1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from February 8-19, 1984 in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which at the time was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden. It was the first Winter Games and the second Olympics held in a Communist state (the first was the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union).
Host Selection
The host city for the XIV Winter Olympics was announced on May 18, 1978 during a session of the International Olympic Committee in Athens, Greece. Sarajevo was selected over Sapporo, Japan by a margin of three votes.
| 1984 Winter Olympics Bidding Results[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | NOC Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | ||
| Sarajevo |  Yugoslavia
|
31 | 39 | ||
| Sapporo |  Japan
|
33 | 36 | ||
| Gothenburg |  Sweden
|
10 | - | ||
Torch relay
The torch relay for the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic games started in Olympia and then proceeded by airplane to Dubrovnik. The total distance of the torch relay through Yugoslavia was 5,289 km (plus 2,879 km of local routes). There were two main routes - one in the west (Split – Ljubljana – Zagreb – Sarajevo with 2,602km of lenght) and the other in the east (Skopje – Novi Sad – Belgrade – Sarajevo with 2,687km of lenght). The final torchbearer, from a total of 1600, was figure skater Sanda Dubravčić, who received the torch from skier Bojan Križaj. Today one of the two original torches is in Slovenia in a private collection in Žalec.[citation needed]
Highlights
- First Games under the presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.
- The 20 kilometre race was added to women's Nordic skiing.
- Skier Jure Franko won Yugoslavia's first Winter Olympic medal; a silver in the giant slalom.
- Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen won all three individual cross-country races for women.
- Gaétan Boucher and Karin Enke each won two gold medals in speed skating, while East German women win all but three out of the twelve medals in the sport.
- Austria, usually a formidable winter sports nation, won only one bronze medal.
- Biathlete Eirik Kvalfoss earned a complete set of medals.
- Twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre took first and second place in the slalom.
- Torvill and Dean of the United Kingdom earned across-the-board perfect scores for artistic impression in the free dance ice dancing competition, a feat that was never matched.[2]
- Disabled skiing was a demonstration sport for the first time.
- Bill Johnson became the first American to win an Olympic downhill event.
- Lamine Guèye of Senegal was the first Black African skier to compete in the Winter Olympics.
- The closing ceremony was held indoors in the figure skating venue. This is the last time the closing ceremony for the Winter Games was held indoors until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Official mascot
Readers of Yugoslav newspapers were asked to choose the mascot for the 1984 Winter Olympics from a list of six finalists. The winner was Vučko, the little wolf, designed by Slovenian designer and illustrator Jože Trobec. The other finalists were a chipmunk, a lamb, a mountain goat, a porcupine, and a snowball.
Venues
City venues
- Koševo Stadium - opening ceremonies
- Zetra Ice Hall - figure skating, ice hockey (final), closing ceremonies
- Zetra Ice Rink - speed skating
- Skenderija II Hall - ice hockey
Mountain venues
- Bjelašnica - alpine skiing (men)
- Jahorina - alpine skiing (women)
- Igman, Veliko Polje - cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (cross-country skiing), biathlon
- Igman, Malo Polje - Nordic combined (ski jumping), ski jumping
- Trebević - bobsleigh, luge
Other facilities
- Olympic Village, Mojmilo
- Press Village, Dobrinja
- Hotels: Igman (Igman), Famos (Bjelašnica), Smuk (Bjelašnica), Bistrica (Jahorina)
Competitive events
|
|
Demonstration sport
Medal count
| 1 |  East Germany (GDR) |
9 | 9 | 6 | 24 |
| 2 |  Soviet Union (URS) |
6 | 10 | 9 | 25 |
| 3 |  United States (USA) |
4 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 |  Finland (FIN) |
4 | 3 | 6 | 13 |
| 5 |  Sweden (SWE) |
4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 6 |  Norway (NOR) |
3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 |  Switzerland (SUI) |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 |  Canada (CAN) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
 West Germany (FRG) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 10 |  Italy (ITA) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 |  Yugoslavia (YUG) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Participants
A then record of 49 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) entered athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.
Egypt, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Senegal, and Virgin Islands participated in their 1st Winter Olympic Games.
The Republic of China ended its boycott of the Olympic Games over the controversy regarding the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China, and competed as Chinese Taipei for the first time.
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See also
Notes
- ^ http://www.aldaver.com/votes.html International Olympic Committee Vote History
- ^ The 6.0 judging system has since been replaced with the ISU Judging System, therefore no other figure skater will earn perfect 6.0 scores in the future.
References
- "Sarajevo 1984". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
- Template:IOC medals
- Official Report from the Organizing Committee on the AAFLA website
- Olympic Review 1984 - Official results
External links
- "Sarajevo 1984". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
- Official site
- The program of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics
