Olympic Games of 1984
The Event The 1984 staging of winter and
summer international athletic competitions,
held every four years
Date Winter Games, February 8-19, 1984;
Summer Games, July 28-August 12, 1980
Place Winter Games, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia;
Summer Games, Los Angeles, California
The Sarajevo Games were the first Winter Olympics held in
a Socialist countr y and the first Olympic Games under the
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio
Samaranch. The Summer Olympics were a success despite
the boycott of sixteen nations, including the Soviet Union
and its allies.
Following the successful U.S.-led boycott of the 1980
Moscow Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Af-
ghanistan, the Soviet Union in turn led a boycott of
the 1984 Los Angeles Games. While the Soviet-led
boycott had a significant impact, the 1984 Games saw
a record turnout of 140 nations. Also, whereas the
Montreal Games of 1976 proved financially disastrous
for the city, the Los Angeles Games demonstrated that
hosting the Olympics could indeed prove lucrative.
Winter Olympic Games On February 8, 1984, the
opening ceremony to the fourteenth Winter Games
took place in the host city, Sarajevo, of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Games would
provide competition until the closing ceremony on
February 19. Forty-nine nations were represented,
with a total of 1,272 athletes, 274 women and 998
men. Thirty-nine events were on the Olympic pro-
gram, which included a new event, 20-kilometer
women’s Nordic skiing. Disabled skiing was added
as a demonstration event. The Winter Games re-
ceived a lucrative television contract of $91.5 million
from the American Broadcasting Company (ABC),
as compared to $15.5 million for television rights to
the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. The host city re-
ceived $60 million of this, thus offsetting any eco-
nomic burdens of hosting the Games.
Gaétan Boucher of Canada compiled three med-
als in men’s speed skating. He earned a bronze
medal in the 500 meter and gold medals in the 1,000
meter and the 1,500 meter. Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi
of Finland won all three events in women’s cross-
country skiing. She became the only woman to com-
pete in six Olympic Games.
Perhaps one of the most well-received perfor-
mances of the Winter Olympics was the free dance
figure skating pairs, when Jayne Torvill and Christo-
pher Dean of the United Kingdom achieved a per-
fect score for artistic impression. American athletes
exhibited success in alpine skiing. Twin brothers
Phil and Steve Mahre placed first and second in the
slalom. Bill Johnson became the first American to
win an Olympic downhill event. Scott Hamilton of
the United States won a gold medal in men’s figure
skating. East Germany won the most gold medals
(nine) and a total of twenty-four medals. The Soviet
Union won six gold medals and the most medals
with twenty-five. The United States won a total of728 Olympic Games of 1984 The Eighties in America
American Carl Lewis participates in the qualifying round of the
men’s long jump during the 1984 Olympic trials in Los Angeles.
(AP/Wide World Photos)