new world record in the 200-meter breaststroke.
• Mary Lou Retton of the United States won the gymnastics all-around competition.
• The American men's gymnastics team won gold.
• France won the Olympic football tournament.
• Connie Carpenter-Phinney of the United States became the first woman to win an Olympic cycling event.

Medal count

The United States won the most medals, with 83 gold medals, more than any country since 1968.

Broadcasting rights

Main article: Olympics on television § 1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics were shown on television in the United States by the American Broadcast Corporation. This was the first time the Olympic organization supported showing the games inside the venues. Many other countries also showed the games on TV and radio.

Over 156 countries had the rights to broadcast the Olympics, including:

• Eurovision: Covered 31 countries in Europe
• Intervision: Covered 11 countries in Eastern Europe
• OTI (Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana): Represented Spanish-speaking countries
• Yugoslav Radio Television: The public broadcaster of Yugoslavia
• TV Asahi: Had the rights for Japan
• Channel Seven: Covered Australia
• TVNZ: Showed the games live in New Zealand
• CBC: Broadcast in Canada

Legacy

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics changed the way the Games are organized. It showed how to keep costs down by using places that already existed and by using new technology. The way the Games looked on TV was also planned, and this idea is still used today.

The Games brought many benefits to the community and helped the economy. A special celebration was held 25 years later to remember the 1984 Games.

Financial Success

After the big money problems of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, only two cities wanted to host the 1984 Games: Los Angeles and New York. Los Angeles was chosen, and it became a big success. Instead of building many new places, the organizers used places that were already there, like the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had also been used in the 1932 Olympics. Only a few new places were built, and companies like 7-Eleven and McDonald's helped pay for them.

The Games made a lot of money from TV rights and sponsors. This success helped other cities feel more confident about hosting the Olympics again. The Games made a big profit, and part of this money was used to help young people in sports in Southern California.

In popular culture

The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles appeared in several popular shows and stories. The fast food chain McDonald's had a fun promotion where customers could win free food if the U.S. won medals in certain Olympic events. This idea was later used in a funny way in the show The Simpsons.

In the TV show NCIS, a character remembers watching someone fly over his head with a jet pack during the Olympic ceremony when he was a child. Some TV shows and books, like Seinfeld and Jilly Cooper's novel Riders, also included stories about the 1984 Olympics.

In the series American Horror Story: 1984, characters watch the Olympic events on TV together.