1984 Los Angeles Olympics: Soviet Boycott and Carl Lewis's Gold

The 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles from 28 July to 12 August 1984, were the first modern Games financed almost entirely by private money. Although the Soviet Union and most of its allies boycotted them, a record 140 nations took part, and stars such as Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton made them hugely popular in the United States. Their commercial success transformed the economics of the Olympic movement.

Background: a Games nobody wanted

By the late 1970s hosting the Olympics looked like a financial disaster. Montreal’s 1976 Games had left the city with debts that took about three decades to pay off, and the 1972 Munich Games had been overshadowed by a terrorist attack. When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sought hosts for 1984, Tehran withdrew and Los Angeles was the only serious bidder.

Los Angeles, which had hosted in 1932, won the Games in 1978, but its voters refused to let the city bear the financial risk. After long negotiations, the IOC agreed that a private body, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), would run the Games, with the US Olympic Committee sharing responsibility.

Peter Ueberroth’s private Olympics

The LAOOC was led by Peter Ueberroth, a travel-business entrepreneur. His plan was to keep costs down by using existing venues, such as the Memorial Coliseum, university campuses and arenas, and to raise money through television rights, ticket sales and a limited number of corporate sponsors paying large sums for exclusive rights.

The broadcaster ABC paid $225 million for American television rights. Sponsors funded new venues, including a swimming stadium and a velodrome. The torch relay across the United States, which began in New York on 8 May 1984, raised money for youth charities by selling the right to carry the torch for a kilometre.

The Soviet-led boycott

Relations between the superpowers were poor in 1984, after the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September 1983. On 8 May 1984, under the leadership of Konstantin Chernenko, the Soviet Union announced it would not send a team, citing security concerns and anti-Soviet activity in the United States.

Thirteen other countries followed, among them East Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam and North Korea. Iran, Libya and Albania were also absent. Romania defied Moscow and competed, receiving one of the loudest welcomes of the opening ceremony, and Yugoslavia also attended. The People’s Republic of China took part in its first Summer Olympics since 1952.

Opening ceremony and stars of the Games

President Ronald Reagan opened the Games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on 28 July 1984 before a crowd of over 90,000. The ceremony featured a man flying into the stadium with a rocket belt and a performance by 84 pianists. Gina Hemphill, a granddaughter of Jesse Owens, carried the torch into the stadium, and the 1960 decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lit the cauldron.

Carl Lewis won four gold medals, in the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump and 4 x 100 metres relay, equalling the feat of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Mary Lou Retton, aged 16, won the women’s gymnastics all-around title with perfect scores on her last two apparatus, the first American woman to do so.

Joan Benoit of the United States won the first women’s Olympic marathon. Edwin Moses won his second Olympic title in the 400 metres hurdles, Sebastian Coe retained his 1,500 metres title and Daley Thompson won a second decathlon gold. In the women’s 3,000 metres, a collision between Mary Decker and Zola Budd, then running for Britain, became one of the most debated moments of the Games.

China won its first Olympic gold medal on the first day, when Xu Haifeng took the 50-metre pistol shooting event. Synchronised swimming, rhythmic gymnastics and women’s road cycling also made their Olympic debuts.

How the boycott affected the Games

The boycott removed many of the world’s strongest teams. East Germany and the Soviet Union had dominated the medal tables of 1976 and 1980, and their absence was felt especially in gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, women’s athletics and swimming. Some critics argued that many 1984 medals were devalued as a result.

To make up for the loss, the Eastern bloc staged the Friendship Games, a series of competitions held in several socialist countries between July and September 1984. Some results there, especially in women’s athletics, were better than the winning marks in Los Angeles.

The Soviet decision was also a blow to athletes in the boycotting countries, who had trained for years without any say in the decision. As with the American athletes in 1980, many never had another Olympic chance.

Concerns and controversies

Before the Games, critics in Los Angeles feared traffic chaos and smog, and the city planned staggered working hours and extra bus services. In the event traffic flowed better than usual and the feared gridlock did not materialise.

The Games also had their controversies. Several athletes tested positive for banned substances, testing methods were still limited, and there were disputes over boxing judging and over the collision in the women’s 3,000 metres. Critics also argued that commercial sponsorship had changed the character of the Olympics, a debate that has continued ever since.

Security was another major concern after the 1972 Munich attack. Thousands of police officers, federal agents and private guards protected the venues and the main athletes’ villages at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Games passed without a serious security incident.

Results and finances

With the Soviet and East German teams absent, the United States dominated the medal table with 83 gold and 174 medals in total. Romania came second with 20 gold medals, followed by West Germany. Some 6,800 athletes took part in 221 events.

The organisers reported a surplus of about $232 million. Part of it endowed the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, now the LA84 Foundation, which supports youth sport. Ueberroth was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1984. The financial success persuaded many cities that hosting the Olympics could be worthwhile, and competition to stage later Games became intense.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 18 May 1978: The IOC awards the 1984 Games to Los Angeles.
• 8 May 1984: The torch relay begins in New York; the Soviet Union announces its boycott.
• 28 July 1984: President Reagan opens the Games at the Memorial Coliseum.
• 29 July 1984: Xu Haifeng wins China’s first Olympic gold medal.
• 3 August 1984: Mary Lou Retton wins the gymnastics all-around title.
• 5 August 1984: Joan Benoit wins the first women’s Olympic marathon.
• 11 August 1984: Carl Lewis wins his fourth gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay.
• 12 August 1984: The Games close.

Why it matters

The Los Angeles Games showed that the Olympics could make money, and their model of sponsorship and television deals shaped every later Games. They also marked the last great Cold War boycott: the Soviet Union and its allies returned at the 1988 Seoul Games. Los Angeles was later chosen to host the Games again in 2028.