Where the Olympic Games were held in 1984. Ghost Olympics

Los Angeles

OLYMPIAD WHERE WE HAVE NOT BEEN

I happened to visit Los Angeles more than once before the 1984 Olympics took place there.

…California!

Flying from New York to Los Angeles over the red, barren land of the Mojave Desert. Below you can see dried up riverbeds, roads, ravines. Then the earth gradually becomes brown, in some places stunted vegetation appears. Sometimes in the middle of this endless plain one can see, like a reclaimed, sand spill - red, reddish, yellow. Sometimes you can see highways cutting through the desert, straight as arrows. The winds swept low sandy mountains, cut through by the freeway going to Los Angeles.

Near the city itself, the plane flies over the wooded mountains; the highest ones are covered with snow. Somewhere around here is the famous Mount Wilson Observatory.

Finally Los Angeles arrived. Blocks of houses occupy the entire area below us to the horizon. They are interspersed with gas tanks, parking lots, oil rigs. The famous Los Angeles freeways are clearly visible with their complex interchanges and flyovers. Cars completely cover them, and it seems that multi-colored caramels are scattered on gray linen ribbons.

Landing. When we get off the plane, we are flooded with a wave of hot air. The entire flight from New York, if you subtract the parking time in Chicago, lasted six hours. It's half past one on the clock at the airport. Now the time difference with Moscow is eleven hours, and in half an hour the Kremlin chimes will strike midnight.

We're going to the city.

Los Angeles, stretching for tens of kilometers along the coast of the ocean, with a population of 2.5 million people, occupies a gigantic area - 720 square meters. km. 5 million people live in it less than in New York, and it occupies 208 square meters of space. km more.

Almost all of these square kilometers are covered with countless one-story houses - blue, red, yellow, white; wooden, stone, brick; with ladders, porches, terraces, turrets, with front gardens and lawns; under tiled, iron, roofing multi-colored roofs. They are all different and at the same time surprisingly similar to each other.

And more advertising! Advertising literally filled the whole city. Just as a cake is filled with multi-colored cream, sprinkled with cinnamon and almonds, decorated with candied fruit and chocolate, the already bright and colorful Los Angeles is completely covered with thousands of advertisements, signs, announcements, appeals, images. No matter how bright houses are, advertising is even brighter. It sticks out above the roofs, closes the facades, lies on the lawns, is attached to the pillars of the terraces. “Fly to Paris on jet planes!”, “Buy Richfield gasoline!”, “Drink Coca-Cola!”, “Visit the gambling houses of Las Vegas!” - begging, demanding, inviting, ordering all these writhing, dancing, jumping letters and images - voluminous and flat, openwork and heavy, plain and brightly colored.

On the wide highways running between the houses, endless streams of different suits, different caliber cars rush in both directions. The movement is so intense that it gives the impression of great speed. Meanwhile, this is not entirely true. Here we are leaving on the highway that crosses the whole country. Cars rush in four streams in each direction. The one on the right is moving at a certain speed. If the driver wants to go faster, he switches to the neighboring left stream, where the minimum speed is higher, in the third - it is even higher, and in the leftmost lane the car cannot go slower than, say, 100 km per hour. Sometimes on such multi-lane freeways at the entrance to big cities the flow is adjusted depending on the time of day. For example, in the morning, before starting work, cars go to the city in six streams, out of the city - two, and after the end of the working day, on the contrary, out of the city - six, into the city - two.

Our journey to the city center continued for a long time. But a center arose immediately. The usual cluster of skyscrapers is the tallest Edison illuminated at night, black and gold with an openwork tower on the roof of Richfield (a large oil company). By the way, about oil. Long gone are the days when, saying "West", "California", "Nevada", meant gold. Now forestry, agriculture, hydropower, non-ferrous metallurgy, and the oil industry play an important role in these places. The richest oil fields have been discovered in the Great California Valley and on the coast near Los Angeles. 5-6% of American oil is produced here. From yellow gold turned into black, maybe that's why the tower on the roof of the Richfield skyscraper is black and gold ... And next to the skyscraper is a huge gloomy building with bars on the windows, similar to a prison. It turned out to be a privileged club of Californian businessmen. And here is the fifteen-story, W-shaped Baltimore Hotel - "the largest west of Chicago," as we were immediately told. Indeed, the hotel is great - it has one and a half thousand rooms, many bars, restaurants, cafes, halls, kiosks, shops and even an exhibition hall. In each room, the guest finds a pood phone book, the inevitable Bible, as well as suede gloves for cleaning black and yellow shoes and a bag with various threads, needles, pins and clothes buttons. And everywhere the emblem of the hotel and good wishes directorates.

From the height of the thirteenth floor, a view of the city opens up, and first of all, a dense green square, laid out below in front of the hotel and surrounded by majestic houses. From a height it seems that the square is filled with walkers.

I go downstairs and out into the park. Yes, people really “rest” here: all the benches and stone borders of the square are occupied by the unemployed. They have the right to sit here, and the police have no excuse to kick them out of here. And now these people spend the whole day here, unshaven, with sunken eyes, thin, tired, dressed in rough worn shoes, old patched trousers, dirty shirts and torn hats. They sit motionless under the sun-drenched palm trees, among the luxurious bright colors emitting a wonderful aroma. Having bought a newspaper together, they run through the advertisements with vain hope: what if workers are needed?

Every now and then, preachers come into the square - a girl, one or two nuns with dry, sour faces, and an old man, in whose eyes a madness sparkles. He speaks with incredible speed, passionately and loudly, with howls and shouts. Not a single unemployed person even turns his head in his direction. Noticing that I have stopped, the preacher runs up and puts a thin pamphlet into my hand. What is it about? About the same thing that his speech is about - about the inevitability of earthly hardships and the inevitability of heavenly bliss.

I return to the hotel. The preacher, without stopping for a second, rattles his speech, and the Los Angeles unemployed continue to sit under palm trees sparkling in the sun ...

In the evening I go for a walk around the city. Here, as in other American cities, the rule is firmly observed: not a single pedestrian will cross the street until he is given the green light. Even late at night, when there are almost no cars, even if a person is in a hurry, even if there are a lot of pedestrians and no cars, no one will cross the street until the sign “Go!” lights up! Traffic police can only be seen at the most difficult intersections, and even then during peak hours.

It is difficult to say what caused such a high discipline of pedestrians: perhaps very intense car traffic in normal times, or maybe strict laws: the driver is not responsible for a person knocked down outside the crossing zone. But the fact remains that pedestrians in the US are very disciplined, which is not always the case with drivers. Car accidents claim hundreds of thousands of lives every year in the country.

Central street in Los Angeles. It is crossed by numbered streets. There are many rich shops, cafes, bars, which are called "cocktails" in Los Angeles. There are many visitors in the "cocktails", who, apparently, have enough free time, although for different reasons than the unemployed in the square. These visitors sit in the semi-darkness of low halls on leather sofas. There are many young people among them, although the inscription says that persons under the age of 21 are not allowed to visit the “cocktail”.

The farther from the center, the poorer the streets. Here is a street of cheap stores of worn or out-of-fashion things, here is a street of night cinemas, the entrance to each of which is completely covered with photographs of naked girls - an advertisement for a running film. And here is the street of shops selling records. Above the entrance to each of them is a speaker from which jazz music rushes, and young people crowd at the entrance.

Los Angeles contrasts. Rich central streets and impoverished outskirts; unhappy people who dream of any job, and rich idlers who sit all day in bars; luxurious nature, as if created for the joy of people, and the grief of these people.

Of course, there is no difference between the sad fate of the poor in New York and Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. But somehow here where it always shines in blue skies bright sun, where the shaggy branches of palm trees sway in the warm wind, bitterness and poverty are especially striking and screaming. A corner of paradise, where there are many people for whom life is hell ...

And I also had one meeting with Los Angeles just before the Olympics.

Wandering the streets of Madrid near the Puerta del Sol, I came across a small street - a blue sign on the corner house announced: "Los Angeles Street." This, and the buildings opposite, were beautiful, pompous and rich, their facades sparkled. But, going deeper into the street, I saw other houses - shabby, stone buildings. The wooden shutters, greyed from the rains, tightly closing the windows, gave the facades of the houses a dreary look. The plaster crumbled in places, bald spots turned white, the pavement was uneven with potholes, rubbish all around ... In a word, a sad sight. A kind of foulbrood in a gilded wrapper.

Plus, the street was a dead end. There was no way out of her.

I don't know why, but walking to this cul-de-sac called "Los Angeles" gave me different associations.

The International Sports Press Association approved me as a press officer for Olympic tournament on wrestling. For well-known reasons, I didn’t manage to get into this tournament, which, in general, I don’t regret, because it was the least representative of all the Olympic tournaments. However, more on that ahead.

At the 1983 World Championships in Kyiv, preceding the Olympics, I met an American, Mr. Thompson, who had come there with his family to study the experience. In the Los Angeles Organizing Committee, Mr. Thompson was in charge of the Olympic wrestling competition.

His visit was preceded by lengthy negotiations with the International Wrestling Federation (FILA). The organizers of the Olympics did not want to take into account the very modest, I would say minimal, requirements of this federation - there were no air conditioners in the hall proposed for holding the wrestling tournament, there were ridiculously few places for spectators, but daily trips from the Olympic Village to the competition site were supposed to take several hours, etc.

Finally, thanks to the perseverance of the FILA bureau and its president M. Ercegan, acceptable compromises were reached.

And so Mr. Thompson arrived in Kyiv to learn from us how to organize and conduct major wrestling competitions. He also met with me to talk about working conditions for journalists.

We had a long conversation, and, I want to pay tribute, Mr. Thompson listened very carefully to all the advice: where it is better to place places for the press, interview rooms, commentary booths, etc. At the same time, he himself told a lot of interesting things about the conditions of the tournament in Los Angeles. For example, about the fact that since athletes will not be able to leave for a lunch break for many tens of kilometers to their village, they will be located from morning to evening like a kind of camp in one huge hall, separated by curtains. Rest and eat there. Like participants in a six-day bike race.

He also said that two passages were provided for the athletes to enter the mats: one for everyone, the other for representatives of countries that could be assassinated, say, Iranian, Arab, Soviet ... And that special “security pockets” were provided , in which, under the protection of submachine gunners, on alarm, those who were attacked will be hidden. This is such a rosy picture.

Many people later told me about how this picture looked. And some of those Soviet representatives in international sports organizations, who, by virtue of their positions, were required to be at the Games, and foreign sports figures.

Here is what, for example, a well-known gymnast in the past, and now the president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), Yuri Titov, told me.

He first went to Los Angeles in 1981. Then the American airline Pan American declared his ticket invalid, and he heard with his own ears how one of the employees told another that nothing could be worse than a communist. From Mexico City, Titov had to get to the future capital of the Olympics on a Mexican plane. Later, he repeatedly came to this city again, following the preparations for the Olympic tournament in gymnastics. However, this preparation left much to be desired.

The organizers of the Games saved on everything, in any case, on what was supposed to ensure a good tournament and what was invariably present at past Olympiads. There were many inconveniences for both athletes and judges, even they tried to install smaller phones. Experienced specialists, as is customary in such cases, were not even invited. The role of such was portrayed by Richard and Hayla Burts, themselves big businessmen, but who knew little about the organization of gymnastic competitions. And the FIG leaders had to explain elementary things to the Americans. Meanwhile, there were specialists in the US Gymnastics Federation itself. But they were not invited. Finally, in 1983, Titov told the organizers that if they did not familiarize themselves with the competition regulations approved by the FIG Congress, he, as president, would step aside from holding them altogether. To his question whether the organizers had read these regulations, Titov received a stunning answer: “No, they didn’t.” And when we read it, we tried not to fulfill many points, not to solve purely technical, but vital issues, say, about the training hall, the passage to the competition site, and a number of others. I had to insist, the relationship between the FIG leadership and the organizers became strained, which, as you know, does not bring any benefit to the cause.

It is interesting that as soon as the FIG pointed out any mistakes to the relevant employees of the Organizing Committee, they promised to correct everything, but then disappeared somewhere, new ones came in their place, not in the know, and everything had to be started all over again. I had to appeal to the President of the IOC.

In the end, the Americans still had to invite their specialists, for example, the executive director of the National Gymnastics Federation, Mike Jackie, and they began to correct the situation.

There was also small evidence of the arrogant attitude of the organizers towards the international federations, which, as is known from the IOC statute, are entrusted with the technical conduct of the Olympic tournaments. For example, the presidents of international federations had "B" accreditation, and not "A", as usual. But "A" was received by all members of the Organizing Committee and many of their relatives, the judges were not given passes to the opening ceremony, so as not to withdraw seats from sale and thus earn more. Well, a lot like that. True, the FIG Technical Committee was provided with cars, but ... without drivers. And it is extremely difficult for foreigners to drive cars in Los Angeles, and not everyone knew how.

With a bitter smile, Titov remembered that already at the airport upon arrival at the Games, he noticed that everywhere American flags hung above the Olympic ones. The case is unprecedented. As you know, all the buildings for the Los Angeles Olympics were built by various commercial and industrial companies. However, they generally were the hosts of the Games. “I don’t know if you noticed or not,” Titov told me, “that the duckling, the mascot of the Los Angeles Games, had a tail strikingly reminiscent of the Adidas brand - a shamrock. Perhaps this is a coincidence, but symbolic!

In the end, at the cost of many efforts, it was possible to achieve a tolerable equipment of the hall and compliance with the stipulated conditions.

And yet, many things were depressing in Los Angeles: a huge two-meter duck that danced between the shells during the gymnasts warm-up, which prevented them from concentrating, was such a show that the owners innocently staged, not realizing that nothing should distract the participants during the competition. Or a helicopter dragging behind its tail a banner with the inscription: “The best souvenir is Smirnovskaya vodka” (this is at a sports festival!), Installed along the highway advertising the same vodka, where the letter “and” depicted the Olympic torch. And much like that.

There were slogans less harmless, or even simply contradictory existing rules, for example, flags posted with the inscription: "America is the main nation."

There was tremendous pressure on the judges. Cars with gifts were driven to the judges directly to the hotel, which the Americans carried to the rooms. Chauvinistic frenzy reigned in the stands. All this was reflected in the results, of course, in favor of the Americans, at the expense of gymnasts from France, Switzerland, Germany, China, and Japan. Over 60 protests were filed! The case is unprecedented.

And although the American team was well prepared, it still could not be compared, say, with the Soviet one, if it could come to the Olympics. Suffice it to say that a year later, at the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships in Canada, Soviet gymnasts took 1st place, and American gymnasts were somewhere at the end of the top ten.

In addition, many US gymnasts left the sport, having concluded contracts with various companies to advertise their products.

“This is what we had, to put it mildly, a sports benefit in Los Angeles,” Titov finished his story with a mirthless smile.

A slightly more rosy picture was drawn by another of my interlocutors, the Spaniard Fernando Conte, now the President of the International SAMBO Federation, and at that time the Secretary General of FILA. “It was an unusual Olympiad, an Olympiad of business,” Conte told me, himself a big businessman and millionaire, “it seemed that everything was subordinated to the extraction of monetary profit.” He cited many examples, as he put it, of "the unacceptable commercialization of the Games", the high cost of everything and everything, the unceremonious interference of businessmen in the purely sports sphere of Olympic tournaments.

“And besides,” Conte, who had been to Los Angeles more than once, told me, “there is a terrible gas content in the air! It’s not like athletes there, there’s nothing for passers-by to breathe. What about distances? Dozens of kilometers from the Olympic village to the place of training or competition.

In addition to their sport, no one had time to watch anything. Wrestlers actually lived where they fought. It certainly was one of the most disorganized, or rather, poorly organized Olympiads. And most importantly, - he added in conclusion, - the results of the competition did not in any way reflect the true balance of forces in almost any Olympic form sports. Well, judge for yourself: what kind of wrestling tournament could we talk about without the participation of athletes from the USSR, Bulgaria, the GDR, Mongolia, Hungary ... This is ridiculous!

As other eyewitnesses later told me, in particular my friend, FILA vice-president Alexander Novikov, the atmosphere at the tournament, like at all others Olympic competitions, was difficult: unbridled chauvinism, endless difficulties for everyone - participants, spectators, journalists. However, I learned about this from others, not only ours who attended the Games, but also from foreign colleagues, and Novikov told me only about the wrestling tournament. All that he managed to see in Los Angeles was a tournament, and a hotel, and even a road.

I managed to watch the Olympic Games in Los Angeles ... with the help of a VCR and foreign newsreels. To a large extent, it was like a major medley for the Americans. US television was so keen on showing its athletes that the participation of representatives of other countries in the Games looked like an unfortunate misunderstanding.

It cannot be said that Olympic Movement develops smoothly, without upheavals, it has its zigzags, and yet it has always been beneficial. The Olympic Games brought joy to millions of sports fans, united thousands of athletes from dozens of countries, regardless of skin color, religious or political beliefs.

The first serious incident arose in Munich, when people died as victims of extremist manifestations.

And then the Olympics themselves became victims. Certain circles wanted to turn them into an instrument of a dirty anti-Soviet campaign. Slop poured from across the ocean, a boycott was invented. To the credit of the then leadership of the International Olympic Committee, most of the national Olympic committees, international federations, the boycott with their help was thwarted.

The Games took place, the vast majority of the strongest athletes in the world arrived in Moscow. The results were very high, the order at the Games, their organization, in the unanimous opinion of all the foreigners who came to Moscow, including the Americans, were impeccable. And the fact that the teams of two or three sports-strong countries did not take part in the Games hit only the athletes of these countries and caused legitimate indignation on their part.

The Games in Moscow were brilliant and inscribed in the history of sports high achievements and the names of prominent champions.

What were the enemies of the Olympic movement to do next? They understood that no one was going to take revenge on the Americans and that athletes from the USSR, the GDR and other socialist countries would come to Los Angeles and, on top of everything else, win first, and probably second place in the unofficial standings. This should have been prevented.

And a system was developed and then put into action, which, with all the good will of the athletes of the socialist countries, would not allow them to participate in the Games. The system is simple to primitiveness - terrorism. Terrorism, which has so often helped the United States in its international affairs. Gradually growing, anti-Soviet hysteria unfolded, reaching an unheard-of scale by the time the Games began. Threats, intimidation, denigration in the eyes of ordinary Americans of our country, all kinds of slanderous fabrications, provocative rumors... Everything went into action, everything was good.

Then official demarches followed: Soviet planes would not be allowed to deliver our delegation to Los Angeles, Soviet steamships - tourists, a number of districts of the Olympic capital were closed to Soviet journalists, the American authorities could not give security guarantees to our athletes ... But some gangs consisting of emigrants , anti-Soviet, Zionist, neo-Nazi rabble, received the full right to engage in provocations, and possibly terrorist acts against delegations. Badges, T-shirts, leaflets with anti-Soviet, insulting inscriptions appeared, the leaders of the mentioned gangs endlessly threatened kidnappings and reprisals. And since Soviet people in the United States often become victims of provocations, insults, even attacks, then, of course, there were not the slightest guarantees for the safety of athletes.

Not to mention the atmosphere in which it would be impossible for our Olympians not only to show high achievements, but also to perform in general, because there was a direct danger of physical violence.

Under these conditions, a trip to the Games became impossible and the Soviet Union was forced to refuse with regret. For the same reason, the teams of almost all socialist countries, as well as a number of other states, did not go either.

In essence, the starts in Los Angeles have become big international competitions, but certainly not full-fledged Olympic games. Neither by the composition of the participants, nor by the results.

It can be recalled, by the way, that at the Olympics in Mexico City, 31 world and 87 Olympic records, in Munich - respectively 33 and 54, in Montreal - 32 and 51, in Moscow - 36 and 61, but in Los Angeles - only 11 and 36!

They may say that the highest Olympic achievements usually inferior to world records. I note to this that the results of the winners of the competition in Los Angeles are inferior and the best achievements previous olympiads. And this is already indicative, since these records usually grow from the Olympiad to the Olympiad. Many champions of Los Angeles at the previous Games would not even have been among the winners or, at best, could qualify for the “bronze”.

Shortly after the end of the Games in Los Angeles, international competitions "Friendship-84" were held in a number of countries, in which athletes from more than 50 countries participated. During these starts, 48 world records were set.

In 51 events out of 93, the results of the winners of "Friendship-84" were higher than in the corresponding numbers of the Olympiad-84. And in total, the participants in the Druzhba-84 competition 142 times blocked the results of the Olympic winners.

More interesting numbers for comparison. At the Moscow Olympiad, incomparably stronger in composition than the Los Angeles, Soviet athletes won 195 medals, while the Americans in Los Angeles - 174. But they had practically no competition in a number of sports, in the same place where they were, they , sometimes not sports methods suppressed her.

It is no secret that one of the main reasons for the desperate measures taken by the US administration to prevent our country from participating in the Los Angeles Olympics was the desire to be the first at all costs. In the absence of the world's strongest athletes - only 98 of the 220 world champions in the sports included in the Olympic program arrived in Los Angeles - the Americans managed to earn medals that they would never have seen otherwise.

Characteristic in this sense is the statement of Dan Gable, who is well known to me, the coach of the American freestyle wrestling team. “Now,” he rejoiced, “even my mother-in-law can win gold medal". Indeed, the American wrestlers scored almost more medals at the Games than in all previous Olympiads combined.

"Victory at the Olympic Games is an important victory in the Cold War," American President G. Truman once said. At one time, US Attorney General R. Kennedy said: “Our country does not intend to yield to any other country. We want to be the first, and without any reservations, not ever and not under any conditions, but simply the first, in an absolute and direct sense. And this means that we must be the first in sports. We don't want to read in the newspapers that our country is second only to the Soviet Union."

Well, the minister's ultrapatriotism is understandable. However, I would like to recall the words of another famous American, Theodore Dreiser, who once wrote: “They say that America is ahead of the whole world. But in what? In crimes!

And confirmation of these words was the tragic fate of R. Kennedy himself, who died at the hands of assassins.

And the US Senator Estes Kefauver, who was once the chairman of the Senate Commission on Organized Crime, in his book "Crime in America" named "three pillars" on which the notorious "American way of life" is based. “This ‘unholy trinity’,” he writes, “are business, gangsterism, and political activity.”

It seems that the mentioned "unholy trinity" fully dominated the Los Angeles Olympiad.

Let us recall the atmosphere that preceded the Games and reigned there. Let's start with a fact whose symbolism is striking. The Olympic torch relay was sold out in parts. And among the participants in the torch relay were ordinary gangsters from the criminal gang "Hell's Angels". Isn't it symbolic, for all its absurd comedy, that some enterprising employee of the prison department threw shirts with a picture of a prison and an encouraging inscription into the souvenir market: "Official prison for the Summer Games-84"?

However, symbols are symbols, and reality is reality. "In the United States, assassination attempts and the lives of Soviet athletes are possible," Christopher Brasher, the 1956 Olympic champion and now sports journalist, confirmed. "The United States directed all the efforts of its propaganda to put the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in unbearable conditions in Los Angeles" - such is the opinion of another Olympic champion, Ethiopian marathon runner Mamo Volde.

“The situation in Los Angeles, where an unbridled anti-Soviet campaign is launched, does not contribute to the creation of normal conditions for holding the Olympic Games there,” said Antonio Nunez, a member of the National Committee of the Peruvian Athletics Federation.

In a public opinion poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times, two-thirds of the city's residents themselves said they were concerned about the likelihood of terrorist attacks, a significant increase in crime, and in general would like to travel away for the duration of the Games.

One could cite dozens of such statements. The spearhead of terror was directed against Soviet athletes and their colleagues from the socialist countries, but not only. For example, the Ku Klux Klan sent letters to the National Olympic Committees of many African and Asian countries, which, in part, said: “Blacks and yellows, do not desecrate American stadiums, we will not allow subhumans to compete in the Olympics, and if they come We'll shoot them or we'll hang them up." And although the Ku Klux Klan did not carry out this threat, one can imagine how such letters were reflected in the mood and well-being of Olympians from Asia and Africa, and, consequently, on their sports results.

However, the opinion of the then director of the FBI, W. Webster, can be considered the most authoritative here. Thank you for your frankness! Still, after all, 160 anti-Soviet groups, unions, societies, and, simply speaking, anti-Soviet gangs, have flourished and are still flourishing in Los Angeles!

Athletes from the socialist and some other countries who refrained from going to the Olympics, thereby managed to avoid trouble, they did not suffocate in the heavy, suffocating, both literally and figuratively, atmosphere of Los Angeles.

Anti-Sovietism and racism were closely linked with rabid chauvinism and nationalism.

The rampant chauvinism in the stands and in the press was such that it hung like a sword of Damocles over foreign judges and athletes.

The objective press, experts, journalists expressed their indignation at the biased refereeing, the desire of the Americans to push their athletes to the podium by any means.

“The arbitrator succumbed to the pressure of the crowd, shouting out pro-American slogans,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, talking about the gymnastics competition. In the final swim in the 100m freestyle, the victory was awarded to the American Rovdi Gaines. The Canberra Times newspaper called this decision unsportsmanlike, dishonest. “I am disappointed and outraged. I was robbed,” said Australian Mark Stockwell, who was relegated to 2nd place.

Everyone was perplexed by the fact that the US men's gymnastics team was ahead of clearly more strong teams China and Japan. It was obvious to everyone that biased refereeing played a role here. “We just couldn't win. The judges acted against the rules,” the Chinese coach was indignant.

Complained about biased refereeing and Indian hockey players.

“These competitions are judged only in favor of the Americans,” complained Vice President of the South Korean Boxing Federation Seo In Oh.

I specifically gave examples from different sports and related to athletes from different countries. The atmosphere of chauvinism, bias, psychological pressure on foreigners reigned everywhere in Los Angeles.

President of the International Olympic Committee H.A. Samaranch formally protested to the Los Angeles Organizing Committee that the American TV coverage of the Games was "riddled with chauvinism."

American propaganda tried to explain the absence of Soviet athletes at the 1984 Olympics as revenge for the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. In fact, all this was not so. As stated at a press conference in Moscow on May 14, 1984, the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of the USSR M.V. Gramov: “Soviet athletes will not participate in the Games in Los Angeles due to the fault of the reactionary circles in the United States. The lack of security, the escalation of anti-Sovietism, the policy of constant complications in relation to the athletes of the USSR - these are the real factors that determined the decision of the NOC of the USSR.

If everything were not so sad and unworthy, one could only laugh at the miserable efforts of the organizers of the Games to pass them off as an outstanding sporting event and boast of the victories of American sports.

However, these Games were distinguished not only by the atmosphere of terror, crime, chauvinism, but also by an unprecedented attack on the Olympic movement of commerce and business.

Trade in the Olympic flame looks symbolic. The Organizing Committee of the Games-84 decided to sell the route of the sacred Olympic flame in the bud. Piece by piece - 3 thousand dollars per kilometer. It is hard to imagine a great profanity of Olympic ideals and traditions, but the fact remains that any American could buy the right to carry the Olympic torch.

The whole world then protested against such a disgusting undertaking. But how important are protests in the US compared to the opportunity to make money? Yes, none.

However, the business with the Olympic flame was only a “flower”. "Berries" worth tens of millions of dollars then fell down. The organizers profited from everything.

It all started with the fact that the organizers themselves raised the prices to the limit for everything that they were obliged to provide to the guests. Then prices began to inflate and "private traders" - hotels, restaurants, shops, landlords, car rental companies, etc.

As for entrance tickets to the opening ceremony, which could only be obtained from speculators who bought them ahead of time, they cost up to $1,500. Not surprisingly, one of the locals lamented: "These are not the Games, but an orgy of speculation!" Even the police speculated on tickets.

Nearly 150 sponsoring firms made a fortune from advertising their products at the Games. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Levi Strauss, United Airlines, Perrier, General Motors, Kodak, Budweiser... Automobiles, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, restaurants, sausages, clothing - in a word, everything was advertised with redoubled energy. A minute commercial at the time of the transfer of the most interesting competitions was paid for tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Games were still in full swing, and the ironic prediction of the Daily Express newspaper had already come true: “If sports fans think that 1984 is for the Olympians,” the newspaper wrote, “they are mistaken. Big business in Los Angeles has already won gold, silver, and bronze…”

For example, the ABC television company interrupted its report from the opening ceremony 58 times with various advertisements. No sooner had the Olympic flame flared up than an advertisement for Budweiser beer appeared on TV screens. During the broadcast of the opening celebration alone, ABC made $15 million! So she paid back the $225 million she paid for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games. And how much the Budweiser company snatched off is unknown, one can only guess, remembering the monstrous, five-story building high, balloons in the form of beer cans, swaying at the entrance to the stadium.

Is it ethical to use for advertising the names of athletes who were once applauded by the Olympic capitals? Yes, names! And the athletes themselves. In Los Angeles, long jump world record holder Bob Beamon touted beer, four-time Olympic champion in discus throw Alfred Oerter advertised the products of some locksmith tool company ...

Advertising filled Los Angeles so much that many who visited there these days remembered not so much the competition as ... beer, sandwiches, lotions, pots, washing machines, cars, which endlessly annoyed their eyes from TV screens, from the pages of Olympic programs .

I have touched upon in these short notes only a few unsightly aspects of this Olympiad. And we could talk about the incredible gas pollution in Los Angeles, endless traffic jams, many kilometers of distance that athletes, journalists, and fans had to overcome. One could tell in what unacceptable conditions the athletes huddled, what difficulties the journalists encountered in their work.

“The Los Angeles Olympics is a bluff of the highest order. The competitions currently taking place in the United States absolutely do not deserve the expensive time that our television devotes to them, - wrote the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, - too big number top athletes world does not take part in them, which makes the definition of "Olympic" in relation to the Los Angeles Games a pure formality. Of course, this is a very bad, if not the worst, event of its kind.”

“The absence of athletes from most socialist countries at the Games in Los Angeles turned them into an inexpressive spectacle with a denouement known to everyone in advance,” the Portuguese newspaper Avante!

Such are the epitaphs on the monument of these inglorious Games.

I began my notes with a symbolic episode, and I will end in the same way. The opening ceremony of the Games, as you know, was as pompous as it was tasteless. One of the numbers of this incredibly prolonged vulgar show was that a revived element of the American coat of arms was supposed to fly into the sky - an eagle, very thoughtlessly, but extremely accurately called "bomber".

However, the eagle did not take off, he died the day before.

I would like to wish that real bombers never take off from American soil. No matter how the same happened to them as to this ill-fated bird ...

And games, well, they exist for the joy of people. And let's hope that the likes of Los Angeles will not be repeated. Mankind does not need games of enmity, but games of good will. And the sooner overseas understand this, the better.

Ahead of the Games in Seoul. Soviet athletes are carefully preparing for them. They want to participate in them and, of course, achieve high results. They also hope that these Games will become not just the largest sports competition on the planet, but a true celebration of peace and friendship, that no machinations of the enemies of the Olympic movement will be able to prevent this.

One of the most scandalous Olympics in history, the one that took place in 1912 is considered. A listing of all the violations and squabbles that were recorded on it fit in a separate book of 56 pages. One of the most high-profile scandals at that Olympics he was associated with an American track and field athlete. He was of Indian origin. At the competitions, he immediately received 2 gold medals and became the leader of those Games. However, the US leadership was unhappy that the first place was taken by a representative of a tribe with which the Americans had irreconcilable differences. And America independently demanded to deprive the champion of medals (despite the fact that these awards ended up in the United States), citing the fact that he professional sportsman and cannot take part in the Amateur Games. After that, the medals were taken away, and the champion's career was broken.

At the 1904 games in the United States, there was a scandal with marathon runners. It was this discipline that was at that time one of the most promising. The American Fred Lorz was the first to reach the finish line, having significantly overtaken his rivals. Later, the secret of his quickness was revealed. After running about a third of the track, he stopped. The reason was simple - his legs cramped. However, then one of the fans turned up to the athlete, who accompanied his idols in a car along the track passing nearby. He offered the lagging marathon runner to give him a little lift. So they drove almost to the finish line. But when Fred Lortz got out of the car to run further, the spectators in the stands saw it. So the deception was exposed. After that, the medal was handed over to the second athlete who came to the finish line. However, it turned out that not everything was so smooth with his race. Literally at the end of the track, he became ill, and his coach gave him an anesthetic injection, which would now be regarded as doping.

Hitler's dictatorship left its mark on the 1936 Olympics. Then the contender for gold in running from Switzerland was suspended from participation in the competition. The reason is quite typical for that time and the policy of the Fuhrer - the athlete was married to a Jewess.

In 1972, at the Olympic Games, a controversial situation arose between the US and USSR basketball teams. The referees broke the rules and gave a siren, indicating the end of the meeting, 3 seconds before the official time expired. As a result, the American team won. However, it was precisely this violation that became the reason for challenging the results. The last half had to be replayed. In extra time, the USSR national team was able to complete the required throw and became the winner. The Americans then lost for the first time. Because of this, they boycotted the award ceremony.

Scandalous champions can also be called a number of athletes who won the "Olympiad of refereeing mistakes." It took place in 1932 in Los Angeles. Here, almost every competition was disrupted due to the incorrect work of judges and arbitrators. So, for example, in the 200-meter run, the athlete who ran 2 meters less than the one who came to the finish line second won. They attributed this to the technical imperfections of the tracks.

The first doping scandal unfolded in 1988 in Seoul. Then the Canadian runner finished the distance with an unexpectedly high result - 9.79 seconds. Naturally, he received a gold medal. However, two days later he was deprived of it due to the fact that the use of doping by the champion was established.

The Salt Lake City Olympics are also full of scandals. Russian fans happily celebrated getting the first place in the sports figure skating Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. However, the American side did not like this alignment, because their favorites were the Canadians. Talk began that they bribed the judges, as a result of which they received a prize. In order to avoid further gossip, an unprecedented decision was made, and two couples, Russians and Canadians, went to the awards ceremony to get gold medals.

Irina Slutskaya also had problems with getting a medal. The judges considered that the program of the American Sarah Hughes was better than that of the Russian woman. However, according to international observers, this was not the case at all. But the judges remained adamant - as a result, Slutskaya took second place.

Another trouble at the same Olympics occurred with the Russian skier Larisa Lazutina. At that moment, when she was already one step away from the gold medal, she was disqualified, explaining this by the fact that the athlete, according to the results of the tests, was taking illegal drugs.

In the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, USA, 1048 athletes, including 127 women, from 37 countries participated. Competitions were held in 14 sports. The opening ceremony of the Games took place in a stadium called the Colosseum, reminiscent of ancient Roman arenas.

The capacity of the stadium is 105 thousand people, which at that time was a record. First, the Olympic choir, consisting of 150 singers, 300 musicians and several fanfarists, performed. After the Olympic oath was read by fencer George Kalnan, bronze medalist IX Olympic Games and part-time lieutenant of the US MF.

The cost of a trip to Los Angeles has become the main obstacle for many European athletes to participate in the Games, so a total of 1048 people gathered to compete for medals. For the first time, representatives of China and Colombia spoke to the IA of the OI.

For the first time in the history of the Games, athletes were accommodated in the Olympic village, 20 km from the city. About 700 houses were placed on the golf course in an oval around restaurants, libraries and gambling halls. Playing the national anthems of the countries in honor of the winners of the competition and raising the flags of the countries was also introduced into the practice in Los Angeles.

Competition venues were quite scattered along the coast. For example, the rowing pool was an hour's express ride from the city (Long Beach), and cyclists competed in Pasadena at Roseball Stadium. By the way, it was destroyed after the Games.

The competition program in Los Angeles was similar to the program of the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. But instead of football, shooting competitions were held. The football championship was not held for purely material reasons, since the delegations of European countries were basically few in number.

And yet the results shown by the athletes at the Olympics were high. 90 Olympic records were set, including 18 world records.

In the 100-meter run, an athlete from the USA Eddie Toulan won, on his chest? ahead of the main rival Ralph Metcalfe, also an American. Toulen also won the 200m. However, this time Metcalf was the victim of a gross measurement error - his track was 202 m long.

It is worth noting that referee errors at these Games were very frequent. Therefore, one of the journalists called them "Olympics of judicial errors and miscalculations." So, in Los Angeles took place unique case. In the finals of the 3000 m hurdles, the person who was counting the laps left his place. As a result, the athletes ran 3450 m.

Of course, the US team earned the most awards - 41 gold, 32 silver and 30 bronze medals. Italy had 12 awards of each denomination, while France had 10 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Tip 3: Where the 1984 Summer Olympics were held

XXIII Summer Olympics 1984 fell on that period in the modern Olympic movement, when every sports forum was boycotted by some member countries of the IOC. This happened at previous games in Moscow, and the 1980 Olympics, which took place in Los Angeles, USA, also remained in memory, mainly because of the boycott of it by 16 countries.

The first Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles in 1932. Thereafter, the US National Olympic Committee nominated one of the US cities for each successive IOC vote. However, for half a century, attempts to bring back summer games did not bring success to the country. Los Angeles was again included in the voting list when choosing a city to host the 1976 Olympics, but the Canadian Montreal was preferred by the IOC. In the next vote, Los Angeles lost the election to Moscow, and in 1978 in Athens, the Americans finally got lucky. At the 80th session of the IOC, Tehran withdrew its application, and before the decisive vote, the city in the United States remained the only candidate to host the XXIII Summer Olympic Games.

Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States, located in California near the border with Mexico. In the world, this city is most often associated with the entertainment industry, since it is in it that the famous "dream factory" - Hollywood is located. Los Angeles was built on the coast of the Pacific Santa Monica Bay in 1781 and originally belonged to Mexico, but in 1848 passed to the United States after the end of the Mexican-American War. The rapid growth of the city began at the end of the 19th century, when oil reserves were discovered in the area. By the time of the Olympic Games, it was already a metropolis with more than three million inhabitants.

In Los Angeles, they were very rational about the costs of the XXIII Olympiad. Only two new sports facilities were built - a velodrome and swimming pool. The opening and closing ceremonies of the games were held at the same stadium that hosted the Olympians in 1932. Between July 28 and August 12, 1984, athletes from 140 countries played 221 sets of awards in 23 sports. In the absence of representatives of the Soviet Union and 13 other socialist countries, the US Olympians dominated these games. They got 174 medals - about the same amount won together by four countries from the following lines medal count.

The 1984 Summer Olympics became one of the best organized sports events. However, the level of competition was negatively affected by the absence of athletes from many countries that boycotted the Olympics, among which were the USSR and the GDR.

Few tickets were sold for spectators. Then several movie stars, including Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford offered to perform before the public between competitions to increase the popularity of the event.

The competitions were held at the Memorial Colosseum. The male athletes were housed in a purpose-built Olympic village. It occupied 321 acres of land and consisted of 550 double bungalows. The village also housed a hospital, post office, library and many restaurants and cafes. The women were put up in a hotel in Chapman Park. In total, about 1,300 athletes from 37 countries took part in the competition.

Vice President Charles Curtis opened the Olympics, as President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games. In these games, the winners for the first time climbed the podium with national flags in their hands. Another innovation was the photo finish.

The political situation was bound to have an impact on the Olympics. Japan, which recently occupied the Chinese province of Manchuria, tried to nominate an athlete from the state of Manchukuo, but the Olympic Committee refused to participate. The only athlete from China participated - Liu Changchun, who competed in the 200m race. The Italian Luigi Beccali, who won the gold medal in the 1500m race, stepped on the podium and greeted the audience with a fascist salute.

The true Olympic spirit was demonstrated by the British fencer Judy Guinness. She herself, abandoning her hopes for a gold medal, pointed out to the judges the 2 touches that they had not noticed, which she received from her rival Ellen Price from Austria.

The opening of the Olympics was an athlete from Dallas Mildred Didrikson, nicknamed "Babe". In those days, women were not allowed to participate in the pentathlon, but "Baby" easily won in the javelin throw, 80m hurdles and high jump. Subsequently, Mildred became a professional golfer and the U.S. Women's Golf Champion.

Most of the gold, silver and bronze medals were won by athletes from the USA - 41, 32 and 30. The Italian team is in second place - 12 medals each. On the third - French: 10, 5 and 4 medals, respectively.

The USSR did not plan "retaliation"

As a protocol-based symbolic gesture announcing next Games, at the closing ceremonies of the Games, the flag of the state in which the next Olympics will be held is usually raised. The 1984 Olympic Games were to be held in Los Angeles, USA. At the closing of the Games in Moscow, not the American flag, but the city flag of Los Angeles was raised at the stadium, and already in this many saw a hint that the next Olympics would have serious political problems.

However, the Soviet leadership, apparently, initially did not plan to act according to the “eye for an eye” scheme.

All documents of that period show that throughout the entire Olympic cycle, Soviet athletes were actively preparing for the Olympics in Los Angeles.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, naturally, fearing Soviet "revenge", in December 1982, during a visit to Moscow, he asked the member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee who received him Heydar Aliyev whether the USSR plans to get even with the Americans with a retaliatory boycott. “We are preparing for the Games in Los Angeles. And although we hear talk of a possible boycott on our part, we will never stoop to the level of Carter, ”the politician replied.

The Soviet leadership really had no time for a boycott. Regular deaths began in the elderly elite of the USSR, which went down in history as the "epoch of the great funeral." Brezhnev, who died in November 1982, was replaced by a seriously ill Yuri Andropov, who died in early 1984. In his place was Konstantin Chernenko, whose state of health left no doubt that the next funeral was just around the corner.

Souvenirs from the Los Angeles Olympics. Photo: flickr.com / CSUF Pollak Library

Political reprises of a retired actor

However, during the same period, the international situation sharply worsened. Former Jimmy Carter successor Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan was, as they say, "turned" on the idea of a crusade against communism.

His aggressive rhetoric and no less aggressive policy led to the fact that relations between the USSR and the USA seriously deteriorated.

In this situation, the Soviet leadership expected large-scale provocations at the Olympics. Moreover, there were difficulties with the organizers. US refuses to accept charter flights from Los Angeles Soviet athletes, demanded the provision of detailed data for each participant, which was a direct violation of the Olympic Charter, did not allow the ship "Georgia" to arrive at the port of Los Angeles, which was mother ship USSR Olympic team.

And yet, until the fall of 1983, there were no particular doubts that the Soviet team would perform in Los Angeles.

However, everything changed after September 1, 1983, a South Korean passenger Boeing was shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union. All the circumstances of what happened then are not clear to this day, including the role of the United States, but Ronald Reagan used this story to spin a new round of anti-Soviet hysteria.

The Soviet Union was proclaimed an "evil empire", and the situation in the world became so tense that the possibility of starting a full-scale world war was seriously considered.

And then there's the US authorities refused to provide written security guarantees to Olympic participants from socialist countries.

Performer Gramov

Nevertheless, until the spring of 1984, the preparation of the Soviet team for the Olympics in Los Angeles continued.

The formal initiator of the boycott of the Games is the chairman of the Committee on physical education and sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the head of the NOC of the USSR Marat Gramov, who on April 29, 1984 sent a note to the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the current situation in connection with the Olympic Games in Los Angeles."

There is a version that the matter is not at all in politics, but in Gramov's fears for his career. At the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, the USSR national team in gold medals lost to the GDR team, and the functionary was afraid of a new failure in Los Angeles.

However, most experts agree that Gramov turned out to be only an executor of the will of the political leadership, with whom he had neither the opportunity nor the desire to argue.

A week after Gramov's note, a resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU was issued, which stated: “To consider it inappropriate for the participation of Soviet athletes in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles due to the gross violation of the Olympic Charter by the American side, the lack of proper security measures for the USSR delegation and the anti-Soviet campaign launched in the USA ".

On May 8, 1984, the plenum of the National Olympic Committee of the USSR unanimously approved the decision to boycott the Games in Los Angeles.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch frantically tossed between Moscow and Washington, trying to change the situation, but achieved nothing. In Moscow, the sick Chernenko had no time for conversations with Samaranch, and Reagan, embarrassed by this turn of affairs, was pressured by representatives of his administration, who urged him not to make concessions to the “Reds”.

As a result, Samaranch capitulated.

The boycott of the Olympics was supported by the socialist countries (except Romania, Yugoslavia and China), as well as a number of developing countries.

In terms of the number of countries participating in the boycott, it turned out to be not as large-scale as the boycott of the Games in Moscow, but from a sports point of view, no less tangible. In Los Angeles, there were no athletes from the USSR and the GDR - the two leading sports powers, and representatives of other countries of the socialist camp were very strong: take, for example, the Cubans who dominated amateur boxing.

As a result, in Los Angeles, the US team won 86 gold medals, surpassing the Soviet record of 1980, but this achievement also had a rather bitter aftertaste. American athletes were well aware that without rivals from the Soviet Union, the struggle was not at all the same.

Coins dedicated to the Los Angeles Olympics. Photo: flickr.com / Olympics in Los Angeles

Lost victories and broken destinies

From the standpoint of past years, the boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles is considered a mistake by sports experts. From an ideological point of view, the USSR had every chance of inflicting a crushing blow on the United States, inflicting a sports defeat on the Americans in their lair.

Based on the results international competitions 1983, the USSR team at the 1984 Olympics could claim 60-62 gold medals, which guaranteed an unconditional victory. Huge investments in the form of new sports facilities and arenas, made before the Olympics in Moscow, in Los Angeles could turn into, perhaps, the most grandiose triumph of Soviet sports.

Souvenir tents for guests of the Olympics-84. Photo: flickr.com / Olympics in Los Angeles

But it's not just the lost medals. For dozens of Soviet athletes, the boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics turned into a collapse of sports hopes, shattered dreams.

The list of those who were hit by the boycott can be very long. One of the world's greatest swimmers Vladimir Salnikov, a three-time Olympic champion, in Los Angeles could replenish his piggy bank with two or three more gold awards. Two-time Olympic champion in hammer throw Yuri Sedykh, the undisputed favorite of the 1984 Olympic season, the boycott prevented her from winning a third gold medal. Legendary weightlifter Yuri Vardanyan in 1984, at the Druzhba-84 competition, which replaced the Olympics for Soviet athletes, he lifted a total of 50 (!) Kilograms more than the Los Angeles Olympic champion. What was it like for him to see that his "gold" went to another because of politics? Young pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, who sensationally won the World Championship in 1983, claimed the gold medal in Los Angeles, but the Olympic dreams had to be postponed for four years.

Gymnast Dmitry Bilozerchev his three golden Olympic medals will win in Seoul 1988, but on the eve of the Games in Los Angeles, the absolute world champion in 1983 also claimed the highest awards. Alas, they went to others ...

And for one of the strongest gymnasts in the world in the early 1980s Olga Mostepanova boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics was the collapse of all Olympic hopes. She never managed to compete at the Olympics even once in her life. The boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics ruined the careers of not only Mostepanova, but dozens of other Soviet athletes as well...

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch after 1984 managed to turn the tide, and today large-scale boycotts sports competitions not happening. Although on the eve of the 2008 Games in Beijing, and before Sochi 2014, talks about a possible boycott were very active.

The hands of politicians are itchy. But, as one well-known Russian thinker said, whoever itches, scratch it somewhere else. And leave the sport to the athletes.

Image Source: Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles, 1984. unknown, U.S. air force

On May 8, 1984, the USSR Olympic Committee decided to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

How Jimmy Carter avenged Afghanistan

In the early 1980s, the situation escalated so much that the question arose of whether the Olympic Games would even exist in the future.

And in 1980, the conflict reached the level of the two leading political and sports powers of the world - the USSR and the USA.

After the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in December 1979, the US government expressed its intention to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Actually, the idea was not even to boycott, but to disrupt the Olympics, transferring it to another country.

True, there was one problem - before the Olympics in Moscow, the Winter Games in the American Lake Placid were to be held. That is why US President Jimmy Carter officially announced his intention to boycott the Moscow Olympics only after the successful completion of the Winter Games.

Despite everything, the Games in Moscow took place, and their sports results were very successful - the athletes set 74 Olympic, 39 European and 36 world records, which together turned out to be more than the achievements of the previous Montreal Olympics.

The Soviet athletes, of course, won an unconditional victory, winning 83 gold medals, although this result was largely due to the absence of a number of strong rivals.

However, American athletes suffered the most, having lost the opportunity to compete at the main start of the four-year period due to the political ambitions of the US leadership.

The USSR did not plan "retaliation"

As a protocol-based symbolic gesture announcing the next Games, the flag of the state hosting the next Olympiad is usually raised at the closing ceremonies of the Games. The 1984 Olympic Games were to be held in Los Angeles, USA. At the closing of the Games in Moscow, not the American flag, but the city flag of Los Angeles was raised at the stadium, and already in this many saw a hint that the next Olympics would have serious political problems.

However, the Soviet leadership, apparently, initially did not plan to act according to the “eye for an eye” scheme.

All documents of that period show that throughout the entire Olympic cycle, Soviet athletes were actively preparing for the Olympics in Los Angeles.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who naturally feared Soviet "revenge", in December 1982, during a visit to Moscow, asked Heydar Aliyev, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who was hosting him, whether the USSR was planning to get even with the Americans with a retaliatory boycott. “We are preparing for the Games in Los Angeles. And although we hear talk of a possible boycott on our part, we will never stoop to the level of Carter,” the politician replied.

Political reprises of a retired actor

However, during the same period, the international situation sharply worsened. The former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, who replaced Jimmy Carter in the presidential chair, was, as they say, "turned" on the idea of a crusade against communism.

His aggressive rhetoric and no less aggressive policy led to the fact that relations between the USSR and the USA seriously deteriorated.

In this situation, the Soviet leadership expected large-scale provocations at the Olympics. Moreover, there were difficulties with the organizers.

The United States refused to accept charter flights with Soviet athletes in Los Angeles, demanded that detailed data be provided for each participant, which was a direct violation of the Olympic Charter, and did not allow the Georgia ship, which was the floating base of the USSR Olympic team, to arrive at the port of Los Angeles.

And yet, until the fall of 1983, there were no particular doubts that the Soviet team would perform in Los Angeles.

However, everything changed after September 1, 1983, a South Korean passenger Boeing was shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union. All the circumstances of what happened then are not clear to this day, including the role of the United States, but Ronald Reagan, with his inherent artistry, used this story to promote a new round of anti-Soviet hysteria.

The Soviet Union was proclaimed an "evil empire", and the situation in the world became so tense that the possibility of starting a full-scale world war was seriously considered.

And then there's the US authorities refused to provide written security guarantees to Olympic participants from socialist countries.
On May 8, 1984, the plenum of the National Olympic Committee of the USSR unanimously approved the decision to boycott the Games in Los Angeles. Reagan, embarrassed by this turn of events, was pressured by representatives of his administration, who urged him not to make concessions to the Reds.

The boycott of the Olympics was supported by the socialist countries (except for Romania, Yugoslavia and China).

In Los Angeles, there were no athletes from the USSR and the GDR - the two leading sports powers, and representatives of other countries of the socialist camp were very strong: take, for example, the Cubans who dominated amateur boxing.

As a result, in Los Angeles, the US team won 86 gold medals, surpassing the Soviet record of 1980, but this achievement also had a rather bitter aftertaste. American athletes were well aware that without rivals from the Soviet Union, the struggle was not at all the same.

From the standpoint of past years, the boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles is considered a mistake by sports experts. From an ideological point of view, the USSR had every chance of inflicting a crushing blow on the United States, inflicting a sports defeat on the Americans in their lair.

140 countries. 6829 athletes (1566 women). 23 sports. Leaders in the unofficial team standings: 1. USA (83-61-30); 2. Romania (20-16-17); 3. Germany (17-19-23)

Sam the Eaglet, with a trademark American smile and a signature striped top hat, was chosen as the mascot of Los Angeles-84, since the eagle is the symbol of the United States. Its "birth" was attended by employees of the Walt Disney Productions company, which was engaged in the design of games.

The Los Angeles Olympics, like the Moscow Olympics, were boycotted by some NOCs in central and southeastern Europe. In 1984, the mistake of American President Jimmy Carter, who called for a boycott of the Olympics in Moscow, was repeated by the leadership of the Soviet Union: it was decided to refuse to participate in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad. Moscow said that the absence of the Soviet team was due to the unsatisfactory level of security at the Games. However, this move was seen as a response to the non-participation of Americans in the 1980 Games in Moscow.

As a result, athletes suffered: many of those who really claimed high awards lost the opportunity to win them. For many, this was their last chance. Olympic biography. And the Olympic history has probably lost several bright pages that will never be able to be filled. The Olympics itself also suffered. Athletes from the USSR, the GDR and their allies did not participate in the Games, which greatly reduced the sporting level of the Olympics. And because the results of the Olympic Games were not as impressive as many had hoped. 125 world champions could not take part in the competition. No matter how you analyze the Games, it is easy to see that in the case of the participation of athletes from most socialist countries, the names of at least half of the champions of the Games of the Los Angeles Olympiad would be different. And the number of world records set speaks of the relatively weak sports side of the Games: there were only 11 of them.

It goes without saying that absolute champion The American team became the Games - It has 174 medals (83 gold, 61 silver, 30 bronze), which is a record to this day. In the absence of 125 reigning champions world by different types sport, the victory in the team event was convincingly won by the US team.

For the first time, the unofficial Organizing Committee, headed by P. Uberroth, who led the Games of the Olympiad, not only managed to make the Games profitable, but also ensured them high organization, excellent information. Unfortunately, the city in which the first Olimpic village, in 1984 he abandoned it and settled the Olympians in the dormitories of the local university.

Profitability Olympic Games The sale of television broadcasting rights was in no small part responsible for the sale of television broadcasting rights. Such huge sums were laid out for the television broadcasting rights of the competition (ABC laid out $ 225 million for the “picture”) that some critics said that the Games, once a celebration of amateur sports, are becoming more and more commercial. In principle, this is true, but the world is changing and the rules of the game are changing. Holding the Olympic Games requires a huge amount of money, and the business, having invested this money, wants to get a certain return. With the blessing of the new IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Olympics, by and large, was sold under the hammer - from the right to carry the Olympic flame to slow-moving goods, which at the last moment were applied with the symbols of the Games. About 450 commercial contracts were concluded with various companies and firms.

At the same time, very good results were demonstrated in a number of sports, a number of athletes entered the Olympic arena, who became leaders in world sports for many years to come.

The success of the famous Jesse Owens was repeated by his compatriot Carl Lewis - victory in the 100 and 200 meters, the 4x100 meters relay and the long jump. Much later, in an interview to the question “Which of the nine Olympic victories do you remember with the greatest pleasure?” he answered: “The first gold medal won in 1984 in Los Angeles at a distance of 100 meters was something special. And, of course, the last one, received for the long jump at the Atlanta Games. That was my farewell to the pinnacle of world sport."

Frederick Carlton Lewis is one of the most famous athletes of the last century who has won around 20 gold medals in four different disciplines (100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100).

He was born July 1, 1961 in Birmingham, Alabama, where his parents lived and worked. He was the third child in the family, spent his childhood in Willingborough with his sister Carol, father Bill and mother Evelina. From his early years, he breathed the air of sports, his father coached track and field athletes at the university, and his mother was a famous athlete (6th in the 80m hurdles at the 1951 Pan American Games). He saw the 1968 Olympics on TV and admired Bob Beamon: Carl was so surprised that after Beamon's 8.90m jump, he went out with a friend to measure the length of the limousine and see how far it flew! At that time, Karl was so thin that the doctor advised him to take up sports. outside schoolwork Carl learned to play musical instruments, dance, sing, and played many sports: American football, soccer (he played with his brother Cleveland as a forward), diving, and athletics. He said that he did not have success in sports, and many of his peers achieved best results. He was regularly beaten by his sister Carol as they ran around the garden path his parents built!

Carl's father was a friend of Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. At the age of 10, Carl was given to Owens after competing in the long jump. But the accident made people worry about his career. When he was 12 years old, while playing with other children, he accidentally stumbled and deeply injured his right knee. The doctor said that he would never be able to jump because of the tendon injury. Luckily, he was able to continue with the long jump, and at the age of 13 he jumped 5.51 meters. In the future, he rapidly progressed, and his annual results increased: 6.07m., (14 years old) 6.93m. (15), 7.26m. (16) and 7.85m. (17). Coaches notice his progress, and this allowed him to enter the 1979 national team and take part in the Pan American Games in San Juan, (Puerto Rico). He was 1 hour late, (the coaches gave him the wrong start schedule), but after Carl's explanation, the judges allowed him to jump. And in the third attempt he jumped to 8.13. 25 years ago this result was shown by Owens. In the meantime he was also training in the 100m and in 1979 he ran 10.67s.

Only a boycott prevented him from competing at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. In the pre-Olympic selection, Lewis was second in the long jump and won in the 4x100m relay. A little later, he improved his result in the 100 m to 10.21 s, and in the long jump - 8.11 m.

A lot has changed in 1981. He settled in Houston, accepting the invitation of Tom Tellez, one of the most famous coaches. At competitions in Dallas, he wins the 100 m (10.00), 200 m (20.73 s) and the long jump (8.25 m) on the same day! Then he becomes the national champion in Sacramento in the 100 m and in the long jump (8.62 m) he sets a university record. By the end of the season in Zurich, he jumps 8.52 m against a wind of -2.2 m/s! In Rome, after winning the long jump, he loses the hundred meters. This was a specific loss for Carl, as the coaches told him that he would not be able to combine sprinting and jumping at the same time. But the stubborn Karl in 1982 improved his result in the long jump (8.76 m) and became more stable in the 100 m. Already in 1983 he was ready to fight for gold at the Olympic Games.

At the first World Championships in Helsinki in 1983, Karl was going to take part in the 100 and 200 m and long jump. His scores have been on the rise. On June 19, he runs the 200m semi-final in 20.15 s. After that, he goes to the long jump sector. First jump: 8.71 m. Second: 8.79 m., "inaccessible" to the repulsion line of about 20 centimeters! After that, Karl went to rest and two hours later appeared for the finals of the 200m race. He had a good start and 20 meters before the finish line raised his hands victoriously. Time: 19.75! Amazed journalists asked him why he did not break the world record (19.72), to which he replied: "I ran against real opponents, not against time." So, at the world championship in Helsinki, he confirmed his superiority: three gold.

Carl planned to win four gold medals in Los Angeles and he did win them: 100m in 9.99s, 200m in 19.80s, 8.71m long jump and gold in the 4x100m relay! Thus, Lewis repeated the achievement of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics.

Having repeated the sporting feat of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis was recognized, just like D. Owens in his time, as the hero of the Los Angeles Olympics.

Another notable episode in the career of the protagonist of Los Angeles is the rivalry with Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson. The apogee of their duel came at the 1988 Olympics: Johnson beat a competitor, but was convicted of using steroids and the Seoul gold went to Lewis.

It is curious that most of the American coaches (including the national team mentors) strongly advised Lewis to focus exclusively on the sprint. Say, compete in two forms at once athletics unreal. But the athlete defended his “right to jump”, winning four Olympics in a row in this type of program (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996). And in 1991, at the World Championships in Tokyo, he surpassed the 23-year-old world record of his compatriot Bob Beamon by a centimeter, flying 8.91 m. Powell with a score of 8.95.

In 2000, our hero was recognized as the best athlete of the 20th century. Today he lives in his beloved Los Angeles, dreaming of conquering... Hollywood. And what, his biography is a ready-made script for a sports blockbuster.

American Edwin Moses received his second Olympic gold medal. He was unmatched in the 400m hurdles. For my sports career in his signature 400m hurdles, Edwin Corley Moses set a phenomenal record. For 10 years (1977-1987) he participated in 122 competitions without losing a single time. If the US team had taken part in the Moscow Olympics, then he would have received his second medal 4 years ago, but ... He first broke the world record in 1976, in 1983 showed a record time, running the distance in 47.02 minutes. Twice won the title of champion of the Olympic Games (1976, 1984) and twice the title of world champion.

In the decathlon, the famous British athlete Daley Thompson won the gold and last olympiad in Moscow. Recall that at the initiative of the United States, a number of countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics. The US leadership also put pressure on Britain. British Prime Minister M. Thatcher asked British athletes to support the boycott of the Olympics in Moscow because of the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. However, the English team went to Moscow and ended up in seventh place in the number of medals, receiving 21 medals, including five golds. In a final post-Olympic report, the British Foreign Office expressed regret that "many British athletes have failed to comply with the government's recommendations to boycott the Games". The ministry believed that some were "drawn in by the possibility of winning in the absence of the US and West German teams. This report also hinted at the reality of Daley Thompson's gold. So Thomason's victory in Los Angeles removed all questions.

In the future, the two-time Olympic champion and ex-world record holder in track and field decathlon Englishman Daley Thompson decided to change his role in sports. famous sportsman decided to try his hand as a footballer (albeit a third league footballer). Football observers noted the high physical fitness a rookie who tirelessly moved around the field for the entire 90 minutes of the game. This is not surprising for a "knight of ten qualities."

In 1932, when Los Angeles hosted the Olympics for the first time, the IOC barred the legendary Finnish stayer Paavo Nurmi from competing on charges of violating the amateur code. More than half a century has passed, and again the runner from the Suomi Country, Marty Vainio, who initiated the Olympic doping scandals, was again in the spotlight. At the Games-84, he took second place in the 10-kilometer distance and was going to run the "five", but the Finn was literally removed from the starting line of the final race, announcing that he was taking nandrolone. Since then, Finnish runners, who for a long time dictated the fashion for stayer distances, have practically not achieved serious success. Curious coincidence...

IN rowing another star appeared at the Los Angeles Olympics. This unique athlete was the Romanian Elisabeth Lipa. Having received, at the age of 19, her first gold at the 1984 games, she continued to compete at the following Olympic Games. The result of the athlete is impressive: over the years of performances, she participated in six Olympics, receiving 8 Olympic awards, of which 5 were gold. Recall the chronicle of these performances: 1984 - gold in the deuce, 1988 - silver in the deuce and bronze in the four (the most unsuccessful Olympics for her), 1992 - gold in singles and silver in the deuce, 1996 - gold in the eight, 2000 - gold in the G8 and finally 2004 - another gold in the G8. In addition to these awards, E. Lipa, a Romanian police officer, received gold at the 1989 World Championship, she has 8 (!!) silver medals (1985-1996) of the World Championships and 3 bronze medals (1982, 83 and 1994).

In 2003, E. Lipa temporarily left the police service to prepare for the Games in Athens, where she eventually won her fifth Olympic gold. Fivefold Olympic champion in rowing, the Romanian Elisabeth Lipa was promoted to the rank of police general after the Athens Olympics. This athlete (date of birth - 10/26/1964) plans to perform in Beijing at her seventh (!) Olympics, although she is already the most titled in her sport.

Olympic champion in the tournament Greco-Roman wrestling(V weight class over 100 kg) was the American Jeff Blatnik. Jeff Blatnick's biography is the story of a man's struggle for survival, an impressive example of the psychology of coping.

Jeff learned that he had Hodgkin's disease in 1982, on the eve of his 25th birthday. He was already a member of the national Olympic team in 1980, but did not participate in the Olympic tournament, since the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics. He began training for the 1984 Olympics while already suffering from cancer. He knew that the load could adversely affect his health, but continued to train, despite the acute pain in the neck. A biopsy showed that he had early stage cancer... I think. Jeff had to prepare to never step on the wrestling mat again. Instead, he applied for National Games in NYC.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for D. Blatnik to overcome his illness was to study the possibilities of his own body, to determine the limits of patience. He needed to learn a new training regime and adjust to the real feeling of fatigue after training... Those who could watch Jeff when he received the Olympic gold medal and see tears on his face will probably never forget this extremely touching moment of his personal celebration.

Jeff Blatnick won the 1984 Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. At the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he was entrusted with carrying the national flag of the United States.

An Olympic champion battling a life-threatening illness is a living embodiment of courage and willpower! Perhaps one of the most powerful emotional moments in Olympic history are tears of joy and satisfaction on the face of this fearless athlete after winning the Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Games.

Became a three-time Olympic champion Pertti Johannes Karppinen, a Finnish athlete in academic rowing in single races. Prior to these Games, he was the owner of gold medals at the Olympic Games in Montreal (1976) and Moscow (1980). With this achievement, he repeated the result of the famous Soviet single skater Vyacheslav Ivanov, who won the 1956, 1969 and 1964 Olympics.

In swimming, in 9 out of 15 disciplines among men and in 11 out of 14 women's events, the victory went to the hosts, US athletes. They were able to resist Michael Gross (Germany) - 2 gold (100-meter butterfly and 200-meter freestyle) and 2 silver and A. Bomann (Canada), who received gold in both distances of integrated swimming.

In 1984, at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles, for the first time in history, Olympic awards for synchronized swimming were played. 17 athletes competed in singles, the winner was the American Tracey Ruiz, the silver medal was won by the Canadian Karopin Waldo, and the bronze by the Japanese Miwako Motoyoshi. IN doubles duets from 18 countries performed. The first place was taken by Tracey Ruiz and Sandy Bones (USA), the second - by Sharon Hembrook and Kelpie Kritska (Canada), the third - by Saeko Kimura and Miwako Motoyoshi (Japan).

The first Olympic champion Tracey Ruiz soon married and stopped training synchronized swimming. In 1987 she returned to big sport, intending to win the Seoul Olympics. However, she managed to win only a silver medal, and the gold went to the Canadian athlete Caroline Waldo.

Here at the Olympics began a brilliant Olympic career Greg Louganis. Of course, four victories at two Olympics (Los Angeles and Seoul) in both events (springboard and tower) made his name legendary. Indeed, Greg Louganis - a world-class diving superstar - five-time champion world, the owner of 4 Olympic gold medals and forty-seven major titles, more than anyone else in the history of this sport. For his achievements, his name is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

Greg Luganes is the recipient of the Jesse Owens Trophy, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding athletes in the world. A few words about the prize itself. Jessie Owens was the most prominent representative of the queen of sports. At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, a black American put Hitler's racist theory to shame by winning four golds: in the 100m and 200m, in the long jump and in the 4x100m relay. After the death of the legendary athlete in 1980, his friend Herbert Douglas established the Jesse Owens International Trophy Award.

In the United States in 1996, a film directed by Steven Hilliard Stern (starring Mario Lopez, Jeffrey Meek, Rosemary Dunsmore) was released. The film tells about the Olympic champion Greg Louganis, and not only about his career, but also about his struggle for recognition of his homosexuality.

Indeed, on the way to the top of fame, an extraordinary athlete has to overcome a lot of obstacles, the most dramatic of which is the prejudiced attitude of society towards his sexual orientation.

Louganis became the 1988 Olympic champion already knowing that he was a carrier of the AIDS virus. In an interview with ABC's 20/20 program, famous American diver Greg Louganis admitted that he began treatment six months before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where he won gold by continuing to swallow pills every four hours. .

Then, in September 1988, Louganis, performing one of his brilliant jumps, hit his head on a springboard, which was seen by thousands of spectators who came to the diving competition. “The blow,” Louganis recalled, “was not too strong, but extremely unpleasant. A wound formed on my head, and drops of blood stained the water. I can’t say exactly what kind of feeling seized me when I swam to the side. Horror, panic, shock?.. From the impact? No, rather from the knowledge that I am infected with AIDS and the following athletes who jump after me can simply become infected. But I did not tell anyone anything. Not even the doctor, who hastily treated my wound without wearing medical gloves. The doctor was in a hurry, because I had to make the last jump soon ... I was on my way to victory. Since then, Louganis was tormented by the same question: how deep was his guilt that he did not warn anyone about his illness ?.. He remembered this episode, as if asking for forgiveness from those athletes who competed that day with him in the same water.Remembered first on TV and later, a few days later, interrupting his pause, finally appearing in front of the students of Columbia University .

How can one not remember the joy and delight on the face of the Olympic gold medal winner in the all-around gymnast Mary Lou Retton, when she fell into the arms of her radiant, jubilant coach Bell Caroli. Mary Lou Retton's victory is also remarkable because there is a massive interest in this sport in the United States. This is a great merit of Mary Lou Retton's coach - Bella Karoli. Karoli has nurtured and raised 37 Olympic champions. He brought up in Romania the absolute champion of the Olympic Games in Montreal (1976) Nadia Kamaneci, and then asked for political asylum in the United States. In addition to Comaneci, he has coached American Olympic team stars such as Mary Lou Retton, Julie McNamara, Phoebe Mills, Kim Zmeskal, Betty Okino, Carrie Strug, and Dominic Mokeanu.

Despite the brilliant victory of Mary Lou Retton in the overall standings women's gymnastics outright won the brilliant team of Romania. Romanian gymnasts received 4 gold medals out of 6. In addition to Mary Lou Retton, gold in the exercise on the uneven bars in Los Angeles was received by Chinese Ma Yanhong and American Julie McNamara, having scored the same points.

In men's gymnastics, Asian athletes were in the lead. The Chinese gymnast Li Ning, who received 3 gold medals (freestyle, rings and a horse), especially distinguished himself. And the all-around was won by the brilliant japanese gymnast Koji Gushiken. American gymnasts received 3 gold medals in team championship, on bars (Bart Conner) and pommel horse (Peter Vidmar).

A few words about the participation of the Chinese team. At the Los Angeles Olympics, after a long break, she performed Olympic team China. I must say that the performance of the Chinese team was simply triumphant. The newcomer received 32 Olympic medals (of which 15 gold) and in the team standings he was ahead of many strong teams, taking 4th place. In China, a program was launched to develop mass sports, and it can be assumed that the Chinese team will very soon push the recognized leaders of world sports.