The1984 Summer Olympics (officially theGames of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known asLos Angeles 1984) were an internationalmulti-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, inLos Angeles, California, United States. It marked the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, the first being in1932. This was the first of two consecutive Olympic Games to be held in North America withCalgary, Alberta, Canada hosting the1988 Winter Olympics.[2] California was the home state of the incumbentU.S. presidentRonald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under theIOC presidency ofJuan Antonio Samaranch.
The 1984 Summer Olympics are widely considered to be the most financially successful modern Olympics,[5] serving as an example 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 corporatefunding,[6] the 1984 Games generated a profit of overUS$250 million.
On July 18, 2009, a 25th anniversary celebration of the 1984 Games was held at theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The celebration included a speech by former Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee presidentPeter Ueberroth, a short re-enactment of the Flying Rocketman sequence, the presentation of more than 35 (mostly So-Cal-based) gold medal winners from 1984 (which was part of Ceremonies producer David Wolper's original 1984 plans) as well as a re-lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for the third time in2028.[7]
After theterrorist attack at the1972 Summer Olympics, the significant financial debts ofMontreal (1976), and various boycotts by National Olympic Committees, few cities by the late 1970s were willing to bid for the Summer Olympics. Only two cities (Tehran[8] 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bids for the 1984 Summer Games, but before the final selection of a winning city in 1978, the bid from Tehran was withdrawn in June 1975. Hence, the selection process for the 1984 Summer Olympics consisted of a single finalized bid from Los Angeles, which theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted. The selection was officially made at the 80th IOC Session inAthens on May 18, 1978.[9]
Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympic Games (1976 and 1980, which went toMontreal andMoscow, respectively). TheUnited States Olympic Committee (USOC) had submitted at least one bid for every Olympics since1944 but had not succeeded since theLos Angeles Olympics in 1932, the previous time only a single bid had been issued for the Summer Olympics.
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. Noted athleteO. J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up theCalifornia Incline inSanta Monica. Gina Hemphill, a granddaughter ofJesse 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 thedecathlon at the1960 Summer Olympics. With the torch, he touched off the flame which passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo, igniting all five rings. Johnson became the first person of African descent to light the cauldron in Olympic history.[11] The flame then passed up to the cauldron atop the peristyle and remained aflame for the duration of the Games.
The Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
John Williams composed the theme for the Olympiad, "Los Angeles Olympic Theme" later also known as "Olympic Fanfare and Theme". This piece won aGrammy for Williams and became one of the most well-known musical themes of the Olympic Games, along withLeo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream"; the latter is sometimes attached to the beginning of Olympic Fanfare and Theme. ComposerBill Conti also wrote a song to inspire the weightlifters called "Power". An album,The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad—Los Angeles 1984, featured those three tracks along with sports themes written for the occasion by popular musical artists includingForeigner,Toto,Loverboy,Herbie Hancock,Quincy Jones,Christopher Cross,Philip Glass,Paul Engemann andGiorgio Moroder.[12][13] "Reach Out" was the main soundtrack and is the official theme song of the 1984 Summer Olympics.[14]
The Brazilian composerSérgio Mendes also produced a special song for the 1984 Olympic Games, "Olympia," from his 1984 albumConfetti. Achoir of approximately one thousand voices was assembled ofsingers in the region. All were volunteers from nearbychurches, schools and universities.
The 1984 Summer Olympics was preceded by the 10-week-long adjunct Olympic Arts Festival, which opened on June 1 and ended on August 12.[18] It provided more than 400 performances by 146 theater, dance, and music companies, representing every continent and 18 countries, as well as art exhibitions and films. It was organized by then-CalArts PresidentRobert Fitzpatrick.[19] Along with many famous American dance companies, such as theDance Theatre of Harlem, the festival hosted three international debuts: German choreographerPina Bausch and herTanztheater Wuppertal, Groupe Emile Dubois from France, and the JapaneseButoh.[20]
This was the first edition in which new rules of coexistence within theOlympic Village were implemented and it was decided that from this edition onwards all athletes would have to stay in the same place, as opposed to being divided by gender and sometimes even political blocs which was the case previously.[21]
Also for the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee authorized the formal segments of theopening ceremony to be interspersed with the cultural segments. The start of the event featured the arrival of Bill Suitor by means of theBell Aerosystemsrocket pack (also known as a Jet Pack).
Local Los Angeles artistRodolfo 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".LAOOC also designedErnie Barnes as "Sports Artist of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games" and Barnes was commissioned to create five Olympic-themed paintings and serve as an official Olympic spokesman to encourage inner-city youth.
Carl Lewis of the United States, making his first of four appearances at the Olympics, equaled the 1936 performance ofJesse 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 theMarathon 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 fromAustralia, finished in 5th place, 1:48 behind Lopes.
Amarathon for women was held for the first time at the Olympics (won byJoan Benoit of the U.S.). The event was also remembered for Swiss runnerGabriela Andersen-Schiess, who – suffering from heat exhaustion – entered the stadium for the final lap in a state of almost total exhaustion, barely able to walk but eventually completing the race, collapsing at the finishing line and being immediately treated by medical personnel.
Daley Thompson of Great Britain apparently missed a new world record in winning his second consecutive gold medal in thedecathlon; 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 the1500m.
Maricica Puică of Romania won the 3000 meters, known for theMary Decker vs.Zola Budd rivalry. World champion and heavy favorite Decker fell after a controversial collision with Budd. However, Puică had the best annual time at the distance, easily run away from silver medalistWendy Sly of Great Britain and appeared to have more to give if it had been necessary. Puică was injured during the very first Track and Field World Championships inHelsinki the year before, in which Decker had won both the 1500 meters and the 3000 meters.[23]
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 whenXu Haifeng won the50 m Pistol event.
ArcherNeroli Fairhall from New Zealand was the firstparaplegic Olympian at any Olympic Games, coming 35th in the Women's individual event.
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 the2008 Olympics.[24]
Steve Redgrave of Great Britain won his first title inrowing 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 Olympicassociation 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+ seatRose Bowl. This interest eventually led to the U.S. hosting the1994 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. The success of the Eastern Bloc countries might be explained by state-run doping programs that had been developed there.[25]
In the judo open division, four-time world championYasuhiro Yamashita of Japan tore a right calf muscle in the preliminary match againstArthur Schnabel. This put Yamashita at a huge disadvantage since he executed his throws by pivoting on his right leg. Though he managed to win the match with anOkuri-Eri-Jime, the injury caused him to visibly limp during the semi-final match againstLaurent Del Colombo. Yamashita was thrown with anOsoto Gari only 30 seconds into the match, but managed to return an Osoto Gari and won the match with aYoko-Shiho-Gatame (side four-quarter hold). He played the final match againstMohamed Ali Rashwan of Egypt. Yamashita won the final and the gold medal despite his injury. The match witnessed a remarkable fair play act from Rashwan who did not aim for Yamashita's right leg. Rashwan was even given an award from the International Fairplay Committee.[26]
TheSoviet Union led theWarsaw Pact members and other Communist countries in a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics, in retaliation for the U.S.-led boycott of theMoscow Olympics four years earlier (over theSoviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979). The pretexts for the 1984 Soviet-led boycott were concerns over security, "chauvinistic sentiments" and "an anti-Soviet hysteria ... being whipped up" in the United States.[27] However, a handful of communist countries disregarded the boycott and attended the Games anyway, among themYugoslavia (host of the1984 Winter Olympics), thePeople's Republic of China, andRomania (the only Warsaw Pact country that had opted to ignore the Soviet demands). The Romanian team received a particularly warm reception from the United States; when the Romanian athletes entered during the opening ceremonies, they were greeted by a standing ovation from the spectators, who were mostly U.S. citizens. This would turn out to be Romania's most successful Olympic Games – they won 53 medals, including 20 golds.[28][29]
In the table below, the number of athletes representing each state is shown in parentheses.
Albania,Iran,Libya andUpper Volta (changed toBurkina Faso following August 4)[31] also missed the Los Angeles Olympics, citing political reasons, but these countries were not a part of the Soviet-led boycott. Albania and Iran were the only two countries to boycott both the 1980 and 1984 Summer Games.
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 theRussian doping program prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[32] Filmmaker and director of 2017 movieIcarusBryan Fogel has said that stricter doping controls might have been the main reason for the Soviet boycott.[33]
Newspaper vending machine announcing the 1984 Olympics.
Following the news of the massive financial losses of the1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal, the only two cities to express a genuine interest in hosting the 1984 Games were Los Angeles andNew York. Given that only one city per country is allowed to bid for any one Games, theUSOC 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 their2012 bid (when they lost to London).[34]
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. Furthermore, the 1976 and 1980 Olympics were entirely government-funded. Unlike Montreal and Moscow, Los Angeles 1984 was privately funded, with strict controls imposed on expenditure; rather than constructing new venues with overly ambitious designs, the organizers chose instead to utilize existing venues and facilities wherever possible. The main example of this was theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was also the Olympic Stadium for the1932 Summer Olympics.[35] The only two new venues constructed specifically for the 1984 Summer Olympics were secured with the backing of corporate sponsors: the Olympic Velodrome was largely funded by the7-Eleven corporation and the Olympic Swim Stadium byMcDonald's.
In addition to corporate support, the Olympic committee also used the income from the exclusive television rights, and for the first time these contracts would prove to be a significant source of revenue. Adjusted for inflation, the Los Angeles Games secured twice the amount of income received by the1980 Moscow Summer Olympics and four times that of the1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.[36][34]
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 show a renewed interest in bidding to become host again. The Los Angeles and Montreal Games are seen as examples of best and worst practice when organizing the Olympics and serve as valuable lessons to prospective host cities.
Following the success of the 1984 Games, the Los Angeles OCOG, led byPeter Ueberroth, used the profits to create theLA84 Foundation for promoting youth sports in Southern California, educating coaches and maintaining a sports library.
American fast food chainMcDonald's ran apromotion titled, "When the U.S. Wins, You Win" where customers scratched off a ticket with the name of an Olympic event on it. If the U.S. won a medal in that event, then they would be given a free menu item: aBig Mac for a gold medal, an order offrench fries for a silver medal, and aCoca-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.[37] This promotion was parodied inThe Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word", whereKrusty Burger runs a similar offer. The promotion was intended to be rigged so that prizes would only be offered in events dominated by theEastern Bloc, but the Soviet-led boycott causes Krusty to personally lose $44 million. He vehemently promises "to spit in every fiftieth burger," to whichHomer retorts "I like those odds!"Chief Wiggum also exclaims that he could kissCarl Lewis, who won four gold medals at the Games.
OnNCIS, 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.[38] This storyline is based on the real experience of executive producer and writer Jesse Stern.[39]
Pop-punk bandBowling 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 at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
In theSeinfeld episode "The Gymnast", Jerry dates a woman who competed in the 1984 Olympics and won a silver medal for Romania.
In the same week that the Games began, British pop starHoward Jones released a single calledLike to Get to Know You Well which eventually made number 4 on theUK Singles Chart and number 49 on theBillboard Hot 100 in the United States. On the sleeve, the record was "dedicated to the original spirit of the Olympic Games".
^Archived atGhostarchive and theWayback Machine:Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Opening Ceremony Complete [Go to time stamp 29:40 for Etta James' performance. A previously cited Associated Press story (in which James was credited for singing the national anthem) was an AP reporting error. The national anthem was performed by a choir, and James appeared to perform 'When The Saints Go Marching In' later in the ceremony.].YouTube. September 6, 2014.
^Yake, D. Byron (July 29, 1984)."'84 Olympics: Gala trumpets in Games".Beaver County Times.AP. p. A1, A10. RetrievedAugust 28, 2020.The Romanians, the only Eastern bloc nation to defy the Soviet boycott, were greeted with a standing ovation.
^Shoval, Noam. "A New Phase in the Competition For The Olympic Gold: The London and New York Bids For The 2012 Games." Journal of Urban Affairs 24.5 (2002): 583–99.
Dyreson, Mark. "Global television and the transformation of the Olympics: The 1984 Los Angeles Games."International Journal of the History of Sport 32.1 (2015): 172–184.
Edelman, Robert Simon. "The Russians are not coming! The Soviet withdrawal from the games of the XXIII Olympiad."International Journal of the History of Sport 32.1 (2015): 9-36.
Llewellyn, Matthew, John Gleaves, and Wayne Wilson. "The Historical Legacy of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games."International Journal of the History of Sport 32#1 (2015) : 1–8.
Llewellyn, Matthew, John Gleaves, and Wayne Wilson, eds.The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games: Assessing the 30-Year Legacy (Routledge, 2017).
Greenberg, Stan (2004).Whitakers Olympic Almanack. A. & C. Black.ISBN0-7136-6724-9.
