1984 Summer Olympics



The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles (LA), California, United States. This was the second time that LA 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. The logo for the 1984 Games, branded "Stars in Motion", featured red, white and blue stars arranged horizontally and struck through with alternating streaks. The official mascot of the Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The 1984 Games were boycotted by a total of fourteen Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany, in direct response to the American-led boycott of the previous 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; Romania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that opted to attend the Games. Iran and Libya also chose to boycott the Games for separate reasons. Despite the field being depleted in certain sports due to the mass boycott, 140 National Olympic Committees took part, which was a record at the time.

The 1984 Summer Olympics are widely considered to be the most financially successful modern Olympics and serve as an example of how to run the model Olympic Games. As a result of low construction costs, coupled with a heavy reliance on private corporate funding, the 1984 Olympic Games generated a profit of more than $200 million.

On 18 July 2009, a 25th anniversary celebration was held in the main Olympic Stadium. The celebration included a speech by the former president of the LA Olympic Organizing Committee, Peter Ueberroth, and a re-creation of the lighting of the cauldron.

Host selection
After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in Munich (1972) and the significant financial debts of Montreal (1976), few cities by the late 1970s were willing to bid for the Summer Games. Only two cities (Tehran 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bids for the 1984 Summer Games, but before the final selection of a "winning" city in 1978, the bid from Tehran was withdrawn as a result of Iran's policy changes following the Iranian Revolution and a change in the country's ruling system. 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.

Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympics, for 1976 and 1980. The 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.

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, including 200 from the sponsoring company AT&T. Noted athlete O.J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up the California Incline in Santa Monica. Gina Hemphill, 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. The flame then passed up to cauldron atop the peristyle and remained aflame for the duration of the Games.

Music
John Williams composed the theme for the Olympiad, "Olympic Fanfare and Theme". This piece won a Grammy for Williams and became one of the most well-known musical themes of the Olympic Games, along with Leo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream"; the latter is sometimes attached to the beginning of Olympic Fanfare and Theme. Composer Bill Conti also wrote a song to inspire the weightlifters called "Power". An album, The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad—Los Angeles 1984, featured three of those tracks along with sports themes written for the occasion by popular musical artists including Foreigner, Toto, Loverboy, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Christopher Cross, Philip Glass and Giorgio Moroder.

The Brazilian composer Sérgio Mendes also produced a special song for the 1984 Olympic Games, "Olympia," from his 1984 album Confetti. A choir of approximately one thousand voices was assembled of singers in the region. All were volunteers from nearby churches, schools and universities.

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

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

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

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 opening ceremony featured the arrival of Bill Suitor by means of the Bell Aerosystems rocket pack (also known as a Jet Pack).
 * The United States Army Band formed the Olympic rings to start the opening ceremony.
 * The United States has set the record for most gold medals won in a single Summer Olympics (83), beating the previous record set by the Soviet Union at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
 * As a result of an IOC agreement designating the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the name of Chinese Taipei, the People's Republic of China returned to the summer Olympics for the first time since Helsinki 1952. Military anthem of China was played for both teams during the opening ceremony.
 * Local Los Angeles artist Rodolfo Escalera was commissioned to create nine paintings depicting the Summer Games that would later be turned into collectible plates and presented as "The Official Gift of the 1984 Olympics".

Track and field

 * Carl Lewis of the United States, making his first of four appearances at the Olympics, equaled the 1936 performance of Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals, in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and long jump.
 * Edwin Moses of the United States won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles 8 years after winning in 1976.
 * Joaquim Cruz of Brazil won the 800 meter run with a time of 1:43.00 to set an Olympic record.
 * Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco became the first female Olympic champion of a Muslim nation—and the first of her country—in the 400 m hurdles.
 * Carlos Lopes, from Portugal, won the Marathon at the age of 37, with a time of 2:09:21, an Olympic record that stood for 24 years. It was the first gold medal ever for Portugal. Gold medal favorite, World Record holder and the then World Champion, Robert de Castella from Australia, finished in 5th place, 1:48 behind Lopes.
 * A marathon for women was held for the first time at the Olympics (won by Joan Benoit of the U.S.). The event was considered notable because of Swiss runner Gabi Andersen-Schiess, who – suffering from heat exhaustion – stumbled through the last lap, providing dramatic images.
 * Daley Thompson of Great Britain apparently missed a new world record in winning his second consecutive gold medal in the decathlon; the next year his score was retroactively raised to 8847, giving him the record.
 * Sebastian Coe of Great Britain became the first man to win consecutive gold medals in the 1500m.

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 Xu Haifeng won the 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.
 * Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics debuted in Los Angeles as Olympic events, as did wind surfing.
 * Li Ning from the People's Republic of China won 6 medals in gymnastics, 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze, earning him the nickname "Prince of Gymnasts" in China. Li would later light the Olympic Cauldron at the 2008 Olympics.
 * 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 US 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. Success of the Eastern Bloc countries might be explained by state-run doping programs that had been developed there.
 * Future Dream Team members Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Chris Mullin were on the team that won the gold medal in basketball. The 1984 US 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.

Los Angeles venues

 * 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)

Southern California venues

 * El Dorado Park, Long Beach, California – archery
 * The Forum, Inglewood, California – basketball
 * 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, 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 – modern pentathlon (swimming)
 * Santa Monica College – 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

Cost
The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics at USD 719 million in 2015-dollars. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Los Angeles 1984 compares with costs of USD 4.6 billion for Rio 2016, USD 40-44 billion for Beijing 2008 and USD 51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD 5.2 billion.

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


 * Aquatics


 * Road (3)
 * Track (5)
 * Dressage (2)
 * Eventing (2)
 * Show jumping (2)
 * Dressage (2)
 * Eventing (2)
 * Show jumping (2)


 * Artistic (14)
 * Rhythmic (1)
 * Artistic (14)
 * Rhythmic (1)
 * Artistic (14)
 * Rhythmic (1)


 * Freestyle (10)
 * Greco-Roman (10)
 * Freestyle (10)
 * Greco-Roman (10)
 * Freestyle (10)
 * Greco-Roman (10)
 * Freestyle (10)
 * Greco-Roman (10)

Demonstration sports

 * Baseball
 * Tennis

Calendar

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

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

Participating National Olympic Committees
Athletes from 140 nations competed at the Los Angeles Games. The following countries made their first Olympic appearance in 1984: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Grenada, Mauritania, Mauritius, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates. Zaire had competed previously as Congo Kinshasa. The People's Republic of China made their first appearance in a Summer Olympics since 1952, while for the first time the Republic of China team participated under the politically made-up name as Chinese Taipei.

The Soviet Union led the Warsaw Pact and other Communist and Socialist countries on a boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics, in retaliation (using "security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States" as a pretext) for the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. However, a handful of Socialist countries disregarded the boycott and attended anyway. Among them were Yugoslavia (which hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics), the People's Republic of China, and Romania. The fact that Romania, a Warsaw Pact country, opted to compete despite Soviet demands led to a warm reception of the Romanian team by the United States. When the Romanian athletes entered during the opening ceremonies, they received a standing ovation from the spectators, which comprised mostly U.S. citizens. Romania won 53 medals, including 20 golds, more than the nation has in any other Olympics.

The number of athletes representing that nation is shown in parentheses:

Boycotting countries


Fourteen countries took part in the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games:
 * 🇦🇫 Afghanistan
 * 🇦🇴 Angola
 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba
 * Czechoslovakia
 * East Germany
 * 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
 * 🇭🇺 Hungary
 * Laos
 * 🇲🇳 Mongolia
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea
 * 🇵🇱 Poland
 * Soviet Union
 * Vietnam

Albania, Iran and Libya also boycotted the games, citing political reasons, but were not a part of the Soviet-led boycott. Albania and Iran were the only countries to boycott both the 1980 and 1984 events.
 * 🇦🇱 Albania
 * 🇮🇷 Iran
 * 🇱🇾 Libya

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. Filmmaker and director of 2017 movie Icarus Bryan Fogel has said that stricter doping controls might have been the main reason of the Soviet boycott.

Success of LA as host city
Following the news of the massive financial losses of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the only two cities to express a serious interest in hosting the 1984 Games were Los Angeles and New York. Given that only one city per country is allowed to bid for any one Games, 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).

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 line up to be hosts again. The Los Angeles and Montreal Games are seen as examples of what to do and what not to do when organizing the Olympics, and serve as abject 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. Consequently, Los Angeles enforced strict controls on their expenditure and rather than constructing new venues with overly ambitious designs, they 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. The only two new venues constructed specifically for the LA Games 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.

As the only bidding city, the Los Angeles OCOG was able to extract a number of concessions from the IOC. Not only was it agreed that the city could make use of existing venues, but also that it would not be held responsible for any cost overruns. The latter concession was necessitated by a charter amendment resoundingly passed by LA voters barring the use of taxpayers' money for the Games without reimbursement, largely the work of City Councilman and Games critic Bob Ronka.

In addition to corporate support, the Olympic committee also made use of the burgeoning prices being paid for exclusive television rights. Starting with the Los Angeles Games, these contracts would be a significant source of revenue. Adjusted for inflation, the Los Angeles Games received twice the amount received by the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics and four times that of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Due to these contracts being signed well in advance of the Games, Los Angeles found itself in an easier planning position because most of its revenue was already assured before the Games.

Following the success of the 1984 Games, the Los Angeles OCOG, led by Peter Ueberroth, used some of the profits to create the LA84 Foundation to promote youth sports in Southern California, educate coaches and maintain a sports library.

In popular culture
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, and 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.

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. This storyline is based on the real experience of executive producer and writer Jesse Stern.

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 in the 1984 LA Olympics.

Broadcast rights
The 1984 Games were covered by the following broadcasters:
 * 🇦🇺 Australia: Network Ten
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil: Rede Globo, Rede Manchete, SBT, Rede Record and Rede Bandeirantes
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland: RTÉ
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: BBC
 * 🇨🇳 China: CCTV
 * 🇺🇸 United States: KABC-7 (ABC)
 * 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka: Rupavahini (SLRC)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands: NPO
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden: SVT
 * 🇳🇴 Norway: NRK
 * 🇨🇦 Canada: CBC
 * 🇯🇵 Japan: NHK
 * 🇭🇰 Hong Kong: ATV and TVB
 * Macau: TDM
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal: RTP
 * 🇪🇸 Spain: TVE
 * 🇹🇼 Taiwan: TTV, CTV and CTS
 * 🇰🇷 South Korea: KBS and MBC
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico: Televisa
 * West Germany: ARD and ZDF
 * 🇫🇷 France: TF1
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand: National Television Thailand
 * 🇮🇳 India: Doordarshan
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey: TRT
 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand: TVNZ
 * 🇮🇩 Indonesia: TVRI Jakarta
 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia: Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad TV3, a member of New Straits Times Press (live direct television broadcast transmission)
 * 🇸🇬 Singapore: Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad TV3, a member of New Straits Times Press (live direct television broadcast transmission)
 * 🇵🇭 Philippines: GMA Radio-Television Arts and Radio Philippines Network
 * 🇻🇪 Venezuela: Venevision
 * Brunei: Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad TV3, a member of New Straits Times Press (live direct television broadcast transmission)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy: RAI
 * 🇨🇱 Chile: TVN, UC-TV
 * 🇦🇷 Argentina: Argentina Televisora Color, Canal 13, Canal 11
 * 🇵🇾 Paraguay: Paraguay Televisora Color, Canal 4, Canal 9 Cerro Corá
 * 🇺🇾 Uruguay: SODRE Canal 14, Monte Carlo TV, Channel 10, Teledoce.
 * 🇷🇴 Romania: TVR