Olympic Games of 1984

The Event The 1984 staging of winter and summer international athletic competitions, held every four years

Date Winter Games, February 8-19, 1984; Summer Games, July 28-August 12, 1984

Place Winter Games, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; Summer Games, Los Angeles, California

The Sarajevo Games were the first Winter Olympics held in a Socialist country and the first Olympic Games under the International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch. The Summer Olympics were a success despite the boycott of sixteen nations, including the Soviet Union and its allies.

Following the successful U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union in turn led a boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games. While the Soviet-led boycott had a significant impact, the 1984 Games saw a record turnout of 140 nations. Also, whereas the Montreal Games of 1976 proved financially disastrous for the city, the Los Angeles Games demonstrated that hosting the Olympics could indeed prove lucrative.

Winter Olympic Games

On February 8, 1984, the opening ceremony to the fourteenth Winter Games took place in the host city, Sarajevo, of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Games would provide competition until the closing ceremony on February 19. Forty-nine nations were represented, with a total of 1,272 athletes, 274 women and 998 men. Thirty-nine events were on the Olympic program, which included a new event, 20-kilometer women’s Nordic skiing. Disabled skiing was added as a demonstration event. The Winter Games received a lucrative television contract of $91.5 million from the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), as compared to $15.5 million for television rights to the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. The host city received $60 million of this, thus offsetting any economic burdens of hosting the Games.

Gaétan Boucher of Canada compiled three medals in men’s speed skating. He earned a bronze medal in the 500 meter and gold medals in the 1,000 meter and the 1,500 meter. Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi of Finland won all three events in women’s cross-country skiing. She became the only woman to compete in six Olympic Games.

Perhaps one of the most well-received performances of the Winter Olympics was the free dance figure skating pairs, when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of the United Kingdom achieved a perfect score for artistic impression. American athletes exhibited success in alpine skiing. Twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre placed first and second in the slalom. Bill Johnson became the first American to win an Olympic downhill event. Scott Hamilton of the United States won a gold medal in men’s figure skating. East Germany won the most gold medals (nine) and a total of twenty-four medals. The Soviet Union won six gold medals and the most medals with twenty-five. The United States won a total of eight medals and was tied with Finland and Sweden in winning four gold medals. Canada acquired two gold medals and a total of four medals.

Summer Olympic Games

The twenty-third Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles from July 28 to August 12, 1984. A total of 6,829 athletes, 1,566 women and 5,263 men, were in attendance representing 140 nations. The Olympic program featured 221 events in twenty-three sports. Seventeen new entries were added to the Olympic program that included thirteen for women. Among the new events for women were the marathon, 3,000-meter run, 400-meter hurdles, synchronized swimming, three rifle competitions, rhythmic gymnastics, and individual road racing in cycling. In addition, tennis returned for the first time since the 1924 Olympics as a demonstration sport. Baseball was held as an exhibition sport. President Ronald Reagan officially opened the Games.

Los Angeles had been selected to host the 1984 summer Olympic Games on May 18, 1978, during the eightieth International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Athens, Greece. Los Angeles was the only city to bid for the 1984 Summer Games. The $1 billion debt that Montreal had encountered hosting the 1976 Olympic Games deterred many nations from submitting bids to host the Games. The $9 billion that was required to host the 1980 Moscow Games brought concern that the future of the Games may be in danger of economic disaster.

Voters in Los Angeles by a margin of 5-1 voted against using municipal funds to support the hosting of the 1984 Games. Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, was presented with the challenge of organizing the Games with a budget of $500 million. Contributing to the budget was a lucrative television contract bringing in $225 million. The private sector for the first time in the Olympic movement provided a significant contribution of $140 million. The McDonald’s Corporation financed the construction of a swimming stadium at the University of Southern California (USC). Other companies, such as Coca-Cola, United Airlines, Anheuser-Busch, and Seven-Eleven, provided contributions.

An advantage that Los Angeles had over Montreal was the opportunity to use existing venues. The Los Angeles Coliseum was used for opening and closing ceremonies as well as track-and-field events. Existing stadiums such as the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium as well as stadiums located on the East Coast at Harvard and Annapolis were utilized for staging soccer events. The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was used for boxing, and the Forum for basketball. Dodger Stadium was used for baseball competition. Aquatic events were conducted at the newly constructed swimming stadium at USC as well as existing venues at Pepperdine University. Equestrian events were held at the Santa Anita racetrack.

The Summer Games were an economic success. The Games were attended by six million spectators and had a record-breaking television audience. The championship soccer game between France and Brazil had an attendance of 101,799 spectators, the largest crowd ever to watch a soccer game in the United States. The championship baseball game between the United States and Japan was held at Dodger Stadium. The game attracted just one thousand fans less than the all-time record for a single game achieved by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a World Series game. The Summer Games resulted in a profit of $225 million.

Political Controversies

On December 28, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The United States officially condemned the invasion. As a result, President Jimmy Carter called for all free nations to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. More than fifty nations boycotted the Moscow Games, resulting in the lowest athletic attendance of the Olympic Games since 1956. In response to the boycott, the Soviet Union announced on May 8, 1984, that it, along with fourteen other Eastern Bloc nations, would boycott the Summer Games. Iran and Libya joined the boycott as well. The absence of these nations was significant in that they had accounted for 58 percent of the gold medals that were won during the 1976 Olympic Games. Romania and Yugoslavia did not join in the boycott, and Romania compiled a national record of fifty-three medals. The People’s Republic of China was in attendance for the first time since 1952. After China walked out of the 1976 Winter Olympics because of Taiwan’s participation under the name “Republic of China,” the IOC later recognized the People’s Republic as China and Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei.” In 1984, Moscow hosted the Friendship Games, an alternative to the Los Angeles Olympic Games held between July and August of 1984.

Performances

The United States was the overwhelming medals leader with a total of 174 medals, including 83 gold medals; Romania had the second-highest accumulation of gold medals with 20 and a total of 53; West Germany came in third with 17 gold medals and a total of 59 medals; Canada came in sixth with 10 gold medals and a total of 44 medals.

Carl Lewis of the United States became the first man to win four gold medals in track and field—100 meter, 200 meter, 4-by-100 relay, and long jump—since Jesse Owens accomplished the feat in 1936. Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the United States became the first woman Olympian to win the 200 and 400 meters. Joan Benoit of the United States won the first gold medal in the women’s marathon. Achievements of American athletes included winning 9 of 12 gold medals in boxing and 21 of 34 gold medals in swimming. Mary Lou Retton became the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition. Peter Vidmar became the first American to win an individual gold medal in men’s gymnastics in fifty-two years. In gymnastics, the men won the team gold medal and the women won the team silver medal. Greg Louganis of the United States became the first athlete in fifty-six years to win both diving events. Michael Jordan and Cheryl Miller led the men’s and women’s basketball teams to gold medals.

Canadian swimmers won three gold medals. Michael Gross of West Germany won two gold medals with world-record times in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly. Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco won a gold medal in women’s 400-meter hurdles, becoming the first woman champion from an Islamic country. Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany became the oldest person ever to win a track-and-field gold medal in the Olympics, in women’s high jump. In 1972, she had also become the youngest.

Impact

The 1984 Winter and Summer Olympics demonstrated that the Games could be staged without economic turmoil. Fueled by lucrative television contracts, the 1984 Games were financially successful, demonstrating that with contributions from the private sector and utilization of existing athletic venues, the hosting of the Games could be economically feasible. As a result, several nations provided bids to hold subsequent Olympic Games. The significant attendance at the soccer games at the Los Angeles Games demonstrated that soccer tournaments held in the United States would be well received and contributed to the United States’ hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup of soccer.

Bibliography

Albertson, Lisa H., ed. Athens to Atlanta: One Hundred Years of Glory. Salt Lake City, Utah: Commemorative Publications, 1995. This text is licensed by the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide an overview of the Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1996.

Espy, Richard. The Politics of the Olympic Games. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Provides a historical account of the political, economic, and social forces that have influenced the conduct of the Olympic Games.

Frommer, Harvery, Myrna Frommer, and Mary Gaddie. Games of the Twenty-Third Olympiad: Los Angeles 1984 Commemorative Book. Salt Lake City, Utah: International Sport Publications, 1984. Commemorative text of the 1984 Summer Olympics that is officially sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.

Hugman, Barry J., and Peter Arnold. The Olympic Games: Complete Track and Field Results, 1896-1988. New York: Facts On File, 1988. Provides an overview of athletes and the medal winners in track and field.

Ueberroth, Peter. Made in America. New York: William Morrow, 1985. Written by the President of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

Wenn, Stephen R. “Conflicting Agendas: Monique Berlioux, Ahmed Karabegovic, and U.S. Television Rights Negotiations for the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Winter Games.” Fourth International Symposium for Olympic Research, October, 1998, 115-128. Provides an analysis of major American television stations vying for the television rights to the Sarajevo Winter Games.

Wilson, Harold E., Jr. “The Golden Opportunity: Romania’s Political Manipulation of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.” Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies 3 (1994): 83-97. Provides an in-depth analysis of Romania’s defiance of the Soviet boycott of the Games.