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The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, were held in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Los Angeles was selected on May 18 1978 on the 80th IOC session at Athens, Greece without voting, because it was the only city to bid to host the 1984 Summer Olympics. Many blamed this on the financial losses that hit Montreal two years earlier, when it massively overspent on the 1976 Summer Olympics.
In view of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies including the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany (but not Romania), boycotted these Olympics. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on May 8, 1984, citing sity concerns, but some saw it as revenge for the boycott of the Moscow Games. The L. A. boycott influenced a large number of events that were normally dominated by the absent countries. Boycotting countries organized another major event in July-August 1984, called the Friendship Games.
The host state of California was the home state of US President Ronald Reagan, who opened the games. (Video of Opening ceremony)
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Torch Relay
The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in Los Angeles traversing 33 states and Washington, DC. Unlike later torch relays the torch was always carried by runners on foot. It covered more than 15,000 km and involved 3616 different runners, including 200 runners from the sponsoring company AT&T.
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Highlights
The organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics, Chief Executive Officer Peter Ueberroth and Chief Operating Officer Harry Usher, were able to produce a profit of over $200 million. The 1984 Games were the second to make a profit, after only the 1932 Summer Olympics (also in Los Angeles).
Carl Lewis makes his first appearance in the Olympics of 4 and equals the performance of Jesse Owens of 1936 and wins four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x400m relay and the Long Jump.
A marathon for women is held for the first time at the Olympics, won by Joan Benoit. The event is also noted because of Swiss runner Gabi Andersen-Schiess, who - suffering from heat exhaustion - stumbles through the last lap, providing dramatic images.
Steve Redgrave wins his first title in rowing of the record five he would go on to win in five Olympic competitions.
Daley Thompson apparently misses a new world record in winning his second consecutive gold medal in the decathlon; the next year his score is retroactively raised to 8847, giving him the record.
Victor Davis sets a new world record in winning the gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke in swimming.
Mary Lou Retton becomes the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition.
France wins the Olympic soccer tournament, defeating Brazil 2-0 in the final. Olympic soccer was unexpectedly played before massive crowds throughout America, with several sell-outs at the 100,000+ seat Rose Bowl. This tournament is widely credited with planting the seed for the United States to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the rise of American soccer.
John Williams composes the theme for the Olympiad, Olympic Fanfare and Theme. It goes on to win a Grammy Award for Williams and becomes one of the commonly known musical themes for the Olympic Games, along with Leo Arnaud's Bugler's Dream which is still used.
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Los Angeles venues
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Southern California venues
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Other venues
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Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
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Demonstration sports
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Medal count
(host nation in bold.)
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Nations
Articles about Los Angeles Summer Olympics by nation:
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Boycotting countries
14 Countries took part in the Soviet led boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games*:
Iran and Libya also boycotted the games, citing political reasons, but were not a part of the Soviet led boycott.
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Los Angeles - Host City
Following the news of the massive financial losses of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, few cities wished to host the Olympics. This was seen as a major threat to the future of the Olympic Games. However, with the financially successful Los Angeles Games, cities began to line up to be hosts again. The Los Angeles and Montreal Games are seen as examples of what to do and not to do when organizing the Olympics, and serve as object lessons to prospectant host cities. While Montreal organizers ran up a substantial debt eight years earlier by constructing many new, overly ambitiously designed venues, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee relied heavily on the use of area venues that were already in existence. The Olympic Velodrome and the Olympic Swim Stadium, funded largely by the 7-Eleven and McDonald's corporations respectively, were the only two new venues constructed specifically for the L.A. Games. The resulting low construction costs, coupled with a heavy reliance on private corporate funding, allowed the Games to generate a profit of more than $200 million, making them by far the most financially successful in history. Since then, additional object lessons have been drawn from Atlanta in 1996 (the need to avoid excessive commercialization) and Athens in 2004 (the need to organize and build to schedule).
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See also
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Olympics with significant boycotts
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