Sarajevo in the Balkans was a wild card choice that surprised even Olympic officials. The 1984 Winter Games went where no democratic peacekeeping Olympic teams had gone before. Sapporo and Gothernburg lost out.
Twins continue to be an Olympic sensation. Skiing twins Steve and Phil Mahre, Gymnastic twins Paul and Morgan Hamm, and more stud the Olympian history books with unmistakable genetic proof that athleticism is bred in the bones.
Despite the glamour of figure skating and the relatively diminished aura of the ice dancing competition in some cultures, it is the Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean ice dancing team of skaters most Olympics watchers know the names of. Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt were the big names that year for skating gold, but the dream team of Torvill and Dean has become practically an Olympic imprimatur of excellence in any sport. Stunning the Sarajevo crowd in 1984, history on ice was made before amazed eyes. This British pair absolutely defined elegance, sportsmanship, and inventiveness and ability for decades of Olympics skating fans. Audiences and judges were mesmerized by the original choreography, skating virtuosity, and Ravel’s “Bolero” interpretation. Torvill and Dean, while being only “ice dancing pairs”, nevertheless stamped the sport with their long shadow.
Russian supremacy in the sport of Olympic hockey has challenged contemporary organizers to attract audiences for early games, while crowds often abstain from attending to wait for the “big finish”.
Medal sharing is a surprising yet technically correct result in many final competition results. Shared gold and silver medals often “bump” a bronze medalist off the podium and out of medalist winner standings.
Age limits have been imposed on sports like gymnastics, where female athletes must now be 15 in the year they might compete as Olympians in that sport. This came about due to the public response to the appearance of “kindergarten gymnasts” risking their lives on deadly tricks without feasible maturity.
American Bruce Jenner may be a Kardashian byword today, but in Montreal in 1976 his personal best marathon in the Biathlon competition made him a sports figure rivaling Joe Montana, Roger Staubach, Dan Marino, and Joe Namath.
The risky, progressive style of evolutionary figure skating jumps into quad territory has been arrested by a radical revision in artistic and technical judging. Olympic scandals from the past and long-held suspicions about favorable skating judging has given birth to a new points system. This has created an opportunity for every figure skater in the current figure skating Grand Prix, national and world championship level to set records with almost every performance, since recent champions only have substantive records under the old 6.0 system.
Although Nadia Comaneci is touted today as being the Olympic sensation of 1976 scoring perfect tens, her three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze were technically surpassed by Russian gymnast Nelli Kim, whose aura had also been overshadowed in 1972 by teammate Olga Korbut. Nelli Kim won gold for the vault, floor, and combined exercise team event competition, and also won a silver in the all-around. In the euro-centric values of the times, the assistance for winning the team medal contribution was considered more Communistically praiseworthy than the individual all-around.
Famous European and Baltic names and careers made in Olympic history in the boycott-era 1980 Moscow Olympics are largely unknown to many Americans. Protest of the Soviet led military invasion of Afghanistan cut many American and other Olympic sports careers off at the knees. Japan and West Germany joined the United States in the Olympic boycott. Consequently American knowledge of these games and athletes is poor. This damaged the advertising and other revenue from commercial potential opportunities for many Moscow champion athletes. Many medals in Western sports from the 1980 Moscow Games have “asterisks” attached to them, such as Alexander Ditiatin’s three gold medals in gymnastics. many experts claim the American team specialists in these events would have challenged such a set of wins, an echo heard for many of the medals won in these games. The retaliation of the Soviets and their allies’ teams non-participation in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games over “security arrangements” was a trite piece of payback for the Eastern bloc nations. No violent crime or terrorist incidents occurred to any team. Conversely, many American records and wins from these games were reciprocally challenged by Eastern bloc and Soviet sports experts. Lowered standards for American and other wins for 1980 have been acknowledged by critics.
Carl Lewis was such a star in the 1980 Olympic Games he briefly became almost an Olympic trademark. Only Ecaterina Czabo of Romania outmedaled Lewis in terms of podium hardware. Synchronized swimming and windsurfing made their debut as Olympic sports this 1980 Olympic year. Perhaps due to the lack of Russian and eastern bloc countries’ participation, many American swimmers and divers were unusually prominent in these Olympic Games.
Olympic sponsors and and television rights generated about $750 million worth of funding for the 1980 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Although Ueberroth was praised for a privately funded 1980 Olympic games, criticism of the Olympic Games’ commercialism began to rise after these events.
Greg Louganis became an instant superstar in Los Angeles in 1980 for diving, winning springboard and high board gold. The swimmer would defend both titles in the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988.
The supremacy of the American basketball team in the 1980 Los Angeles Olympic games was so obvious as to approach unsportsmanlike or embarrassing advantage. The cream of the crop Olympic men’s team from record setting American basketball teams slew all comers, making the USA the favorites. The Women’s basketball team for the USA was undefeated throughout the Games.
In Calgary in 1981, the figure skating battle between Brian Boitano and Canadian Brian Orser was hotly contested. The similarity of the skater’s programs, a military march, and even the resemblance of their costumes, (jumpsuits with militant decoration gold leaves) gave rise to speculation. The “Battle of the Brians” for skating’s coveted gold medal was won by a narrow margin by Boitano. Orser today coaches Yu-na Kim, a favorite for the Vancouver 2010 gold in figure skating.
Calgary reorganized many skiing and skating event regulations and distances, changing the metrics for future record setters. Dutch lady speed skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals, as did small, big, and hill gold medal jumper Matti Nykanen from Finland. East Germany’s Katarina Witt defended her title in figure skating, rivaling Sonja Henie by maintaining her previous Games position and gold medal in figure skating.
Names like Pirmin Zurbriggen, Alberto Tomba, and Katarina Witt benefited from the expanded abilities of television technology and international broadcasting. Competitive bidding wars for television marketing made the public aware that the mascots from the Olympic Games, the timing of key events, and the background coverage of many of the sports and the international athletes converted a celebrated athletic event into a tiresomely manipulative television tug of war. Observers noted key events might be only covered if, for example, Americans won.
Florence Griffith Joyner (dubbed Flo-Jo) was an instant Olympic Games icon from the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Jackie Joyner Kersee also competed and won gold medals. But the Ben Johnson drug testing scandal cast a shadow over American and track events. Kristin Otto of East Germany won six Olympic gold swimming medals. Emerging politics of gender increased coverage of many women’s sports barely heard of in previous televised Olympic games.
In Seoul in 1988, singles and table tennis regained/attained Olympic sport status.
Americans increased their presence in world Olympic swimming in Seoul 1988 by the achievements of Matt Biondi. The first 50 metre American winner since 1904, Biondi collected five gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Something must have been in the water back home in Germany. In Seoul sculling and rowing in 1988, East Germany and West Germany shredded other teams from around the world to collect medals in a mass of events. Only Italy and Dutch teams also garnered significant hardware from these sports.
Vlademir Artemov’s stunning gymnastic display in 1988 Seoul triumphed. Artemov had been forced to sit out the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Gold medals for the Russian in parallel and horizontal bar, individual and team events with a silver for the floor event presaged a legendary sporting heritage. Alexander Artemov, the son of Vlademir, presented performances for the United States team in men’s gymnastics (team bronze) in Beijing 2008. Alexander “Sasha” Artemov is still in competition in late 2009, with a particular skill in pommel horse.
Daniela Silvas continued to break hearts in ladie’s gymnastics by taking all the trophies in Seoul 1988. Romania’s executioner was a triple gold medal winner in Seoul. Silvas even bested Russian hardliner Elena Shushonova, who was known to finalize in top medalist position competition after competition.
The Iron Curtain of Communist and Socialist governments in many nations was discontinued in 1989-1990. After this period with the increase of hormone detection and steroid doping testing in Olympic sports, the extent of East German and Soviet bloc dependence on drug “therapies” for their athletes was concretely revealed. Without the formal nationally led drug programs, ‘results’ in competition fell dramatically for certain key countries in sports they had long dominated.
Steffi Graf defeated Gabriela Sabatini for the Olympic tennis gold in Seoul 1988. At the same time, future husband received an ATP drug test warning. After a career low of crystal meth use, Andre Agassi then began a triumphant upward march to win a career Golden Slam of tennis. Agassi won Olympic tennis gold in 1996 in Atlanta, and he and Graf were married in 2001.
The black man as prominent Olympic athlete continued to re-emerge in the public eye. In Seoul 1988 British-born Canadian Lennox Lewis won the super-heavyweight Olympic gold boxing medal.
In Seoul 1988 Great Britain picked up on 68 years of blood sweat and tears. They nabbed the men’s field hockey Olympic gold for the first time since 1920.
Russian stunned Brazil in 1988 Seoul in Olympic soccer by grabbing the extra goal in overtime. Legacy champions in weightlifting, hockey, and gymnastics, Russia hadn’t seen a football(soccer) gold medal since 1956.
Each Olympic games has become the mission of one or two notable individuals. The Albertville, France Olympic Games in 1992 were seen as the athletic token of the Jean-Claude Killy skiing heritage. Albertville churned up a stunning spectacle for opening and closing ceremonies many believe commenced the appetite for a necessarily unparalleled Olympics ‘circus” to brace each Olympic Games.
Petra Kronberger took the Albertville Olympics’ women’s Alpine crown, winning the slalom and combined ski events.
German competitors in Albertville 1992 swept the Alpine sports. German skaters collected podium hardware aplenty. The Germans also succeeded heroically on the luge, two man luge, medaled in four man bobsleigh, stunning a wide field of talented Europeans.
In Albertville’s hodgepodge of politically changed countries and borders, reformed former “Soviet” ice hockey team sliced Canada for the gold, taking the last 6 out of 7 Olympics championships.
In the winter of 1992, in Albertville the battle for ladies’ gold figure skating culminated in a graceful Kristi Yamaguchi winning over Japan’s Midori Ito and the USA’s Nancy Kerrigan. Many hardcore figure skating fans forget the second post-knee Kerrigan Olympics was not her first.
Difficulties in televising live coverage of the Albertville Olympic Games led to many complaints by North American viewers. Satellite technology in 1992 was fraught with problems and viewers had to contend with multiple timetables from events overlapping each other from more than a dozen venues to unexpected network coverage due to rights and camera positioning. Watching curling at 2 in the morning decreased ratings, which made some networks question the value of purchasing the Olympics broadcasts rights.
Barcelona of 1992 was another Summer Games where the Olympic torch could only shine for the USA. The ‘dream team” sparked music videos, raps, and talk show appearances after the inevitable gold medals.
In Barcelona Spain of 1992, the very first Greek female athlete won a gold medal, in 100 meter hurdles. Greece is the founding nation of the Olympic Games, from Athens of 1896.
Vitaly Sherbo the gymnast was a famous Barcelona face. He became a famous face after 1992’s Barcelona Games due to his patriotic (first) playing of the Belorussian national anthem and flag raising. A member of the “Unified Team”, Sherbo nevertheless proudly so honored his country of birth.
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