1988 Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the XXIV Olympiad Games, was an international multi-sport event that was played from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. In all, 8,391 athletes represented 160 nations at the Seoul Games: 6,197 men and 2,194 women. 237 games were held, and 27,221 participants helped qualify for the Olympics. The Games is televised by 11,331 media networks worldwide. These were the Soviet Union and East Germany's last Olympic Games which had both ceased to exist until the 1992 Olympic Games. The Soviets thoroughly dominated the medal table, winning 55 gold medals and 132 overall. No country had come close to this outcome since 1988. North Korea had boycotted the games, and its ally, Cuba. Ethiopia, Albania and the Seychelles did not respond to invitations from the IOC.[4] Nicaragua did not participate because of the sporting and financial criteria. Madagascar's presence was expected at the opening ceremonies of 160 countries, and their team was expected. Nevertheless, the country withdrawn for financial concerns.[6] Nevertheless, the much bigger boycotts seen in the previous three Summer Olympics were stopped, resulting in the largest number of participating nations since the Cold War period. NBC became the telecast network for the US Summer Games following a five-Olympics run by American Broadcasting Corporation from 1968–1984. At the last Olympics the Soviet Union absolutely dominated the medal table winning 55 gold and 132 overall medals. No country had come close to this outcome since 1988. Soviet Vladimir Artemov won four gold medals in gymnastics.[10] Daniela Silivaş of Romania won three in one Olympic Games and Nadia Comăneci's record of seven Perfect 10s in tie. In the 100-meter dash at the Indianapolis Olympic Trials, U.S. sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner matched an Olympic record for winning gold medals in both events, after demolishing the 200-meter world record. She added a gold in the 400 relay to these medals, and a silver in the 4 hundred relay. Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100-m race with a new world record, but was disqualified following positive checkup of stanozolol. Johnson has since stated that his positive test was the product of deception. In the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around Competition, the U.S. women's team was penalised by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique after the compulsory round with a deduction of five tenths of a point from their team score as their replacement Olympic team Rhonda Faehn was on the podium for the uneven bars at the time of the compulsory uneven bars Th Th by Kelly Garrison-Steve It's also problematic in the gymnastics event, because the U.S. scored better than the East German team and would have earned the bronze medal in the team competition had they not been penalised or allowed an appeal to win the points back. • Phoebe Mills won an individual bronze medal on the balance beam, sharing it with Romania's Gabriela Potorac, making it the first award ever earned by an American woman at a competitive gymnastics meet. Hosting the 1988 Olympics offered a opportunity for South Korea to gain international attention. In the late 1970s the proposal arose for South Korea to apply for the 1988 Games during the last days of the Park Chung-hee government. Following the assassination of President Park in 1979, Chun Doo-hwan, his replacement, submitted Korea's bid to the IOC in September 1981, hoping that the increased foreign recognition provided by the Olympics would legitimise his authoritarian rule in the midst of increased political pressure for democratisation, provide protection from North Korea's rising threats and spotlight the Korean economic mirror