Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States. The metropolis is constantly developing, specifically, new infrastructure facilities, tourist sites, skyscrapers and business centers appear in the city. A large number of celebrities, millionaires, businessmen and athletes reside in LA. After all, this is the city of opportunities, growth and fantastic changes. Every year, LA hosts thousands of events, festivals, conferences and more. Moreover, the Olympic Games were held twice in the city. Today, we will discuss these international competitions and reveal when they took place in our city in more detail. Read more about it on the pages of the website i-los-angeles.com.
X Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
The Olympic Games are international sports events that are divided into Summer and Winter Games. Such international competitions were originally organized in Ancient Greece. But the first modern Olympics were held in 1896 in Athens. As for Los Angeles, the city hosted the X Summer Olympic Games in 1932 at the LA Memorial Coliseum, a stadium that was built nine years before the event. In fact, it is the only sports arena in the world that has hosted the Summer Olympics twice (in 1932 and 1984).
The international games in Los Angeles took place from July 30 to August 14, 1932. 1,332 athletes from 37 countries participated in them. In total, 117 sets of medals were awarded in 14 sports. It is worth noting that at the Games of the X Olympiad, participants broke 99 Olympic records and 18 world records!
An interesting fact is that an Olympic Village was created during the event in Los Angeles. This place was guarded by cowboys on horses. However, it is unclear who they were guarding against… Some speculated that thus, female athletes were protected, as they were housed separately. By the way, only 126 sports women participated in the 1932 Olympics.
Second Olympic Games in Los Angeles
Our city hosted the Olympics for the second time in 1984. It was the XXIII Summer Olympic Games, which took place in the megapolis from July 28 to August 12. As mentioned above, these international competitions were once again held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The 1984 Summer Olympics were best remembered for being boycotted by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries (except China, Yugoslavia and Romania). The Soviet leadership stated that their athletes would not participate in the Olympic Games in LA because the United States violated the Olympic Charter. They claimed that there were no appropriate security measures for Soviet sports players and America was conducting an anti-Soviet campaign. Quite obviously, many Soviet athletes were gobsmacked by this decision, as they had been preparing for the Olympic Games for months. However, they had to hide their anger and disappointment on camera.
Athletes from Libya and Iran did not participate in the Olympics. It should be noted that Iran did not compete neither in Moscow nor in Los Angeles. This decision was made because of Israel that took part in the international competition.
It is important to mention that the United States also boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games, which were held in Moscow.
However, the absence of Soviet athletes benefited the Americans, as our sports players won three more gold medals than the Soviet Union team did in 1980.
The XXIII Summer Olympic Games had their own mascot – a bald eagle named Sam.
It should be noted that the government did not provide financing for these Olympic Games. Thus, the international competition resulted in $223 million in income. All due to the fact that everything was based on the principles of running a private company’s business. They reduced the number of athletes and engaged large multinational companies, which were able to make money from the popular Olympic brand. Television broadcasts also brought in funds.
More than nine thousand journalists were present at the 1984 Olympic Games as well.
Friendship-84 instead of the Olympics?
An interesting coincidence also occurred in 1984. As it is known, Soviet athletes boycotted the Olympics in Los Angeles. Yet, international competitions called Friendship-84 were held in nine socialist countries. According to the organizers, Friendship-84 was not an alternative to the Olympic Games. But the competitions were held in all Olympic sports except football and synchronized swimming. There were also non-Olympic sports such as sambo, tennis and table tennis.
The sports events took place from July 2nd to September 16th, 1984, in 25 cities of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Mongolia, North Korea, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Three thousand sports players from 50 countries participated in the international Friendship-84 competitions.
That’s the story of the Olympic Games in LA. Our city was lucky to host the Olympics twice. This is a great privilege not only for the residents of Los Angeles but also for all Americans.
We hope our article was informative for you and that you have made the appropriate conclusions.