|
|
THE 1984 LOS ANGELES OLYMPICS LOS ANGELES, XXIII. OLYMPIC GAMES, 18 JULY TO 12 AUGUST, 1984 THEY SHALL DIVE AND THEY SHALL RUN AND HURL THEIR LANCES IN THE SUN, IN THE SUN THAT IS YOUNG ONCE ONLY, TIME LET ME PLAY AND BE GOLDEN Dylan Thomas The XXIIIrd Olympiad was spread out over the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and as far as San Diego. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were at the Coliseum, the main stadium of the 1932 Olympics and in 1984 were staged Hollywood style under the direction of Bud Greenspan and were a great success. Organizers Paul Ziffren, Peter Ueberroth and Harry Usher welcomed President Ronald Reagan and IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch who, after speaking a few words, presented the Olympic Flag to Mayor Tom Bradley, which marked the beginning of the Opening Ceremony. After playing the National Anthem, the Teams started entering the Stadium with Greece leading and the large US Team last and taking their places in front of the Honor Tribune of the Coliseum, which was filled with IOC Officials, the Diplomatic Corp, High Military and Government Officials, the Media and a completely filled Stadium, IOC President Antonio Samaranch greeted the Athletes, reminding them of Fair Play, then Organizing President Peter Ueberroth welcomed the Athletes, Officials and Spectators and asked President Ronald Reagan to open the Olympic Games which he did with the following words: "Celebrating the XXIIIrd Olympiad of the modern era, I declare open the Olympic Games of Los Angeles". Fanfares sounded, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera chorus performed the chorale of the 9th Symphony by Ludwig Van Bethoven as well as the Olympic Hymn, while the Olympic Flame was carried by Rafer Johnson and Jesse Owens Granddaughter Gina Hamphill and after they circled the track, Rafer Johnson, the Decathlon Gold Medalist for the 1960 Rome Olympics, carried the Flame up the steps to the cauldron and lit the Olympic Flame among a loud ovation and to the sounds of Handel's Royal Fireworks Music. Olympic Hurdler Edwin Moses took the Athletes Oath and Gymnast Sharon Weber, the Official Oath. While music and entertainment goes on, thousands of Balloons and Pigeons are released and the opening Ceremony of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics came to an end. The best US Athletes of the 1984 games were Carl Lewis with four Gold Medals, equaling Jesse Owens record in Berlin. Joan Benoit won Gold in Womans Marathon, Connie Carpenter won Gold in Cycling, Mary Meagher two Gold in Butterfly Swim, Edwin Moses Gold in 400m Hurdles, Greg Louganis won Gold in Diving, Mary Lou Retton won Gold in Gymnastics, Ekatarina Szabo RUM won four Gold Medals in Gymnastics, Carlos Lopes POR, won Gold for the Marathon, Sebastian Cole G.B. two consecutive Gold in 1500m, Steffi Graf GER won Gold in Tennis, Other GOLD won: USA in 4x100 m Relay, USA for Basketball, USA for Volleyball, PAK for Men's Field Hockey, NET for Women's Hockey, YUG for Men's Handball, YUG for Women's Handball, YUG for Waterpolo, The Football, Final was between France 2, Brazil 0, France won the Gold, Brazil Silver and Yugoslavia Bronze. The performance of the Closing Ceremony was at night on the 12th of August and were nicely staged by Bud Greenspan with the teams of all the nations mingling together. IOC President Samaranch and LAOOC President Ueberroth thanked the Athletes for participating, the IOC flag was lowered and the Flame extinguished, a Spaceman landed in the center of the Stadium among fireworks, music, dancing and colorful pageantry and so the Closing Ceremony of the XXIIrd Olympic Games of Los Angeles came to an end. We always welcome your Feedback on our Home Page. We were the distributors for the LAOOC pin licensee Ooh La La and after the Olympics we bought all remaining merchandise from them and are the only source in the United States that are still selling the remaining original pins and pin sets to the public in the museum. E-mail checked daily at: enash327@yahoo.com or weekly at: museum@olympicsource.org Telephone: Summer: 541-765-2923 Winter: 702-346-1776
|
