Olympic Games of 1992

The Event The staging of XVI Winter and XXV Summer Olympiads, international athletic competitions, held every four years

Date Winter Games, February 8-23, 1992; Summer Games, July 25-August 9, 1992

Place Winter Games, Albertville, France; Summer Games, Barcelona, Spain

The 1992 Olympics marked the end of a decade of political boycotts and the first Games to be held after the Iron Curtain had come down. They were also the last Olympics in which Winter and Summer Games were held in the same year.

Albertville, France, had been selected to host the 1992 Winter Olympics out of eight bids, including Anchorage, Alaska, and Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer actually staged the next Winter Olympics, held just two years later in 1994.

Sixty-four nations were represented, fielding some 1,801 athletes: 1,313 men and 488 women. Seven sports were included, generating fifty-seven separate events. The sports included figure skating, speed skating, alpine and Nordic skiing, and ice hockey. Freestyle skiing, short-track speed skating, and women’s biathlon were held as medal competitions for the first time. Curling was included for the first time as a demonstration sport. Of the fifty-seven events, eighteen were held in Albertville, the remainder being held at nearby resorts in the French Alps.

The Games were opened by French president François Mitterrand in a ceremony featuring dancers and acrobats. The Olympic torch was lit by French soccer star Michel Platini and a local boy, François-Cyrille Grange. The Olympic Oath was taken on behalf of the athletes by figure skater Surya Bonaly and the Official Oath by alpine skier Pierre Bornat.

The Olympics of 1992 were held soon after the collapse of the communist Soviet Union (December, 1991), which quickly produced a number of newly independent states, and the unification of East and West Germany (October, 1990). As many of the new states had not had time to organize themselves for the Olympics, they were allowed to compete as the former Soviet team, but under the title of the Unified Team (UT, or EUN). On the other hand, the two Germanies had managed to unite and for the first time since 1960 competed as a single nation. This led them to immediate success, and they headed the medal table with ten gold medals and twenty-six medals in all, outstripping the UT team, which gained nine golds and twenty-three medals in all. Frequently, the host country does very well, but this was not the case in 1992. France, one of the dominating skiing countries, could only manage three gold medals and nine medals in all. Of the smaller countries, Norway did unexpectedly well, finishing with nine golds and twenty medals in all. The United States earned five gold medals and a total of eleven.

Of individual performances, that of Raisa Smetanina of the UT was one of the most outstanding. At thirty-nine years old, she was the oldest woman ever to win a cross-country skiing gold medal in the 4-by-5-kilometer relay race, bringing her total haul of Olympic medals to ten. Another outstanding winner was the Austrian skier Petra Kronberger, who won golds in both the slalom and giant slalom events. Close behind her in the medals tally came the veteran Italian skier Alberto Tomba, who won gold in the giant slalom for a record-breaking second time and silver in the slalom.

Among other outstanding individual performances was that of Canadian skier Kerrin Lee-Gartner, who won the women’s downhill skiing. She had not won in six years, and only came out of retirement to compete in the Winter Olympics, having had reconstructive knee surgery. Behind her, in silver medal position, was another surprise in Hilary Lindh of the United States, comprehensively breaking the Alpine countries’ stranglehold over the event. In figure skating, American Kristi Yamaguchi won gold, with Nancy Kerrigan taking the bronze. Paul Wylie of the United States gained a silver medal in the men’s figure skating, behind Viktor Petrenko of the UT.

In the team sports, Canada won the women’s 3,000-meter relay in speed skating, with the U.S. team taking silver. Canada started favorites in the ice hockey but were beaten in the final by the UT. Canada also gained the silver in the men’s 500-meter speed skating relay.

The Summer Olympics

For the twenty-fifth Olympiad, Barcelona, in the Catalonian region of Spain, had been chosen over five other cities in an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in 1986. Catalonia was fittingly the birthplace of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. Some 169 nations participated, a record number, and 9,356 athletes competed: 6,652 men and 2,704 women. Thirty-two sports were represented in 286 separate events. Baseball, badminton, and women’s judo were added as new sports, and slalom canoeing returned after twenty years. The demonstration sports were roller hockey and tae kwon do as well as the local Spanish sports of Basque pelote and Valencian pilota.

King Juan Carlos I of Spain presided over the opening ceremony in the newly constructed Olympic Stadium, and Spanish paraplegic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a flaming arrow to ignite the Olympic torch. The Olympic Oath was read by the veteran Spanish sailor Luis Doreste Blanco. The theme song “Barcelona” could only be played as part of a recorded travelogue, as Freddie Mercury (of the British rock band Queen), the song’s composer and one of the singers, had recently died. The other theme song, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Amigos para Siempre” (always friends), was sung at the closing ceremony.

As with the Winter Games, the former Soviet team competed as the Unified Team using the Olympic flag and anthem, while the Germans competed as a single team. The breakup of Yugoslavia presented difficulties for the constituent parts of that country. Because of U.N. sanctions against their country, Yugoslav athletes were allowed to compete under the Olympic flag, but not their own. Newly independent Croatia and Slovenia, who had been invited by the IOC to Albertville, made their Summer Olympic debuts, while Bosnia and Herzegovina competed for the first time. South Africa was able to compete for the first time in several decades, the IOC having decided the notorious apartheid policy of that country had been dismantled sufficiently to bring it into compliance with Olympic rules.

Under Samaranch, the financial basis of the Olympics had been secured during the 1980’s by allowing commercial sponsorship and sale of broadcasting rights. This continued at the 1992 Summer Olympics. The rules that sought to ensure that all athletes were nonprofessionals were relaxed. In the case of basketball, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) allowed any professional to participate, and thus the United States was able to field its “Dream Team” of leading professional basketball players, easily securing the gold medal. Cycling and soccer also eased the professional rules considerably. After the 1988 drug scandal surrounding Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, drug testing was for the first time rigorously monitored.

Outstanding Performances

Every Olympic Games produces its crop of outstanding performances, surprises, and disappointments. The Barcelona Games were no exception. Probably the most extraordinary success was in men’s gymnastics, in which the UT gymnast Vitaly Scherbo took six gold medals, four of them on a single day. He won in the men’s all-around, still rings, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, and in the team all-around. In swimming, Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi became a triple champion in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, and the 400-meter individual medley. Egerszegi had first won Olympic gold at Seoul when she was just fourteen. She became the world record-holder over both 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. The UT swimmer Alexander Popov won golds in both the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle, beating strong U.S. challenges.

In rowing, the great British oarsman Steve Redgrave won another gold medal, this time rowing with Matthew Pinsent in the coxless pairs, a victory to be repeated in Atlanta four years later. Redgrave went on to win golds in no fewer than five Olympics, Pinsent in four. The German oarsman Thomas Lange retained his 1988 title in the single sculls. In the track-and-field events, the great Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor finally gained a gold medal, having been forced to boycott the previous two Olympics. In the sprints, the U.S. dominance was broken by the win of the British 100-meter sprinter Linford Christie and the arrival of sprinters from Africa, particularly Namibia and Nigeria. At thirty-two, Christie was the oldest sprint champion on record. Hassiba Boulmerka, the Algerian winner of the women’s 1,500-meter, became the first female medalist from a Muslim country, having run despite great criticism from some of her fellow Muslims.

The host country is thought to have an advantage in winning medals. This proved particularly true for Spain, normally regarded as quite an average country in world sport, and was nowhere better seen than in the men’s 1,500-meter, in which a relatively unknown Spaniard, Fermin Cacho, won the race of a lifetime in an impeccably timed race. The Spanish also gained golds in soccer, the men’s 20-kilometer walk, and their first ever in a swimming event. Spain came an astonishing sixth in the unofficial medals table, with 13 gold and 22 medals altogether. The UT team won the most medals, with 45 gold and 112 altogether, ahead of the United States with 37 gold and 108 altogether.

Technology continued to play a significant role in a number of sports, ranging from improved materials in the construction of poles for pole vaulting to the materials for canoes, kayaks, and boats. Perhaps the most dramatic technological innovation was in cycling, in which British rider Chris Boardman sported a revolutionary new bicycle designed using the latest aerodynamic technology—though his bicycle was still within Olympic specifications. He won the 4000-meter individual pursuit event, beating world champion Jens Lehmann. Later, allegations were made that he would not have won had it not been for the new bicycle, allegations proved wrong when, after the Olympics, he won similar pursuit races using a conventional bicycle.

The most dramatic event marking the return of South Africa to the Olympics was the women’s 10,000-meter, in which South African Elana Meyer battled the whole race with Ethiopian Derartu Tulu, with Tulu just beating Meyer to the finish. The two athletes ran the lap of honor hand in hand, black and white athlete together.

Another dramatic event was in the men’s 400-meter. In the semifinal, the British runner Derek Redmond suddenly pulled a hamstring on the final bend. Struggling to continue, Redmond found his father jumping on to the track to support his son to the finish.

Probably the greatest disappointment was in the men’s pole vault, in which the UT jumper Sergei Bubka was widely expected to win, having taken gold at Seoul in 1988 and setting a new Olympic record. Bubka in fact totally failed to make any height, though just a month later he set a new world record.

U.S. Achievements

The U.S. contingent consisted of 578 athletes, compared to 494 from the UT and 486 from the united German team. Canada’s contingent amounted to 304 athletes, on a level with Australia, with 295 athletes.

During the first week, the swimming and diving events were held. In these, Americans took eleven golds, more than any other country. Mike Barrowman, who had finished fourth in Seoul in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke, broke his own world record in that event despite the death of his father shortly before. The win in the men’s 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay gave Matt Biondi his seventh Olympic gold, though he was well beaten in other events. In the men’s medley relay, the U.S. team beat two world records in their win. The other outstanding U.S. swimmer was Pablo Morales, who won the men’s 100-meter butterfly. In the women’s competitions, Summer Sanders won the 200-meter butterfly, but elsewhere the challenge from Hungary, China, and the UT was too strong. However, in the second week, the synchronized swimming events took place, and the U.S. teams proved unrivaled there.

The gymnastics events were also held the first week. Shannon Miller emerged as the most successful American gymnast, earning silver medals in the women’s all-around and the balance beam and bronze medals in the uneven bars and floor exercise. The only U.S. gold was won by Trent Dimas in the men’s horizontal bar.

The athletics events were held the second week, and, as usual, U.S. athletes excelled. Gail Devers was seeking to become the first woman since Fanny Blankers-Koen in 1948 to win the 100-meter and the 100-meter hurdles double, despite having been seriously ill for several years before the Olympics. She had only resumed training in March, 1992. She managed to win the 100-meter but found the hurdles race, held later in the week, beyond her. In the 200-meter, Gwen Torrence edged out two Jamaicans to win, and in the women’s 4-by-100-meter relay, Evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold, with Torrence adding a second. The other outstanding female athlete on the U.S. team was Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won the heptathlon.

Among the men, the veteran Carl Lewis won the long jump at his first attempt, setting up an American clean sweep of medals. He then added an eighth gold to his overall tally in the 4-by-100-meter relay to bring an outstanding Olympic career to an end. Mike Marsh was also in the relay team, whose time was a new world record. Marsh had previously taken gold in the 200-meter, with an Olympic record time in the semifinals. Michael Johnson, the 200-meter favorite, had been surprisingly knocked out at that stage.

Other U.S. triumphs in track and field included Quincy Watts’s victory in the men’s 400-meter, with the United States also taking silver. In the 400-meter hurdles, Kevin “Spiderman” Young set a new world record time to win gold. The 4-by-400-meter men’s relay was also a U.S. victory. A new world record was set in the triple jump, in which the U.S. team took both gold and silver, as they did in the shot put, with Mike Stulce’s outstanding performance beating the heavily favored Swiss Werner Gunther.

In other sports, the Dream Team won the men’s basketball competition, defeating Croatia in the final game, and Jennifer Capriati won the women’s singles tennis gold, beating the much-favored German Steffi Graf in the final. Elsewhere, successes were more moderate. In boxing, for example, U.S. boxers gained only three medals in all, a bronze, silver, and gold, finishing behind Cuba and Germany in the boxing medals count. In men’s volleyball, the team that had won at Seoul was knocked out in the first round. The baseball team also failed to make a great impression. Overall, however, it was a good Olympics for the United States, narrowly behind the UT in the medals count, but well ahead of the Germans.

Impact

The Summer and Winter Games were great successes, both in terms of records broken and outstanding performances achieved, but also because they were not marred by boycotts or any great controversies. Drug problems were minimal, and a disqualification of the Moroccan winner of the 10,000-meter was quickly overturned on appeal. The Games were well organized and the financial backing secure. It marked a particular triumph for IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch on his home turf.

Bibliography

Goldstein, Gabriella, and Brad Lewis, eds. Olympic Results, Barcelona 1992: A Complete Compilation of Results from the Games of the XXV Olympiad. New York: Garland, 1993. This volume of the Garland Reference Library is one of the most comprehensive results lists available.

Hargreaves, John. Freedom for Catalonia? Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity, and the Barcelona Olympic Games. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2000. An investigation into the wider political and cultural forces at work in the Olympics of recent years.

Rendell, Matt, ed. The Olympics: Athens to Athens 1896-2004. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2004. A pictorial survey of the Summer Olympiads, picking out the highlights from each of the Games.

U.S. Olympic Committee. The Olympic Century: XXIV Olympiad, Seoul 1988, and Albertville 1992. Tonawanda, N.Y.: Firefly Books, 1997. Includes the official report on the 1992 Winter Olympics from the U.S. point of view.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Olympic Century: XXV Olympiad, Barcelona 1992, and Lillehammer 1994. Tonawanda, N.Y.: Firefly Books, 1996. Includes the official U.S. report of the Barcelona Olympics.

Wallechinsky, David. The Complete Book of the Olympics, 1992. New York: Little, Brown, 1992. A complete preview of that year’s Olympic Games, with full descriptions of leading athletes and events.