● From our sister site, TheSportsExaminer.com ●
In any discussions of the most important Olympic Games in history, the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles always stands out. The only city to bid for the 1984 Games, the privately-organized and funded Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee revolutionized the Olympic Movement.
Now-common concepts in television rights sales, corporate sponsorship, volunteer staffing, use of existing facilities, the cultural festival, youth programs and many technical innovations took the Olympic Movement from an unsure footing in the 1970s to a brilliant future. Despite a boycott by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, a record number of 140 countries came to the Games, which set records for attendance and ended with an unprecedented surplus of $232.5 million.
About $93 million of that surplus went to form what is now the LA84 Foundation, whose purpose is to support youth through sports in the Southern California area. It has impacted more than 3.9 million children, more than 198,000 coaches and communities through 3,065 grants across the area over 40 years.
All that was celebrated on Sunday at the LA84 Foundation headquarters in the historic West Adams District with more than 250 attendees – including more than 30 Olympians and Paralympians – for a spectacular anniversary party and a special screening of a new film about the impact the Foundation has had. The date of 14 July was exactly 40 years since the opening of the Olympic Villages in 1984 and four years ahead of the opening of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Attendees, which included many members of the LAOOC staff from 1984, were treated to a first look at a new exhibition in the Foundation library which documents and explains aspects of the 1984 Games, including memorabilia, but also a showcase for memorable moments and some of the stunning concepts used in 1984, including the unexpected “Festive Federalism” color and design scheme that dominated the visual imagery of the event.
The formal program was inside a massive tent placed on the Foundation’s parking lot, with NBC4 Los Angeles news anchor Colleen Williams as host. The Olympians were marched in as if during an Olympic opening ceremony, with iconic hurdler Edwin Moses reprising his role of taking the Olympic Oath, as he did during the 1984 opening ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Many of the great stars of 1984 were there. Quadruple gold medalist Carl Lewis, diving star Greg Louganis, gymnastics gold medalist Bart Conner (with wife Nadia Comaneci), triple jump winner Al Joyner, basketball icon Cheryl Miller and many more.
LA84 Foundation Chair Bill O’Brien explained the Foundation’s work and its breadth of programs over 40 years, followed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who will receive the Olympic Flag at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on 11 August.
Bass referenced O’Brien’s listings of what the 1984 Games and then the LA84 Foundation accomplished and deadpanned to the audience:
“How’s that for a little bit of pressure, huh? Mayor [Tom] Bradley. City didn’t spend any money. Forty years later, there’s a legacy. That is an incredible challenge.”
Bass, 70, spoke to the time when the ‘84 Games surprised and excited Los Angeles:
“For those of us who remember the Games, and I was certainly there as a witness to all that ‘84 did. We were so paranoid that the city was going to go crazy, we weren’t going to be able to drive anywhere, and everything, and it was like the best driving in L.A., right?
“And for those of you who are too young to remember, just think about what it was like to drive during Covid. That was what ‘84 was like, and we had no technology that we have now.”
She also noted the already-in-progress legacy project of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizers, with $160 million being invested prior to the Games in subsidizing youth sports participation through the City’s Recreation and Parks Department. Looking ahead to 2028:
“Our plans are taking [shape], and we have an incredible foundation from which to work with. One of the things that I’m very excited about with the Games is that our city has so much to offer, and when the world comes, we want the world to see all of Los Angeles, all of our neighborhoods.”
Bass also said she was already thinking about the Paris closing:
“At the closing ceremony, I have to receive the flag and I have to waive the flag like this, and so what I said to [LA84 Foundation President] Renata [Simril], ‘Renata, you’ve got to give me that flag so I can start to practice.’ I looked at YouTube and I saw the closing ceremony in Tokyo, so I know what’s going to happen, but I have to make sure that my shoulders are in shape, because I heard it’s heavy.”
Williams led a panel discussion with ‘84 gold medalists Lewis and Miller, with Lewis talking about his standout moment on the way to four golds in track & field:
“My standout moment had to be the 100 meters … it’s the first event, and so, of course, that’s the most vulnerable because, I would say, if you make a mistake at the start, you’ve got 99 meters to be pissed off” to laughs from the audience. He won, of course, and remembered back to when he started running, under the direction of his parents in New Jersey. “For one moment, you’re the center of the world. It’s incredible.”
Miller acknowledged her “idol” – sitting in the audience – Ann Meyers Drysdale, the 1976 Olympic silver medalist in women’s basketball, explaining “my dream didn’t start until I watched her win an Olympic gold medal [actually silver] and she was the driving force.”
Miller remembered the emotion of her own gold-medal awards ceremony at The Forum, “The national anthem never sounded better. It invoked such a passion and a respect, a humbleness, that I’m living in the greatest country – and still am – and be able to represent and win an Olympic gold medal, priceless. Absolutely priceless.”
Williams asked both for advice for future athletes, looking to 2028. Lewis advised, “keep it simple’ and keep doing what got you to the Games. Miller said, “All it takes is all you have.”
A panel followed with Debra Duncan – a key member of the LAOOC Ticketing Department and later a chair of the LA84 Foundation – and U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz, in 1984 an LAOOC Vice President for the Olympic Villages. Duncan explained that despite ending with a huge surplus, the organizing effort was based on not spending money:
“Peter [Ueberroth, LAOOC President] and Harry [Usher, LAOOC Executive Vice President] did a good job of never letting us think we had any money. And that’s how we spent, like we had very little. …
“And we never knew what was going to happen, so we were all very nervous, right, Anita? I don’t think any of us ever thought, wow, we’re going to make even a million dollars.”
DeFrantz added, “a tiny little surplus” was the goal, and Duncan agreed, “not to lose money.
“I don’t think we ever sat back and said, ‘we’ve got it.’ We never knew for sure.”
Asked about how she felt when the Games ended, Duncan remembered, “I think I was sad when it ended. It was such a fulfillment of a lot of hard work, and it was great, it was beautiful, we celebrated the athletes. … It was such a success.”
DeFrantz told the story that three days after the closing, at the USC Village, “There was one athlete, from Australia, who didn’t want to leave. So we had to circle him and say, ‘The Village is closed.’”
Williams had also a session with LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman. Earlier, a special ceremony was held in the garden of the LA84 Foundation to present a 1952 Olympic gold medal in Yachting (as then known) to Michael Schoettle, a member of the crew for the winning Complex II from the U.S. in the 5.5 m class. The ceremony included DeFrantz of the U.S. and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee President Gene Sykes and chief executive Sarah Hirshland. Schoettle, now 87, stayed involved with American sailing for decades, was a member of the competition management team for the 1984 Olympic sailing events in Long Beach and was the team leader for the U.S. team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
~ Rich Perelman
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