The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, with the first in 1932. California was the home state of the incumbent U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.
The 1984 Games were boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany, in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Romania was the only Soviet-aligned state that opted to attend the Games. Albania, Iran, Libya and Upper Volta also chose to boycott the Games, but for unrelated reasons.
Despite the field being depleted in certain sports due to the boycott, 140 National Olympic Committees took part in the 1984 Games, a record number at the time. The United States won the most gold and overall medals, followed by Romania and West Germany.
The 1984 Summer Olympics are widely considered to be the most financially successful modern Olympics. As a result of low construction costs, due to the use of existing sport infrastructure, coupled with a reliance on private corporate the 1984 Games generated a profit of .
Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for the third time in 2028, becoming the third city in the world—following London and Paris—to do so.
Host selection
After the terrorist attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the significant financial debts of Montreal (1976), and various boycotts by National Olympic Committees, few cities by the late 1970s were willing to bid for the Summer Olympics. Only two cities (Tehran and Los Angeles) made serious bids for the 1984 Summer Games. Tehran submitted its bid to host the 1984 Summer Olympics to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 29 August 1975. The selection of the host city was made at the 80th IOC Session in Athens on 18 May 1978, where Los Angeles was chosen as the host city.
Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympic Games (1976 and 1980, which went to Montreal and Moscow, respectively). The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) had submitted at least one bid for every Olympics since 1944 but had not succeeded since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, the previous time only a single bid had been issued for the Summer Olympics. In 1977, the USOC selected Los Angeles over New York City to be the American candidate for the 1984 Summer Olympics in a 55–39 vote."Los Angeles Gets U.S. Nod for '84 Games", Associated Press, via the Miami Herald, September 26, 1977, page 1-BW.
+ 1984 Summer Olympicsbidding results City Nation Votes Los Angeles Unanimous Tehran Did not advance
Development and preparations The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) was officially established on June 15, 1978, to manage the games using private funds rather than public debt. Peter Ueberroth was selected as President of the LAOOC in early 1979..
This was the first edition in which new rules of coexistence within the Olympic Village were implemented and it was decided that from this edition onwards all athletes would have to stay in the same place, as opposed to being divided by gender and sometimes even political blocs which was the case previously. Using UCLA student housing as the primary village. UCLA hosted 4,000 athletes, along with USC, it hosted swimmers and UCSB hosted the rowing teams."Olympic Summer Games Villages from Paris 1924 to Tokyo 2020 ." The Olympic Studies Centre. 2022 June 20.
LAOOC had to prepare for twenty-six competition venues. Twenty of the competition venues were existing, three were new: the Olympic Velodrome on the California State University, Dominguez Hills campus, Prado Park for shooting and the Olympic Swim Stadium on the University of Southern California campus. The Velodrome was constructed between 1981 and 1982, while the Swim Stadium was constructed between 1980 and 1983. 7-Eleven convenience stores sponsored the Velodrome, while McDonald's sponsored the Swim Stadium, though neither corporate name was mentioned in the official Olympic report. The three temporary venues were set up at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club for equestrian, Long Beach shoreline for sailing and Lake Casitas for rowing.
Budget
The Games cost a total of $546 million ($1.7 billion in 2026). The LAOOC calculated early on, it would have to make six times the revenue of previous games from sponsorship, television rights, and ticket sales. Ueberroth auctioned off sponsorship rights for each product area and required each sponsor to make a minimum contribution of $4 million as a in-kind donation to the LAOOC. For example, Coca-Cola beat out Pepsi for the soft drink sponsorship area by paying $12.6 million. When Kodak persisted in offering only half of Ueberroth’s $4 million minimum for the film supply sponsorship, the LAOOC offered Fuji Film seventy-two hours to sign a contract - which resulted in a $7 million deal. These sponsorships were sold in record amounts and covered the majority of the Games' expenditures. All revenues were immediately deposited into interest bearing accounts, which due to the high interest rates of that period (in excess of 20% in 1979) yielded most of the operating budget for the LAOOC into the early 1980s.
Security At the time, the largest local and federal security force was assembled due to prior Olympic games security failures, primarily the events in Munich. The Los Angeles Police Department, federal agents and thousands of temporary security agents were tasked to provide safety at each event. Security was the most expensive item on the budget. LAOOC provided $35 million and the federal government provided $50 million each. The rest was covered by the city and state government. The California Highway Patrol was responsible for the security of visiting dignitaries, including President Ronald Reagan. Security planning was marred by unresolved disputes between the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department, both of which claimed the right to take lead control in case of an incident. No major incident took place.
Transportation Los Angeles County's SCRTD was tasked to coordinate games movement, including transporting the "olympic family" of athletes, coaches, officials and media. Totaling over 25,000 persons. SCRTD was operating the nation’s largest all-bus system in the 1980s. LAOOC and SCRTD coordinated a 550 special olympic bus fleet, including 24 shuttle services, dedicated express lanes and multiple park-and-ride routes. Los Angeles had no public rail transit in 1984, the red car Pacific Electric rail network, the largest in the world, was dismantled by 1963.
City leaders advised Angelenos to opt out of driving during the games or alter their driving habits and work hours. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and LAOOC prepared an advertising informational campaign push called, "Take the Bus". Bus schedules were provided to early bird ticket buyers to provide options on transportation to events. During the games, more than 1 million boarding passengers heeded his message. Predictions of gridlock and heavy smog never materialized.
Venues
Venues in the city of Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena – boxing Dodger Stadium – baseball Pauley Pavilion, University of California, Los Angeles – gymnastics Eagle's Nest Arena, California State University, Los Angeles – judo Olympic Swim Stadium, University of Southern California – swimming, diving, synchronized swimming Olympic Village (athlete housing), University of Southern California Los Angeles Tennis Center, University of California, Los Angeles – tennis Athletes Village, University of California, Los Angeles Albert Gersten Pavilion, Loyola Marymount University, Westchester, California – weightlifting Streets of Los Angeles – athletics (marathon)
Venues in Southern California El Dorado Park, Long Beach, California – archery The Forum, Inglewood, California – basketball and team handball finals Lake Casitas, Ventura County, California – canoeing, rowing Olympic Velodrome, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, California – cycling (track) Mission Viejo, Orange County, California – cycling (individual road race) Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California – equestrian Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe, California, California – equestrian sports (eventing endurance) Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, California – fencing Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California – football (final) Titan Gymnasium, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California – handball Weingart Stadium, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, California – field hockey Coto de Caza, Orange County, California – modern pentathlon (fencing, riding, running, shooting) Olympic Shooting Range, Prado Recreational Area, Chino, California – shooting Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California – volleyball Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California – water polo Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California – wrestling Long Beach Shoreline Marina, Long Beach, California – sailing Artesia Freeway – cycling (road team time trial) Heritage Park Aquatic Center, Irvine, California – modern pentathlon (swimming) Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California – athletics (marathon start) Santa Monica, California – athletics (marathon)
Other venues Harvard Stadium, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts – football preliminaries Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland – football preliminaries Stanford Stadium, Stanford University, Stanford, California – football preliminaries
Olympic Arts Festival The 1984 Summer Olympics was preceded by the 10-week-long adjunct Olympic Arts Festival or the Cultural Olympics, which opened on June 1 and ended on August 12. It provided more than 400 performances by 146 theater, dance, and music companies, representing every continent and 18 countries, as well as art exhibitions and films. It was organized by then-CalArts President Robert Fitzpatrick. Along with many famous American dance companies, such as the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the festival hosted three international debuts: German choreographer Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal, Groupe Emile Dubois from France, and the Japanese Butoh.
Local Los Angeles artist Rodolfo Escalera was commissioned to create nine paintings depicting the Summer Games that would later be turned into collectible plates and presented as "The Official Gift of the 1984 Olympics".
LAOOC also designated Ernie Barnes as "Sports Artist of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games" and Barnes was commissioned to create five Olympic-themed paintings and serve as an official Olympic spokesman to encourage inner-city youth.
Olympic Music
John Williams composed the theme for the Olympiad, "Los Angeles Olympic Theme" later also known as "Olympic Fanfare and Theme". This piece won a Grammy for Williams and became one of the most well-known musical themes of the Olympic Games, along with Leo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream"; the latter is sometimes attached to the beginning of Olympic Fanfare and Theme.
Composer Bill Conti also wrote a song to inspire the weightlifters called "Power".