1984 Los Angeles Summer Games

After 52 years, the Olympic returned to the United States in 1984, and once again, the Games came to Los Angeles. Looking for respite after the previous three difficult Olympics, the IOC would not find it in Los Angeles.

In May 1984, the Soviet Union announced that it would not attend the Olympics in Los Angeles, citing concerns over the safety of its athletes because of the “anti-Soviet and anti-Communist activities” in the Los Angeles area. Most people considered the boycott one of retribution for the United States’ refusal to compete in Moscow. Most of the Eastern European countries joined in the Soviet-bloc boycott, notably East Germany (GDR), and they were joined by Cuba. Although only 14 invited countries did not compete in Los Angeles, the absence of the U.S.S.R., Cuba, and the GDR made many of the events mere shadows of what was anticipated.

Still, more countries and athletes competed at Los Angeles than in any previous Olympics. However, what the 1984 boycott lacked in numbers relative to the 1980 boycott, it made up for it in its impact on the competition. Boxing, weightlifting, wrestling, gymnastics, and track & field would have been dominated by the boycotting nations. The nations which did not compete were: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea, Poland, South Yemen, Vietnam, and the U.S.S.R. Bravely, Romania defied the boycott and competed at the Olympics, receiving an ovation at the opening ceremonies second only to that of the host country. Yugoslavia, not Soviet dominated, was the only other country from Eastern Europe to compete.

After all that, the Olympics were very well run, although the Europeans had numerous complaints, mostly about customary American methods of doing business. American television concentrated on U.S. athletes, which infuriated the Europeans. Notably, decathlon champion Daley Thompson (GBR) appeared at the closing ceremonies wearing a T-shirt saying “Thanks, America, for a great Games,” on the front, and “But what about the television coverage?” on the back.

For the first time ever, the Games were managed in an entrepreneurial fashion. Organizing committee President Peter Ueberroth insisted that the Olympics be designed to break even or even provide a profit. Again, the Europeans, used to the simon-pure idealistic image of the Olympics for the Olympics’ sake, rebelled against this philosophy. But Ueberroth was determined not to have another white elephant like Montréal and he succeeded admirably in that regard. So admirably, in fact, that when the final tally came in, the organizing committee had made several hundred million dollars. It should be pointed out, however, that Ueberroth’s marketing methods, though decried by the Europeans, have since been copied by all organizing committees and even the I¬OC itself.

Much of the profit was given to the U.S. Olympic Committee, some to support youth sports programs in the U.S., and some was given back to the participating nations to help pay their expenses for participating. Still, it left a sour taste in many people’s mouths, especially since the Organizing Committee was maintaining until the very end that it would not make a profit, but only come out approximately even.

As to the sports themselves, the competition was good, though diluted in many ways because of the boycott. Carl Lewis emerged as the American men’s star, equalling Jesse Owens’ 1936 feat of winning four gold medals in track & field. But Lewis did not have Owens’ appeal to the American public and his image, almost obsequiously nurtured by his manager, failed to live up to his deeds on the track.

Failing Lewis, the American public reached instead to Mary Lou Retton, an American gymnast who won the all-around individual gold for the first time in history. To win she needed a perfect ten on her last event, the horse vault. Given two vaults, she achieved the 10, not once, but twice.

After the debacles of Munich and Montréal, Los Angeles had been the only bidder for the Games of 1984. But Los Angeles, despite its problems, revitalized the Olympic Movement to some degree. Having shown that the Olympics did not need to be a “loss-leader” and could, in fact, produce an operating profit, many cities now were interested in hosting the Olympics. Shortly after the 1984 Olympics, six cities would bid to host the 1992 Games. And the IOC reached out to a strange bedfellow, Seoul, Korea, to provide a bit of solace to its troubled Movement in 1988.