Los Angeles

OLYMPICS WE WERE NOT AT

I had the opportunity to visit Los Angeles more than once even before the 1984 Olympics took place there.

…California!

We fly from New York to Los Angeles over the red, barren soil of the Mojave Desert. Dry river beds, roads, and ravines are visible below. Then the ground gradually becomes brown, and stunted vegetation appears here and there. Sometimes, among this endless plain, a sandy spill is visible, as if washed up - red, reddish, yellow. Sometimes straight arrow-like highways cutting through the desert are visible. The winds carved up the low sandy mountains cut by the Los Angeles-bound freeway.

Just outside the city, a plane flies over wooded mountains; the highest ones are covered with snow. Somewhere here is the famous Mount Wilson Observatory.

Los Angeles finally arrived. Blocks of houses occupy the entire area below us up to the horizon. They are interspersed with gas tanks, parking lots, and oil derricks. The famous Los Angeles freeways with their complex interchanges and overpasses are clearly visible. The cars completely cover them, and it seems as if multi-colored caramels are scattered on the gray linen ribbons.

Landing. When we get off the plane, we are hit by a wave of hot air. The entire flight from New York, if you subtract the layover in Chicago, lasted six hours. It's half past twelve at the airport. Now the time difference with Moscow is eleven hours, and in half an hour the Kremlin chimes will strike midnight.

We're going to the city.

Los Angeles, stretching for tens of kilometers along the ocean coast, with a population of 2.5 million people, occupies a gigantic area - 720 square meters. km. There are 5 million fewer people living in it than in New York, and it occupies 208 square meters of space. km more.

Almost all of these square kilometers are covered with countless one-story houses- blue, red, yellow, white; wooden, stone, brick; with stairs, porches, terraces, turrets, with front gardens and lawns; under tile, iron, tar paper roofs of different colors. They are all different and at the same time surprisingly similar to each other.

And more advertising! Advertising literally filled the entire city. Just as a cake is filled with multi-colored cream, sprinkled with cinnamon and almonds, decorated with candied fruits and chocolate, so the already bright and colorful Los Angeles is completely covered with thousands of advertisements, signs, notices, appeals, images. No matter how bright the houses are, the advertising is even brighter. It sticks out over the roofs, covers the facades, lies on the lawns, and is attached to the pillars of the terraces. “Fly to Paris on jet planes!”, “Buy Richfield gasoline!”, “Drink Coca-Cola!”, “Visit the gambling houses of Las Vegas!” - all these wriggling, dancing, jumping letters and images - voluminous and flat, openwork and heavy, plain and brightly colored - beg, demand, invite, order.

Along the wide highways running between the houses, endless streams of different types and sizes of cars rush in both directions. The movement is so intense that it gives the impression of enormous speed. Yet this is not entirely true. Here we are on the highway that crosses the entire country. Cars rush in four streams in each direction. The stream on the right moves at a certain speed. If the driver wants to drive faster, he moves to the next left lane, where the minimum speed is higher, in the third lane it is even higher, and in the far left lane the car cannot drive slower than, say, 100 km per hour. Sometimes on these multi-lane highways, when approaching large cities, the flow is regulated depending on the time of day. For example, in the morning, before work starts, cars travel to the city in six streams, from the city in two, and after the end of the working day, on the contrary, from the city in six, to the city in two.

Our journey to the city center continued for a long time. But the center arose immediately. A common cluster of skyscrapers is the tallest, illuminated at night, "Edison", black and gold with an openwork tower on the roof of "Richfield" (a large oil company). By the way, about oil. Long gone are the days when saying “West”, “California”, “Nevada” meant gold. Now forestry, agriculture, hydropower, non-ferrous metallurgy, and the oil industry play an important role in these places. In the Great Valley of California and on the coast near Los Angeles, the richest oil fields. 5–6% of American oil is produced here. Gold turned from yellow to black, maybe that’s why the tower on the roof of the Richfield skyscraper is black and gold... And next to the skyscraper is a huge gloomy building with bars on the windows, looking like a prison. It turned out that this was a privileged club of Californian businessmen. And here is the fifteen-story, W-shaped Hotel Baltimore - “the largest west of Chicago,” as they immediately rushed to tell us. Indeed, the hotel is large - it has one and a half thousand rooms, many bars, restaurants, cafes, lounges, kiosks, shops and even an exhibition hall. In each room, the guest finds a pound telephone book, the inevitable Bible, as well as suede gloves for cleaning black and yellow shoes and a bag with various threads, needles, pins and linen buttons. And everywhere the hotel logo and good wishes directorate.

From the height of the thirteenth floor there is a view of the city, and primarily of the dense green square, laid out below in front of the hotel and surrounded by stately houses. From above, it seems that the square is filled with people walking.

I go downstairs and go out into the park. Yes, people really “rest” here: all the benches and stone curbs of the square are occupied by the unemployed. They have a right to sit here, and the police have no excuse to kick them out. And so these people spend the whole day here, unshaven, with sunken eyes, thin, tired, dressed in rough worn-out shoes, old patched trousers, dirty shirts and torn hats. They sit motionless under sunlit palm trees, among luxurious bright flowers that emit a wonderful aroma. Having bought a newspaper together, they scan the pages of advertisements with vain hope: what if workers are needed?

Every now and then preachers come into the square - a girl, one or two nuns with dry, sour faces and an old man with madness sparkling in his eyes. He speaks at incredible speed, passionately and loudly, with howls and shouts. Not a single unemployed person even turns their head in his direction. Noticing that I have stopped, the preacher runs up and places a thin brochure in my hand. What is it about? About the same thing that his speeches are about - about the inevitability of earthly hardships and the inevitability of heavenly bliss.

I return to the hotel. The preacher, without stopping for a second, rattles off his speech, and the Los Angeles unemployed continue to sit under the palm trees sparkling in the sun...

In the evening I go for a walk around the city. Here, as in other American cities, the rule is strictly observed: not a single pedestrian will cross the street until he is given the green light. Even late at night, when there are almost no cars, even if a person is in a hurry, even if there are a lot of pedestrians gathered and there are not a single car, no one will cross the street until the sign lights up: “Walk!” Police officers regulating traffic can only be seen at the most difficult intersections, and even then during rush hours.

It is difficult to say what causes such a high level of discipline among pedestrians: perhaps it is the very intense traffic in normal times, or perhaps strict laws: the driver is not responsible for a person hit outside the crossing zone. But the fact remains that pedestrians in the United States are very disciplined, which cannot always be said about drivers. Car accidents claim hundreds of thousands of lives in the country every year.

Main street of Los Angeles. It is crossed by numbered streets. There are many rich shops, cafes, bars, which are called “cocktail bars” in Los Angeles. The “cocktails” are full of visitors who, apparently, have enough free time, although for different reasons than the unemployed in the park. These visitors sit in the dimly lit low hall on leather sofas. There are many young people among them, although the sign says that people under 21 are not allowed to attend the “cocktail”.

The further from the center, the poorer the streets. Here is a street of cheap stores of second-hand or out-of-fashion items, here is a street of night cinemas, the entrance to each of which is completely covered with photographs of naked girls - an advertisement for the ongoing film. And here is a street of shops selling records. Above the entrance to each of them there is a speaker, from which jazz music plays, and young people crowd at the entrance.

Los Angeles contrasts. Rich central streets and poor outskirts; unhappy people dreaming of any job, and rich slackers sitting all day in bars; luxurious nature, as if created for the joy of people, and the grief of these people.

Of course, there is no difference between the sad fate of the poor in New York and Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. But for some reason, here, where the bright sun always shines in the blue skies, where shaggy palm branches sway in the warm wind, bitterness and poverty are especially striking and screaming. A corner of paradise, where there are many people for whom life is hell...

And I also had one meeting with Los Angeles just before the Olympics.

Wandering the streets of Madrid near Puerta del Sol, I came across a small street - a blue sign on the corner building announced: “Los Angeles Street.” This, and the buildings opposite were beautiful, pompous and rich, their facades sparkled. But, delving deeper into the street, I saw other houses - shabby, stone buildings. Wooden shutters, gray from the rain, tightly covering the windows, gave the facades of the houses a dreary look. The plaster was crumbling in places, there were white bald spots, the pavement was uneven with potholes, there was garbage all around... In a word, it was a sad sight. A kind of foulbrood in a gilded wrapper.

In addition, the street turned out to be a dead end. There was no way out of it.

I don’t know why, but a walk to this dead end called “Los Angeles” evoked different associations in me.

The International Sports Press Association approved me as press attaché for the Olympic wrestling tournament. For obvious reasons, I was not able to get to this tournament, which I, in general, do not regret, because it was the least representative of all the Olympic tournaments. However, more on this later.

At the 1983 World Championships in Kyiv, preceding the Olympic Games, I met the American Mr. Thompson, who arrived there with his whole family to study the experience. At the Los Angeles Organizing Committee, Mr. Thompson was responsible for the Olympic wrestling competitions.

His visit was preceded by lengthy negotiations with the International Wrestling Federation (FILA). The organizers of the Olympics did not want to take into account the very modest, I would say minimal, requirements of this federation - there was no air conditioning in the hall proposed for the wrestling tournament, there were ridiculously few seats for spectators, but daily trips from the Olympic village to the competition site had to take several hours, etc.

Finally, thanks to the persistence of the FILA Bureau and its President M. Ercegan, acceptable compromises were reached.

And so Mr. Thompson arrived in Kyiv to learn from us how to organize and conduct major wrestling competitions. He also met with me to talk about the working conditions of journalists.

We had a long conversation and, to my credit, Mr. Thompson listened very carefully to all the advice: where best to place press areas, interview rooms, commentary booths, etc. At the same time, he himself told a lot of interesting things about the conditions of the tournament in Los Angeles. For example, that since athletes will not be able to go to their village for a lunch break, many tens of kilometers away, they will camp from morning to evening in a kind of encampment in one huge hall separated by curtains. There you can rest and eat there. Like participants in a six-day bicycle race.

He also said that there are two passages for athletes to enter the mats: one for everyone, the other for representatives of countries that could be subject to assassination attempts, say, Iranian, Arab, Soviet... And that there are special “security pockets” , in which those under attack will be hidden under the protection of machine gunners. This is such a rosy picture.

Many people later told me about what this picture looked like. And some of those Soviet representatives in international sports organizations who, due to the positions they held, were required to be at the Games, and foreign sports figures.

This is what Yuri Titov, a famous former gymnast and now the President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), told me, for example.

He first came to Los Angeles in 1981. Then the American airline Pan American declared his ticket invalid, and he heard with his own ears how one of the employees told another that nothing could be worse than a communist. From Mexico City, Titov had to get to the future capital of the Olympics on a Mexican plane. Later, he returned to this city more than once, monitoring the preparations for the Olympic gymnastics tournament. However, this preparation left much to be desired.

The organizers of the Games saved on everything, at least on what was supposed to ensure a good tournament and what was invariably present at past Olympiads. There was a lot of inconvenience for both athletes and judges; they even tried to install fewer telephones. Experienced specialists, as is customary in such cases, were not invited. The role of such was portrayed by Richard and Hayla Burts, themselves large businessmen, but who knew little about organizing gymnastics competitions. And the FIG leaders had to explain basic things to the Americans. Meanwhile, the US gymnastics federation itself had specialists. But they were not invited. Finally, in 1983, Titov told the organizers that if they did not familiarize themselves with the competition regulations approved by the FIG Congress, he, as president, would completely remove himself from their conduct. When he asked whether the organizers had read these regulations, Titov received a stunning answer: “No, we didn’t.” And when they read it, they tried not to fulfill many points, not to solve purely technical, but vitally important issues, for example, about the training room, access to the competition site and a number of others. We had to insist; relations between the FIG leadership and the organizers became strained, which, as we know, does not bring any benefit to the cause.

It is interesting that as soon as the FIG pointed out any mistakes to the relevant employees of the Organizing Committee, they promised to correct everything, but then disappeared somewhere, new ones came in their place, not in the know, and everything had to start all over again. I had to appeal to the IOC President.

In the end, the Americans were still forced to invite their specialists, for example, the executive director of the national gymnastics federation, Mike Jackie, and they began to correct the situation.

There were also small indications of the arrogant attitude of the organizers towards the international federations, which, as is known from the IOC statute, are entrusted with technical carrying out Olympic tournaments. For example, presidents international federations had “B” accreditation, not “A”, as usual. But all members of the Organizing Committee and many of their relatives received “A”; the judges were not given passes to the opening ceremony, so as not to remove seats from sale and thus earn more money. Well, a lot of things like that. The FIG Technical Committee, however, was provided with cars, but... without drivers. But it is extremely difficult for foreigners to drive in Los Angeles, and not everyone knew how.

With a bitter smile, Titov recalled that already at the airport upon arrival at the Games, he noticed that everywhere the American flags hung higher than the Olympic ones. The case is unprecedented. As you know, all the structures for the Los Angeles Olympics were built by various commercial and industrial companies. However, they were generally the hosts of the Games. “I don’t know whether you noticed or not,” Titov told me, “that the duckling, the mascot of the Los Angeles Games, had a tail that was strikingly reminiscent of the Adidas brand – the shamrock. This is probably a coincidence, but symbolic!”

In the end, at the cost of much effort, it was possible to achieve reasonable equipment for the hall and compliance with the required conditions.

And yet there was a lot that was depressing in Los Angeles: a huge two-meter duckling that danced between the apparatus during the gymnasts' warm-up, which prevented them from concentrating - such a show that the owners innocently staged, not realizing that during the competition nothing should distract the participants. Or a helicopter carrying behind its tail a banner with the inscription: “The best souvenir is “Smirnovskaya vodka”” (this is at a sports festival!), advertisements for the same vodka were installed along the highway, where the letter “i” depicted the Olympic torch. And much more like that.

There were slogans that were less harmless, or even simply contrary to existing rules, for example, flags hung with the inscription: “America is the main nation.”

The judges were under tremendous pressure. The judges were driven directly to the hotel by cars with gifts, which the Americans delivered to their rooms. There was a chauvinistic frenzy in the stands. All this was reflected in the results, of course, in favor of the Americans, at the expense of the gymnasts of France, Switzerland, Germany, China, and Japan. More than 60 protests were filed! The case is unprecedented.

And although the American team was well prepared, it still could not compare with, say, the Soviet team, if it had been able to come to the Olympics. Suffice it to say that a year later, at the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships in Canada, Soviet gymnasts took 1st place, and American gymnasts were somewhere at the end of the top ten.

In addition, many US gymnasts left the sport, concluding contracts with various companies to advertise their products.

“This is what we had, to put it mildly, at a sports benefit in Los Angeles,” Titov finished his story, smiling sadly.

Another of my interlocutors, the Spaniard Fernando Conte, now the president of the International Sambo Federation, and at that time painted a slightly more rosy picture. general secretary FILA. “It was an unusual Olympics, a business Olympics,” Conte, himself a major businessman and millionaire, told me, “everything seemed to be subordinated to the extraction of monetary profit.” He gave many examples of, as he put it, “the unacceptable commercialization of the Games,” the high cost of everything, and the unceremonious interference of businessmen in the purely sports sphere of Olympic tournaments.

“And then,” Conte, who has visited Los Angeles more than once, told me, “there is terrible air pollution there!” It’s not just the athletes there, but the passers-by can’t breathe. What about the distances? Tens of kilometers from the Olympic Village to the training or competition site.

No one had time to watch anything other than their sport. The wrestlers actually lived where they fought. This was certainly one of the most unorganized, or rather poorly organized, Olympiads. And most importantly, he added in conclusion, the results of the competition did not in any way reflect the true balance of power in almost any Olympic form sports Well, judge for yourself: what kind of wrestling tournament could we talk about without the participation of athletes from the USSR, Bulgaria, East Germany, Mongolia, Hungary... This is funny!”

As other eyewitnesses later told me, in particular my friend, FILA Vice President Alexander Novikov, the atmosphere at the tournament, like at all other Olympic competitions, was difficult: unbridled chauvinism, endless difficulties for everyone - participants, spectators, journalists. However, I learned about this from others, not only ours who visited the Games, but also from foreign colleagues, and Novikov only told me about the wrestling tournament. All he managed to see in Los Angeles was the tournament, the hotel, and the road.

I managed to watch the Olympic Games in Los Angeles... with the help of a VCR and foreign newsreels. To a large extent, it was like a major combined event for the Americans. US television was so keen on showing its athletes that the participation of representatives from other countries in the Games looked like an unfortunate misunderstanding.

It cannot be said that the Olympic movement is developing smoothly, without shocks; it has its zigzags, and yet it has always been beneficial. The Olympic Games brought joy to millions of sports fans and united thousands of athletes from dozens of countries, regardless of skin color, religious or political beliefs.

The first serious incident occurred in Munich, when people died as a victim of extremist manifestations.

And then the Olympics themselves became a victim. Certain circles wanted to turn them into an instrument of a dirty anti-Soviet campaign. Slops poured out from across the ocean, and a boycott was invented. To the credit of the then leadership of the International Olympic Committee, most national Olympic committees, and international federations, the boycott was thwarted with their help.

The Games took place, the overwhelming number of the world's strongest athletes arrived in Moscow. The results turned out to be very high, the order at the Games, their organization, in the unanimous opinion of all foreigners who came to Moscow, including Americans, were impeccable. And the fact that the teams of two or three strong sports countries did not take part in the Games only hit the athletes of these countries and caused legitimate indignation on their part.

The games in Moscow were brilliant and inscribed high achievements and the names of outstanding champions in the history of sports.

What should the enemies of the Olympic movement do next? They understood that no one was going to take revenge on the Americans and that athletes from the USSR, East Germany and other socialist countries would come to Los Angeles and, on top of everything else, would win first and, probably, second place in the unofficial standings. This should have been prevented.

And a system was developed and then put into effect that, with all the good will of the athletes of the socialist countries, would not allow them to participate in the Games. The system is simple to the point of primitiveness - terrorism. Terrorism, which has so often rescued the United States in its international affairs. Gradually growing, anti-Soviet hysteria developed, reaching an unprecedented scale by the time the Games began. Threats, intimidation, slander in the eyes of ordinary Americans in our country, all kinds of slanderous fabrications, provocative rumors... Everything was used, everything was good.

Then official demarches followed: Soviet planes will not be allowed to deliver our delegation to Los Angeles, Soviet ships will not be allowed to take tourists, a number of areas of the Olympic capital are closed to Soviet journalists, the American authorities cannot give guarantees of safety to our athletes... But some gangs consisting of emigrants , anti-Soviet, Zionist, neo-Nazi scum, received every right to engage in provocations, and possibly terrorist acts against delegations. Badges, T-shirts, leaflets with anti-Soviet, offensive inscriptions appeared, the leaders of the mentioned gangs endlessly made threats of kidnappings and reprisals. And since soviet people in the USA they often become victims of provocations, insults, even attacks, then, of course, there was not the slightest guarantee of the safety of athletes.

Not to mention the atmosphere in which it would have been impossible for our Olympians not only to show high achievements, but even to perform at all, because there was a direct danger of physical harm.

Under these conditions, a trip to the Games became impossible and the Soviet Union regretfully had to refuse. For the same reason, teams from almost all socialist countries, as well as a number of other countries, did not go.

Essentially, the starts in Los Angeles became large international competitions, but certainly not full-fledged Olympic Games. Neither in the composition of the participants, nor in the results.

You may recall, by the way, that at the Olympics in Mexico City 31 world and 87 Olympic records were set, in Munich - 33 and 54, respectively, in Montreal - 32 and 51, in Moscow - 36 and 61, but in Los Angeles - only 11 and 36!

It may be said that the highest Olympic achievements are usually inferior to world records. Let me note to this that the results of the winners of the competitions in Los Angeles are inferior to the best achievements of the previous Olympiads. And this is already significant, since these records usually grow from Olympics to Olympics. Many Los Angeles champions at previous Games would not have even been among the medalists or, at best, could have qualified for bronze.

Soon after the end of the Games in Los Angeles, the international competition “Friendship-84” was held in a number of countries, in which athletes from more than 50 countries participated. During these starts, 48 ​​world records were set.

In 51 events out of 93, the results of the winners of “Friendship-84” were higher than in the corresponding numbers of the Olympics-84. In total, the participants in the “Friendship-84” competition exceeded the results of the Olympic winners 142 times.

More interesting numbers for comparison. At the Moscow Olympics, which was incomparably stronger in composition than the Los Angeles Olympics, Soviet athletes won 195 medals, while the Americans in Los Angeles won 174. But they had practically no competition in a number of events, but where there was, they were any , sometimes they suppressed it not by sporting methods.

It is no secret that one of the main reasons for the desperate measures taken by the US administration to prevent our country from participating in the Los Angeles Olympics was the desire to be first at all costs. In the absence of the strongest athletes on the planet, only 98 of the 220 world champions in sports included in Olympic program, arrived in Los Angeles - the Americans managed to earn medals that they would never have seen under other conditions.

The statement of Dan Gabel, a coach of the American freestyle wrestling team, that I know well, sounds typical in this sense. “Now,” he rejoiced, “even my mother-in-law can win a gold medal.” Indeed, American wrestlers won almost more medals at the Games than in all previous Olympics combined.

“Victory at the Olympic Games is an important victory in cold war“,” American President G. Truman once said. At one time, US Secretary of Justice R. Kennedy said: “Our country does not intend to yield to any other country. We want to be the first, and without any reservations, not ever and not under any conditions, but simply the first, in the absolute and literal sense. And this means that we must be first in sports. We don't want to read in the newspapers that our country was second after Soviet Union».

Well, the minister’s ultra-patriotism is understandable. However, I would like to recall the words of another famous American, Theodore Dreiser, who once wrote: “They say that America is ahead of the whole world. But what? In crimes!

And confirmation of these words was tragic fate R. Kennedy himself, who died at the hands of assassins.

And American Senator Estes Kefauver, who was once the chairman of the Senate Commission on Organized Crime, in his book “Crime in America” named the “three pillars” on which the notorious “American way of life” is based. “This “unholy trinity,” he writes, “is business, gangsterism and political activity.”

It seems that the mentioned “unholy trinity” fully dominated the Los Angeles Olympics.

Let us remember the atmosphere that preceded the Games and reigned at them. Let's start with a fact whose symbolism is striking. The Olympic torch relay was sold piece by piece. And among the participants in the torch relay were ordinary gangsters from the Hells Angels criminal gang. Isn’t it symbolic, despite all the absurd comedy, that some enterprising employee of the prison department threw shirts with a picture of a prison and the reassuring inscription on the souvenir market: “Official prison for the 84 Summer Games”?

However, symbols are symbols, and reality is reality. “Attempts and lives of Soviet athletes are possible in the United States,” confirmed 1956 Olympic champion and now sports journalist Christopher Brasher. “The United States directed all its propaganda efforts to put the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in unbearable conditions in Los Angeles,” is the opinion of another Olympic champion, Ethiopian marathon runner Mamo Wolde.

“The situation in Los Angeles, where an unbridled anti-Soviet campaign has been launched, is not conducive to creating normal conditions for holding the Olympic Games there,” said Antonio Nunez, a member of the National Committee of the Peruvian Athletics Federation.

In a public opinion poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times, two-thirds of the city's residents said they were concerned about the likelihood of terrorist attacks, a significant increase in crime, and would generally like to move further away during the Games.

Dozens of similar statements could be cited. The spearhead of terror was directed against Soviet athletes and their colleagues from socialist countries, but not only. For example, the Ku Klux Klan sent many African and Asian countries letters that, in part, said: “Blacks and yellows, do not desecrate American stadiums, we will not allow subhumans to perform at the Olympic Games, and if they come, we will shoot them or strangle them.” And even though the Ku Klux Klan did not carry out this threat, one can imagine how such letters affected the mood and well-being of Olympians from Asia and Africa, and, consequently, their athletic results.

However, the most authoritative here can be considered the opinion of the then FBI Director W. Webster, who with soldierly frankness stated: “The main threat of terrorism at the 1984 Olympic Games will come from the Americans themselves.” Thank you for your frankness! Of course, in Los Angeles, 160 anti-Soviet groups, unions, societies, and, simply put, anti-Soviet gangs flourished and are still thriving today!

The athletes of the socialist and some other countries, who refrained from traveling to the Olympics, thereby managed to avoid trouble; they did not suffocate in the heavy, suffocating, both literally and figuratively, atmosphere of Los Angeles.

Anti-Sovietism and racism were closely linked with complete chauvinism and nationalism.

The rampant chauvinism in the stands and in the press was such that it hung like a sword of Damocles over foreign judges and athletes.

The objective press, experts, and journalists expressed their indignation at the biased judging and the desire of the Americans to push their athletes onto the podium by any means necessary.

“The referee bowed to pressure from the crowd shouting pro-American slogans,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting on the gymnastics competition. In the final heat of the 100 m freestyle, the victory was awarded to the American Rovdi Gaines. The Canberra Times newspaper called the decision unsporting and dishonest. “I am disappointed and outraged. “I was robbed,” said Australian Mark Stockwell, who was relegated to 2nd place.

General bewilderment was caused by the fact that the US men's gymnastics team was ahead of the clearly stronger teams of the People's Republic of China and Japan. It was obvious to everyone that biased refereeing played a role here. “We just couldn't win. The judges acted against the rules,” the Chinese coach was indignant.

Indian hockey players also complained about biased refereeing.

“These competitions are judged only in favor of the Americans,” complained Seo In-oh, vice president of the South Korean Boxing Federation.

I specifically cited examples from different types sports and related to athletes different countries. The atmosphere of chauvinism, bias, and psychological pressure on foreigners reigned everywhere in Los Angeles.

President of the International Olympic Committee H.A. Samaranch formally protested to the Los Angeles Organizing Committee that the showing of the Games on American television was “permeated with chauvinism.”

American propaganda tried to explain the absence of Soviet athletes at the 1984 Olympics as revenge for the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. In fact, none of this was true. As stated at a press conference in Moscow on May 14, 1984, Chairman of the USSR National Olympic Committee M.V. Gramov: “Soviet athletes will not participate in the Games in Los Angeles due to the fault of reactionary circles in the United States. Lack of security, the rise of anti-Sovietism, the policy of constant complications in relation to USSR athletes - these are the real factors that determined the decision of the USSR NOC.”

If everything weren't so sad and undignified, one could only laugh at the pitiful efforts of the organizers of the Games to pass them off as an outstanding sporting event and boast about the victories of American sports.

However, these Games were distinguished not only by the atmosphere of terror, crime, and chauvinism, but also by an unprecedented attack on the Olympic movement by commerce and business.

The trade in the Olympic flame looks symbolic. The Organizing Committee of the 1984 Games decided to sell off the route of the sacred Olympic flame. Piece by piece - 3 thousand dollars per kilometer. It is difficult to imagine a greater profanation of Olympic ideals and traditions, but the fact remains that any American could buy the right to carry the Olympic torch.

The whole world then protested against such a disgusting idea. But what significance do protests have in the US compared to the opportunity to make money? Yes, none.

However, the business with the Olympic flame was only a “flower”. “Berries” worth tens of millions of dollars then fell. The organizers profited from everything.

It all started with the fact that the organizers themselves raised the prices to the limit for everything that they were obliged to provide to the guests. Then “private owners” - hotels, restaurants, shops, apartment landlords, car rental companies, etc. - began to inflate prices.

As for entrance tickets to the opening ceremony, which could only be obtained from speculators who bought them in advance, they cost up to $1,500. Not surprisingly, one local resident complained: “This is not the Games, but an orgy of speculation!” Even the police were speculating with tickets.

Almost 150 sponsoring companies made a lot of money from advertising their products at the Games. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Levi Strauss, United Airlines, Perrier, General Motors, Kodak, Budweiser... Cars, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, restaurants, sausages, clothing - in a word, everything was advertised with redoubled energy. A minute-long commercial during the broadcast of the most interesting competitions was paid for in tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The games were still in full swing, and the ironic prediction of the Daily Express newspaper had already come true: “If sports fans think that 1984 is for the Olympians,” the newspaper wrote, “then they are mistaken. Big business in Los Angeles has already won gold, silver, and bronze..."

For example, ABC interrupted its coverage of the opening ceremony 58 times with various advertisements. No sooner had the Olympic flame flared than an advertisement for Budweiser beer appeared on television screens. ABC earned $15 million during the opening celebration broadcast alone! So, she more than returned the $225 million she paid for the monopoly right to broadcast the Games. It is unknown how much the Budweiser company grabbed, one can only guess, remembering the monstrous, five-story tall, balloons in the shape of beer cans that fluttered at the entrance to the stadium.

Is it ethical to use for advertising the names of athletes who were once applauded by the Olympic capitals? What names! And the athletes themselves. In Los Angeles, world record holder in long jump Bob Beamon praised beer, four-time Olympic champion in discus throwing Alfred Oerter advertised the products of some company of plumbing tools...

Advertising filled Los Angeles so much that many who visited there these days remembered not so much the competition as... beer, sandwiches, lotions, pots, washing machines, cars that endlessly became an eyesore to them from TV screens and from the pages of Olympic programs.

In these short notes I have touched upon only a few of the unsightly sides of this Olympics. Or we could talk about the incredible pollution of Los Angeles, the endless traffic jams, the many kilometers of distances that athletes, journalists, and fans had to overcome. It would be possible to tell in what unacceptable conditions the athletes lived, what difficulties the journalists encountered in their work.

“The Olympic Games in Los Angeles are a bluff of the highest order. The competitions now taking place in the USA absolutely do not deserve the expensive time that our television devotes to them,” wrote the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, “too big number The best athletes in the world do not take part in them, which makes the definition of “Olympic” in relation to the Los Angeles Games a mere formality. Of course, this is a very bad, if not the worst, event of its kind.”

“The absence of athletes from most socialist countries at the Games in Los Angeles turned them into an inexpressive performance with a denouement known to everyone in advance,” this is how the Portuguese newspaper Avante assessed the games.

These are the epitaphs on the monument to these inglorious Games.

I began my notes with a symbolic episode, and I will end with the same. The opening ceremony of the Games, as we know, was as pompous as it was tasteless. One of the numbers in this incredibly drawn-out vulgar show was that a revived element of the American coat of arms was supposed to fly into the sky - an eagle, very thoughtlessly, but extremely accurately called “bomber”.

However, the eagle did not fly; it died the day before.

I would like to wish that real bombers never take to the skies from American soil. Lest the same thing happen to them as to this ill-fated bird...

And games, well, they exist for the joy of people. And let's hope that the likes of Los Angeles will not happen again. Humanity does not need games of enmity, but games of goodwill. And the sooner overseas they understand this, the better.

The Games in Seoul are ahead. Soviet athletes carefully prepare for them. They want to participate in them and, of course, achieve high results. They also hope that these Games will become not just the largest sports competition planet, but a genuine celebration of peace and friendship that no machinations of the enemies of the Olympic movement can prevent this.

From July 28 to August 12, 1984, the XXIII Summer Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles (USA).

The organizers of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal suffered large financial losses and only New York and Los Angeles submitted a bid to host the 1984 Olympics. Since it is prohibited to nominate two cities from a country, Los Angeles was chosen in America. It became the venue for the 1984 Olympics.

Boycott of the 1984 Olympics

In May 1984, the USSR Olympic Committee announced a boycott of the Olympics in the United States. Of course, this was a response to America’s boycott of the 1980 Olympics, but the reason was given - the city is dangerous with a large number of gangsters from different countries, of whom even the American police are afraid.

The decision to boycott was supported by all countries of the socialist bloc, except Romania. As a result, in the team competition, the US athletes were in first place, and the Romanian team was in second. After the success of the American team at the 1984 Olympics and a grandiose PR campaign, R. Reagan received the votes of many voters and won the presidential election this year.

Even now it is not entirely clear whether the boycott was planned in advance or whether the decision was made at the last moment. There is information that Soviet athletes were preparing to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics and large funds were allocated for this.

Konstantin Chernenko, who was then the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, signed a decree dated May 5, 1984 on the non-participation of the Soviet team in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In addition to the socialist countries, the boycott was supported by Libya and Iran, which refused to participate in any Games where Israel competes. However, the Chinese national team, on the contrary, took part in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles after a 32-year break. A Taiwanese team also appeared under a non-state flag.

In total, athletes from 140 countries took part in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

After the mutual boycotts of the USSR and the USA, the Goodwill Games appeared, but are no longer active. The IOC charter included additional articles on sanctions against countries that organize a boycott: disqualification for several Olympics, suspension of membership or expulsion of a country from the International Olympic Committee.

Symbols of the 1984 Olympics

16 artists designed 15 posters for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The main element on the emblem and posters of the 1984 Olympic Games was a red, white and blue star - this is the symbol of the US national flag.

The mascot of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was Sam the Eaglet. This is again the national symbol of the United States of America. A top hat painted in the colors of the American flag, like the famous Uncle Sam, was placed on the eaglet’s head.

Result of the 1984 Summer Olympics

In the absence of strong competitors in the form of athletes from the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp, the US team won the medal standings, winning 83 gold, 61 silver and 30 bronze medals. They received 3 gold medals than the USSR team in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

One of the most scandalous Olympics in history is considered to be the one that took place in 1912. The listing of all the violations and squabbles that were recorded on it fit into a separate book of 56 pages. One of the biggest scandals at that Olympics involved an American track and field athlete. He was an Indian by origin. At the competition he immediately received 2 gold medals and became the leader of those Games. However, the US leadership was unhappy that the first place was taken by a representative of a tribe with whom the Americans had irreconcilable differences. And America independently demanded that the champion be deprived of medals (despite the fact that these awards went to the USA), citing the fact that he is a professional athlete and cannot take part in the Amateur Games. After which the medals were taken away, and the champion’s career was ruined.

At the 1904 games in the United States, there was a scandal with marathon runners. It was this discipline that was one of the most promising at that time. American Fred Lorz was the first to reach the finish line, significantly ahead of his rivals. Later the secret of his agility was revealed. After running about a third of the way, he stopped. The reason was simple - his legs were cramped. However, then one of the fans turned up to the athlete, who accompanied his idols in a car along the highway passing nearby. He offered the lagging marathon runner a little lift. So they got almost to the finish line. But when Fred Lortz got out of the car to run further, the spectators in the stands saw it. Thus the deception was revealed. After which the medal was given to the second athlete who came to the finish line. However, it turned out that not everything was so smooth with his run. Literally at the end of the route he felt ill, and his coach gave him an anesthetic injection, which would now be regarded as doping.

Hitler's dictatorship left its mark on the 1936 Olympics. Then the gold medal contender from Switzerland was suspended from participating in the competition. The reason is quite typical for that time and the Fuhrer’s policies - the athlete was married to a Jewish woman.

In 1972, at the Olympic Games, a controversial situation arose between the US and USSR basketball teams. The referees violated the rules and sounded the siren, indicating the end of the match, 3 seconds before the official time expired. As a result, Team America won. However, it was this violation that became the reason to challenge the results. The last half had to be replayed. In extra time, the USSR team was able to complete the required throw and became the winner. The Americans lost for the first time then. Because of this, they boycotted the awards ceremony.

A number of athletes who won at the Olympics of Judicial Errors can also be called scandalous champions. It took place in 1932 in Los Angeles. Here, almost every competition was disrupted due to incorrect work of judges and arbitrators. So, for example, in the 200-meter race, the athlete who ran 2 meters less than the one who finished second won. This was attributed to the technical imperfections of the tracks.

The first doping scandal unfolded in 1988 in Seoul. Then the Canadian runner finished the distance with an unexpectedly high result - 9.79 seconds. Naturally, he received a gold medal. However, two days later he was deprived of it due to the fact that the champion was found to have used doping.

The Olympics in Salt Lake City are also rich in scandals. Russian fans joyfully celebrated the receipt of first place in figure skating by Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. However, the American side did not like this situation, because their favorites were the Canadians. Talk began that they had bribed the judges, as a result of which they received a prize. In order to avoid further gossip, an unprecedented decision was made, and two couples - Russians and Canadians - went to the award ceremony for gold medals.

Irina Slutskaya also had problems receiving a medal. The judges considered that the program of the American Sarah Hughes was better than that of the Russian. However, according to international observers, this was not the case at all. But the judges remained adamant - as a result, Slutskaya took second place.

Another trouble at the same Olympics occurred with the Russian skier Larisa Lazutina. At that moment, when she was already one step away from the gold medal, she was disqualified, explaining that the athlete, according to test results, was taking prohibited drugs.

1048 athletes, including 127 women, from 37 countries took part in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, America. Competitions were held in 14 sports. The opening ceremony of the Games took place in a stadium called the Colosseum, which was reminiscent of ancient Roman arenas.

The capacity of the stadium is 105 thousand people, which was a record value at that time. First, the Olympic choir performed, consisting of 150 singers, 300 musicians and several fanfare players. Afterwards, the Olympic oath was read by fencer George Calnan, bronze medalist of the IX Olympic Games and part-time lieutenant of the US Navy.

The cost of traveling to Los Angeles became the main obstacle for many European athletes to participate in the Games, so a total of 1,048 people gathered to compete for medals. For the first time, representatives of China and Colombia spoke to IA OI.

For the first time in the history of the Games, athletes were placed in the Olympic village 20 km from the city. There were about 700 cabins dotted around the golf course in an oval around restaurants, libraries and game rooms. Playing the national anthems of countries in honor of the winners of the competition and raising the flags of the countries was also introduced into practice in Los Angeles.

The competition venues were quite scattered along the coast. For example, the rowing pool was located an hour by express train from the city (Long Beach), and the cyclists competed in Pasadena at Roseball Stadium. By the way, it was destroyed after the Games.

The competition program in Los Angeles was similar to the Olympic program in Amsterdam. But instead of football, shooting competitions were held. The football championship was not held for purely material reasons, since the delegations of European countries were essentially small.

And yet, the results shown by the athletes at the Olympics were high. 90 Olympic records were set, including 18 world ones.

The 100-meter race was won by US athlete Eddie Tolan, chest? ahead of his main rival Ralph Metcalf, also an American. Toulan also won the 200m. However, Metcalf this time became the victim of a gross error in measurements - his track had a length of 202 m.

It is worth noting that referee errors at these Games were very frequent. Therefore, one of the journalists called them “the Olympics of judicial errors and miscalculations.” So, in Los Angeles there was a unique case. In the final of the 3000m steeplechase, the man counting the laps walked away from his seat. As a result, the athletes ran 3450 m.

Of course, the US team earned the most awards - 41 gold, 32 silver and 30 bronze awards. Italy had 12 awards of each category, while France had 10 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals.

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• The XXIII Summer Olympic Games opened in Los

Tip 3: Where the 1984 Summer Olympics took place

The XXIII Summer Olympics 1984 occurred at a time in the modern Olympic movement when every sports forum was boycotted by any IOC member countries. This happened at the previous games in Moscow, and the 1980 Olympics, which took place in Los Angeles, America, also remained in memory mainly because of its boycott by 16 countries.

The first Olympic Games took place in Los Angeles in 1932. Thereafter, the US National Olympic Committee nominated one US city for each subsequent IOC vote. However, for half a century, attempts to bring summer games back to the country were unsuccessful. Los Angeles was again included in the voting list when choosing a city to host the 1976 Olympics, but the IOC gave preference to Montreal, Canada. At the next vote, Los Angeles lost the election to Moscow, and in 1978, in Athens, the Americans finally got lucky. At the 80th IOC session, Tehran withdrew its bid, leaving the US city as the only candidate to host the XXIII Summer Olympics ahead of the decisive vote.

Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States, located in California near the border with Mexico. In the world, this city is most often associated with the entertainment industry, since it is here that the famous “dream factory” - Hollywood is located. Los Angeles was built on the shores of the Pacific Santa Monica Bay in 1781 and originally belonged to Mexico, but in 1848 passed to the United States after the end of the Mexican-American War. The city's rapid growth began in the late 19th century when oil reserves were discovered in the area. By the time the Olympic Games were held, it was already a metropolis with a population of more than three million.

Los Angeles took a very rational approach to spending on the XXIII Olympics. Only two new sports facilities were built - a velodrome and a swimming pool. The opening and closing ceremonies of the games took place in the same stadium that hosted the Olympians in 1932. Between July 28 and August 12, 1984, athletes from 140 countries competed for 221 sets of medals in 23 sports. In the absence of representatives of the Soviet Union and 13 other socialist countries, the dominance of the US Olympians at these games was absolute. They received 174 medals - about the same number that the four countries from the following rows won together medal standings.

The 1984 Summer Olympics was one of the most well-organized sporting events. However, the level of competition was negatively affected by the absence of athletes from many countries that boycotted the Olympics, including the USSR and the GDR.

Few spectator tickets were sold. Then several movie stars, including Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford, offered to perform in public between competitions to increase the popularity of the event.

The competition took place at the Memorial Coliseum. The male athletes were housed in a specially built Olympic Village. It occupied 321 acres of land and consisted of 550 double bungalows. The village also housed a hospital, post office, library and many restaurants and cafes. The women were put up in a hotel on Chapman Park. In total, about 1,300 athletes from 37 countries took part in the competition.

Vice President Charles Curtis opened the Olympics because President Herbert Hoover did not show up for the Games. In these games, the winners stood on the podium for the first time with national flags in their hands. Another innovation was the photo finish.

The political situation inevitably had to affect the Olympics. Japan, which recently occupied the Chinese province of Manchuria, tried to nominate an athlete from the state of Manchukuo, but the Olympic Committee refused to allow him to participate. The only athlete from China participated - Liu Changchun, who competed in the 200 m race. The Italian Luigi Beccali, who won the gold medal in the 1500 m race, stood on the podium and greeted the audience with a fascist salute.

British fencer Judy Guinness demonstrated true Olympic spirit. She herself, having given up hopes of a gold medal, pointed out to the judges two unnoticed touches that she received from her rival Ellen Price from Austria.

The discovery of the Olympics was an athlete from Dallas, Mildred Didrikson, nicknamed “Babe.” At the time, women were not allowed to compete in the pentathlon, but “Baby” easily won the javelin throw, 80m steeplechase and high jump. Subsequently, Mildred became a professional golfer and US women's champion in this sport.

The most gold, silver and bronze medals were won by US athletes - 41, 32 and 30. The Italian team took second place - 12 medals each. In third place is the French one: 10, 5 and 4 medals, respectively.

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Image source: Los Angeles Olympic Stadium, 1984. unknown, U.S. Air Force

On May 8, 1984, the USSR Olympic Committee decided to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

How Jimmy Carter took revenge for Afghanistan

Sports and politics have always walked side by side. And the Olympic movement, which tried to distance itself from political passions, repeatedly became hostage to international conflicts throughout the 20th century.

In the early 1980s, the situation worsened so much that the question arose about whether the Olympic Games would even exist in the future.

In 1972, the Summer Olympics in Munich were marred by a terrorist attack that killed Israeli athletes. In Montreal 1976, more than twenty African countries did not participate in the Olympics due to New Zealand's violation of the ban on sports contacts with South Africa, where the apartheid regime existed.

And in 1980, the conflict reached the level of two leading political and sporting powers in the world - the USSR and the USA.

After the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in December 1979, the US government expressed its intention to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Actually, the idea was not even a boycott, but to disrupt the Olympics and move it to another country.

The International Olympic Committee, however, refused to move the Games anywhere. And then the American authorities made every effort to turn the Olympics in Moscow into an insignificant event from a sporting point of view.

True, there was one problem - before the Olympics in Moscow there were to be held winter Games in American Lake Placid. That is why US President Jimmy Carter officially announced his intention to boycott the Moscow Olympics only after the successful completion of the Winter Games.

The efforts made by the Americans really turned out to be large-scale - athletes from 64 countries officially refused to participate in the Games. True, many states allowed their athletes to compete in Moscow individually, under the Olympic flag.

Despite everything, the Games took place in Moscow, and their sporting results were very successful - athletes set 74 Olympic, 39 European and 36 world records, which in total was more than the achievements of the previous Montreal Olympics.

The Soviet athletes, of course, won an unconditional victory, winning 83 gold medals, although this result was largely due to the absence of a number of strong opponents.

However, American athletes suffered the most, deprived of the opportunity to compete at the main competition of the four-year anniversary due to the political ambitions of the US leadership.

The USSR did not plan “retribution”

As a protocol-defined symbolic gesture announcing the next Games, the flag of the state hosting the next Olympics is usually raised at the closing ceremonies of the Games. The 1984 Olympic Games were to be held in Los Angeles, America. At the closing of the Games in Moscow, it was not the American flag that was raised at the stadium, but the city flag of Los Angeles, and already in this many saw a hint that the next Olympics would also have serious political problems.

However, the Soviet leadership, apparently, did not initially plan to act according to the tit-for-tat scheme.

All documents from that period indicate that throughout the entire Olympic cycle, Soviet athletes were actively preparing for the Olympics in Los Angeles.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, naturally fearing Soviet “revenge,” in December 1982, during a visit to Moscow, asked Heydar Aliyev, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee who was hosting him, whether the USSR was planning to get even with the Americans with a retaliatory boycott. “We are preparing for the Games in Los Angeles. And although we hear talk about a possible boycott on our part, we will never stoop to Carter’s level,” the politician replied.

Political reprises of a retired actor

However, during the same period the international situation sharply deteriorated. Former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, who replaced Jimmy Carter as president, was, as they say, “turned” by the idea crusade against communism.

His aggressive rhetoric and no less aggressive policy led to the fact that relations between the USSR and the USA seriously deteriorated.

In this situation, the Soviet leadership expected large-scale provocations at the Olympics. Moreover, difficulties arose with the organizers.

The US refused to accept in Los Angeles charter flights with Soviet athletes, they demanded the provision of detailed data for each participant, which was a direct violation of the Olympic Charter, and they did not allow the Georgian ship, which was the floating base of the USSR Olympic team, to arrive at the port of Los Angeles.

And yet, until the fall of 1983, there was no particular doubt that the Soviet team would perform in Los Angeles.

However, everything changed after a South Korean passenger Boeing was shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union on September 1, 1983. All the circumstances of what happened then are still unclear, including the role of the United States, but Ronald Reagan, with his characteristic artistry, used this story to promote a new round of anti-Soviet hysteria.

The Soviet Union was proclaimed an “evil empire,” and the situation in the world became so tense that the possibility of starting a full-scale world war was seriously considered.

And then the US authorities refused to provide written security guarantees to Olympic participants from socialist countries.

On May 8, 1984, the plenum of the USSR National Olympic Committee unanimously approved the decision to boycott the Games in Los Angeles. Reagan, embarrassed by this turn of events, was put under pressure by representatives of his administration, who urged him not to make concessions to the “Reds.”

The boycott of the Olympics was supported by socialist countries (except Romania, Yugoslavia and China).

In Los Angeles there were no athletes from the USSR and the GDR - two leading sports powers, and representatives of other countries of the socialist camp were very strong: take, for example, the Cubans, who dominated amateur boxing.

As a result, in Los Angeles, the US team won 86 gold medals, surpassing the Soviet record of 1980, but this achievement also had a rather bitter aftertaste. American athletes understood perfectly well that without rivals from the Soviet Union, the struggle would not be the same.

From the perspective of past years, sports experts consider the boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics a mistake. From an ideological point of view, the USSR had every chance to deal a crushing blow to the United States, inflicting a sporting defeat on the Americans in their lair.