MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES - 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad

The Games of the XXIII Olympiad were held in Los Angeles, opened by president Ronald Reagan and 140 nations took part. The Soviet Union, along with 13 other countries, refuse to participate, protesting against the so-called "lack of security measures and the commercialization of the Olympic sumbols". In fact, the soviet boycott was a respond to the 1980 american protest.
Carl Louis, a track athlete from the United States, won both sprints and the long jump, earned a fourth gold in the 4x100m relay and became the star of the Games. Joan Benoit won the inaugural women's marathon, Connie Carpenter-Phinney won the first women's cycling road race and Pertti Karpinnen won single

sculls rowing for the third time. Sebastian Coe became the first repeat winner of the men's 1,500m., Archer Neroli Fairhall competed in a wheelchair and was the first paraplegic athlete to take part in a medal event. An unpleasand event was the

disqualification of 12 atheletes who took forbidden substances.Despite the Soviet Union boycott, Romania was the only communist country that participated and earned a total of 53 medals, the first place per nation after the United States.

Opening date:
28th July 1984
Closing date:
12th August 1984
Nations: 140
Sports: 23
Events: 221
Athletes: 6 829
Men: 5 263
Women: 1 566

Candidate cities: there were no candidate cities