Athletics at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games

The 1984 track & field athletics competition was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had hosted the 1932 Olympic Games, and was the home field for UCLA and Southern Cal football. The competition was affected by the Soviet-led boycott, especially in the throwing events, and most notably among the men, in the hammer throw, in which most of the world’s top 10 did not compete. The athletics was notable for two new events available for women – the 3,000 metres and especially, the marathon. In addition, this was the first Olympics contested after the IAAF had finally relented and decided to contest a World Championships, which had first been held in 1983 in Helsinki. The single big name of the 1984 athletics was Carl Lewis, who set a goal of winning the same four gold medals won by Jesse Owens in Berlin in 1936, and accomplished that goal. Among the women the big star was Valerie Brisco-Hooks, who won the 200 and 400 and ran the 3rd leg on the winning American 4x400 relay team. Daley Thompson also starred, defending his Olympic decathlon title, becoming only the second athlete to do so, after Bob Mathias.