The 1984 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the second time that Los Angeles had hosted the Games, the first being in 1932. This was the first of two consecutive Olympic Games to be held in North America with Calgary, Alberta, Canada hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics. California was the home state of the incumbent U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Mary Teresa Slaney is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships and was the world-record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, and she was the first woman to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 U.S. national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the U.S. record in the 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years and her mile record stood for 38 years. In 2003, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by athletes, as a way of cheating. As stated in the World Anti-Doping Code by WADA, doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the anti-doping rule violations outlined in Article 2.1 through Article 2.11 of the Code. The term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical and is prohibited by most international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, athletes taking explicit measures to evade detection exacerbate the ethical violation with overt deception and cheating.
Antonio McKay Sr. is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400 meters.
The United States of America (USA) competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 527 competitors, 332 men and 195 women, took part in 230 events in 27 sports. The United States finished outside of the top two in the overall medal count for the first time and in the gold medal count for only the second time. That was mainly caused by the extensive state-sponsored doping programs that were developed in these communist countries to fulfil their political agenda on an international stage.
Michael Stulce is a former shot putter from the United States who was an outstanding athlete at Texas A&M University. While at A&M, he worked with throws coach Robert Parker. He won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He is also three times national champion. In 1993 he won the U.S. National shot put Championships.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
Iceland competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
Jeffrey ("Jeff") Thomas Michels was an Olympic weightlifter for the United States. His coach was Steve Gough.
David Miles Grylls is a retired track cyclist from the United States. He represented his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where he won the silver medal in the men's 4000 m team pursuit, alongside Steve Hegg, Leonard Nitz, Patrick McDonough and Brent Emery. He now coaches junior cyclists at the San Diego Velodrome.
The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc satellite states and allies, led by the Soviet Union, which initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984. Boycotting countries organized another major event, called the Friendship Games, in July and August 1984. Although the boycott led by the Soviet Union affected Olympic events that were normally dominated by the absent countries, 140 nations still took part in the games, which was a record at the time.
Duncan Fuller Atwood is a former American athlete who twice won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the Pan American Games: in 1979 and 1987. Atwood set his personal best on August 29, 1987, in Rome, Italy, during the qualification round at the World Championships.
Donald Hardt Catlin was an American anti-doping scientist. He is one of the founders modern drug-testing in professional sports.
Edward Borysewicz, sometimes known as "Eddie B", was a cycling coach who brought the United States to world prominence, even though at first he barely spoke English. The US team, under his direction, won nine medals at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984. It was the first time Americans had won medals since 1912. Audrey McElmury won the World Road Cycling Championships in 1969, followed by Beth Heiden, in 1980.
William Green is an American former track and field athlete. He is a former United States record holder and finished fifth in the hammer throw in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California.
The VELO Sports Center is a velodrome located in Carson, California, United States. It is currently the only cycling track of its kind located in the United States. Formerly known as the ADT Event Center or LA Velodrome, it opened in 2004 on the California State University, Dominguez Hills Campus, part of the Dignity Health Sports Park complex. The facility is owned and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG).
For the 1984 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty-one venues were used. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, two venues previously used for the 1932 Summer Olympics, were used for the 1984 Games. Between the 1932 and the 1984 Summer Olympics, the expansion of professional sports teams assisted in the growth of the facilities that would be used for the 1984 events. Only two new permanent venues were constructed, both using corporate sponsorship, though neither were mentioned in the official Olympic report. Many other venues had temporary adjustments and returned to their normal usage once the 1984 Olympics were completed. Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto and the Rose Bowl later served as venues for the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup, and the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Doping, or the use of restricted performance-enhancing drugs in the United States occurs in different sports, most notably in the sports of baseball and football.
Six women's teams competed in basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
