SportsCenter 1984 Summer Olympics (1979– ) watch online HD

When Tehran, the only other interested city on the international level, declined to bid due to the Iranian political and social changes, the IOC awarded Los Angeles the Games by default. This was the second occasion Los Angeles hosted the games; it previously hosted in 1932.

The Games were officially opened by President Ronald Reagan.

The official mascot of the Los Angeles Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle.

The logo of the games featured five blue, white and red stars arranged horizontally and struck through with alternating streaks; it was named "Stars in Motion." These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch .

The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in Los Angeles, traversing 33 states and the District of Columbia. Unlike later torch relays, the torch was continuously carried by runners on foot. The route covered more than 9,320 mi (15,000 km) and involved 3,636 runners, including 200 from the sponsoring company AT&T. Noted athlete O.J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up the California Incline in Santa Monica. Gina Hemphill, granddaughter of Jesse Owens, carried the torch into the Coliseum, completed a lap around the track, then handed it off to the final runner, Rafer Johnson, winner of the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympics. With the torch, he touched off the flame which passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo, igniting all five rings. The flame then passed up to cauldron atop the peristyle and remained aflame for the duration of the Games.

John Williams composed the theme for the Olympiad, "Olympic Fanfare and Theme". This piece won a Grammy for Williams and became one of the most well-known musical themes of the Olympic Games, along with Leo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream".

Composer Bill Conti also wrote a song to inspire the weightlifters called "Power". An album, The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad-Los Angeles 1984, featured three of those tracks along with sports themes written for the occasion by popular musical artists including Foreigner, Toto, Loverboy, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Christopher Cross, Philip Glass and Giorgio Moroder.

The Brazilian composer Sérgio Mendes also composed a special song for the 1984 Olympic Games, "Olympia," from his 1984 album Confetti. A choir of approximately one thousand voices was assembled of singers in the region. All were volunteers from nearby churches, schools and universities.

Etta James performed "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the Opening Ceremony.

Vicki McClure along with the International Children's Choir of Long Beach sang "Reach Out and Touch".

Lionel Richie performed a 9-minute version of his hit single "All Night Long" at the closing ceremonies.

The 1984 Summer Olympics was preceded by the 10-week-long adjunct Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, which opened on June 2 and ended on August 12. It provided more than 400 performances by 146 theater, dance and music companies, representing every continent and 18 countries. It was organized by then-CalArts President Robert Fitzpatrick.

The opening ceremony featured the arrival of Bill Suitor by means of the Bell Aerosystems rocket pack (also known as a Jet Pack).

The United States Army Band formed the Olympic rings, waiting to start the opening ceremony.

As a result of an IOC agreement designating the Republic of China (Taiwan) Chinese Taipei, the People's Republic of China returned to the summer Olympics for the first time since Helsinki 1952 and won 15 gold medals. In weightlifting, athletes from the Chinese Taipei and China teams won medals at the same event.

Eleven athletes failed drug tests at the Los Angeles Games.

Local Los Angeles artist Rodolfo Escalera was commissioned to create nine paintings depicting the summer games that would later be turned into collectible plates and presented as "The Official Gift of the 1984 Olympics".

Carl Lewis, making his first of four appearances at the Olympics, equaled the 1936 performance of Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals, in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and long jump.

Eighteen-year-old Zola Budd, a South African runner given British citizenship in order to dodge the apartheid-based ban on South African competitors, collided with home favorite Mary Decker-Slaney in the final of the 3000 m, causing the American to fall. With the crowd booing her for the rest of the race, Budd dropped back and finished well down the order. She was later cleared of wrongdoing and was also declared not culpable by Decker-Slaney. While the Decker-Budd duel was highly sensationalized, the race itself was won by Maricica Puica of Romania, one of that era's most successful middle distance runners, whose accomplishment was diminished by the controversy.

Edwin Moses won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles 8 years after winning in 1976.

Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco became the first female Olympic champion of a Muslim nation-and the first of her country-in the 400 m hurdles.

Carlos Lopes, from Portugal, won the Marathon with a time of 2:09:21, an Olympic record that stood for 24 years. It was the first gold medal ever for Portugal. Gold medal favorite, World Record holder and the then World Champion, Robert de Castella from Australia, finished in 5th place, 1:48 behind Lopes.

A marathon for women was held for the first time at the Olympics (won by Joan Benoit). The event was considered notable because of Swiss runner Gabi Andersen-Schiess, who - suffering from heat exhaustion - stumbled through the last lap, providing dramatic images.

Daley Thompson apparently missed a new world record in winning his second consecutive gold medal in the decathlon; the next year his score was retroactively raised to 8847, giving him the record.

Sebastian Coe became the first man to win consecutive gold medals in the 1500m.

The first gold medal to be awarded at the Los Angeles Olympics was also the first-ever medal to be won by an athlete from China when Xu Haifeng won the 50 m Pistol event.

Archer Neroli Fairhall from New Zealand was the first paraplegic Olympian at any Olympic Games, coming 35th in the Women's individual event.

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics debuted in Los Angeles as Olympic events, as did wind surfing.

Li Ning from the People's Republic of China won 6 medals in gymnastics, 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze, earning him the nickname "Prince of Gymnasts" in China. Li would later light the Olympic Cauldron at the 2008 Olympics.

Steve Redgrave won his first title in rowing of the record five he would go on to win in five Olympic competitions.

Victor Davis set a new world record in winning the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in swimming.

Mary Lou Retton became the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition.

In men's gymnastics, the American team won the Gold Medal.

France won the Olympic football tournament, defeating Brazil 2-0 in the final. Olympic football was unexpectedly played before massive crowds throughout America, with several sell-outs at the 100,000+ seat Rose Bowl. This interest eventually led to the US hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

The Soviet-led boycott affected weightlifting more than any other sport: 94 of the world's top 100 ranked lifters were absent, as were 29 of the 30 medalists from the recent world championships. All 10 of the defending world champions in the 10 weight categories were absent.

Future Dream Team members Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Chris Mullin were on the team that won the gold medal in basketball. The 1984 US men's Olympic basketball team was coached by Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight.

Connie Carpenter-Phinney became the first woman to win an Olympic cycling event when she won the women's individual road race.

The 1984 Summer Olympic program featured 221 events in 21 sports.

The United States won most medals - 174.

Athletes from 140 nations competed at the Los Angeles Games. The following countries made their first Olympic appearance in 1984: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Grenada, Mauritania, Mauritius, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates. Zaire had competed previously as Congo Kinshasa. The People's Republic of China made their first appearance in a Summer Olympics since 1952, while for the first time the Republic of China team participated as Chinese Taipei.

Romania won 53 medals, including 20 golds, more than the nation has in any other Olympics.

Following the news of the massive financial losses of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, only Los Angeles and New York City expressed serious interest in hosting the 1984 Games.

Los Angeles is the only US city to host the Summer Olympics twice.

The Olympic Velodrome and the Olympic Swim Stadium, funded largely by the 7-Eleven and McDonald's corporations respectively, were the only two new venues constructed specifically for the L.A. Games.

McDonald's ran a promotion entitled "When the U.S. Wins, You Win" where customers scratched off a ticket with the name of an Olympic event on it, and if the U.S. won that event then they would be given a free menu item: a Big Mac for a gold medal, an order of french fries for a silver medal, and a Coca-Cola for a bronze medal. The promotion became a near financial disaster due to the Soviet boycott which led to the U.S. winning far more Olympic medals than expected.

Pop punk band Bowling For Soup references the games in the song "I Can't Stand LA". During a section showing appreciation for the city, the song states, "thank you for hair metal and the '84 Olympics."

Jilly Cooper's novel Riders has a story line set at the show jumping event in the 1984 LA Olympics.

Computer company Apple Inc made an advertisement tying its product Macintosh into the 1984 Olympics javelin throwing competition and the novel 1984 . The commercial features a javelin thrower hurling a javelin at a telescreen of Big Brother, destroying it.

On NCIS, Tim McGee has an obsession with jet packs, stemming from having attended the 1984 Olympic ceremony as a child and having Bill Suitor fly over his head in his jet pack. This story line is based on the real experience of executive producer and writer Jesse Stern.

The resulting low construction costs, coupled with a heavy reliance on private corporate funding, allowed the Games to generate a profit of more than $200 million, making them by far the most financially successful in history.