1988 Summer Olympics

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Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Host city Seoul, South Korea
Nations participating 160
Athletes participating 8,391 (6,197 men, 2,194 women)
Events 263 in 27 sports
Opening ceremony September 17
Closing ceremony October 2
Officially opened by President Roh Tae-woo
Athlete's Oath Hur Jae
Judge's Oath Lee Hakrae
Olympic Torch Sohn Kee-chung, Chung Sunman,
Kim Wontak and Sohn Mi-Chung
Stadium Olympic Stadium
Johnson winning the 100 m final
Johnson winning the 100 m final

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were the Summer Olympic Games celebrated in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. The host was chosen in the September 30, 1981 vote, ahead of the Japanese city of Nagoya.[1] It was the second Asian nation to ever host an Olympic Games.

North Korea, still officially at war with South Korea, boycotted the event. Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua joined the boycott.[2]

160 nations were represented by a total of 8391 athletes (2194 women and 6197 men) in the games. 237 events were held. 27221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics. 11331 media (4978 written press and 6353 broadcasters) showed the Games all over the world.[1]

Below was the vote count that occurred at the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, West Germany. The information comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

1988 Summer Olympics Bidding Results
City NOC Name Round 1
Seoul Flag of South Korea South Korea 52
Nagoya Flag of Japan Japan 27

Contents

[edit] Highlights

The Olympic stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul
The Olympic stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul
  • Soviet Vladimir Artemov wins four gold medals in gymnastics[3]. Daniela Silivaş of Romania wins three.[4]
  • US sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins three gold medals and a silver on the track.[5]
  • Canadian Ben Johnson wins the 100 m in a new world record, but is disqualified he after tests positive for stanozolol. In 2004, Johnson accused the American sports authorities of protecting American athletes at the expense of foreign ones. He still claims to this day that André Jackson,[6] "the Mystery Man" put the stanozolol in his food or his drink.[7]
  • American boxer Roy Jones Jr. loses the gold medal to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun in a very controversial 3-2 judge's decision. Allegations swirled that Korean officials had fixed the judging. Jones Jr. receives the Val Barker Trophy, an award for the most impressive boxer of the Games. The three judges ruling against Jones were eventually suspended.

[8]

  • Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor. He arrived in 21st place, but was recognized by the IOC with a special award honoring his bravery and sacrifice.[9]
  • US diver Greg Louganis wins back-to-back titles on both diving events, but only after hitting the springboard with his head in the 3 m event final. This became a minor controversy years later when Louganis revealed he knew he was HIV-positive at the time, and did not tell anybody. Since it is now known that HIV cannot survive in open water, no other divers were ever in danger.[10]
  • Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany becomes the first (and last) athlete to win Olympic medals at the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in the same year. She adds a cycling silver to the speed skating gold she won earlier in the Winter Olympics of that year in Calgary.[11]
  • Anthony Nesty of Suriname wins his country's first Olympic medal by winning the 100 m butterfly, scoring an upset victory over Matt Biondi by .01 of a second (thwarting Biondis attempt [12] of breaking Mark Spitz' record seven golds in one Olympic event); he is also the first and up to date, only black person to win swimming gold.[13]
  • Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany wins six gold medals[14]. Other multi-medalists in the pool are Matt Biondi (five)[15] and Janet Evans (three).[16]
  • Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm becomes the first woman to take part in seven Olympics.[1]
  • In swimming Mel Stewart of the USA is favorite to win the men's 200 m butterfly final[citation needed] but comes in 5th.[17]
  • Mark Todd of New Zealand wins his second consecutive individual gold medal in the three-day event in equestrian on Charisma, only the second time in eventing history that a gold medal has been won consecutively.[18]
  • Baseball[19] and Taekwondo[20] are demonstration sports.
  • This is the last time the US are represented by a basketball team that doesn't feature NBA stars[21]; the team wins the bronze medal after being defeated by the Soviet Union.[22]
  • For the first time in history all the dressage events are won by women.[23]
  • Women's judo was held for the first time, as a demonstration sport.[24]
  • Table tennis is introduced at the Olympics, with China and South Korea both winning two titles.[25]
  • Tennis returns to the Olympics after a 64-year absence[26], and Steffi Graf adds to her four Grand Slam victories in the year by also winning the Olympic title[27], beating Gabriela Sabatini in the final.[28]
  • Two Bulgarian weightlifters are stripped of their gold medals after failing doping tests, and the team withdraws after this event.[29]

[edit] Significance of the 1988 Olympics in South Korea

Hosting the 1988 Olympics presented an opportunity to bring international attention to South Korea. The idea for South Korea to place a bid for 1988 Games emerged during the last days of the Park Chung Hee administration in the late 1970s. After President Park’s assassination in 1979, Chun Doo Hwan, his successor, submitted Korea’s bid to the IOC in September 1981, in hopes that the increased international exposure brought by the Olympics would legitimize his authoritarian regime amidst increasing political pressure for democratization, provide protection from increasing threats from North Korea, and showcase the Korean economic miracle to the world community. South Korea was awarded the bid on September 30, 1981, becoming the 16th nation, the second Asian nation (following Japan in 1964) and the second newly industrialized economy (after Mexico in 1968) to host the Summer Olympics.

In an attempt to follow the model of 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a rite of passage for the Japanese economy and re-integration of Japan in the family of nations in the post-war era, the Korean government hoped to use the Olympics as a “coming-out party” for the newly industrialized Korean economy. The Korean government hoped the Olympics would symbolize a new legitimacy of Korea in world affairs.

However, this attempt to provide legitimacy to the Korean government, especially the Chun administration, backfired. The anticipation of the Olympic Games intensified world scrutiny of Korea during a time of political crisis. As political demonstrations emerged in June 1987, the possibility of jeopardizing hosting the Olympic Games contributed to the June 29 declaration which issued President Chun out of power and led to direct elections in December 1987.[citation needed] The desire not to taint the Olympic Games with military dictatorship and riots served as an impetus for Korea’s transition to democracy. Roh Tae Woo served as the transitional president, directly elected by South Koreans in December 1987, during the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The 1988 Olympic Games provided a catalyst for controlled political change to maintain stability in South Korea.

[edit] Venues

View toward Seoul Olympic Stadium
View toward Seoul Olympic Stadium

¹ New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. ² Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

[edit] Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:[1]

[edit] Demonstration sports

These were the demonstration sports in the games:[1]

[edit] Participating nations

Participants (blue nations had their first entrance)
Participants (blue nations had their first entrance)

Athletes from 159 nations competed at the Seoul Games. Aruba, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Guam, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen made their first Olympic appearance at these Games.

In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Seoul [30]:

  • Brunei Brunei also participated in the Opening Ceremonies, marking their first appearance at the Olympic Games, but their delegation only consisted of one swimming official.


[edit] Medal count

Main article: 1988 Summer Olympics medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:[31]

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Soviet Union Soviet Union 55 31 46 132
2 East Germany East Germany 37 35 30 102
3 United States United States 36 31 27 94
4 South Korea South Korea 12 10 11 33
5 West Germany West Germany 11 14 15 40
6 Hungary Hungary 11 6 6 23
7 Bulgaria Bulgaria 10 12 13 35
8 Romania Romania 7 11 6 24
9 France France 6 4 6 16
10 Italy Italy 6 4 4 14

[edit] Mascot

Hodori the Friendly Tiger mascot for the 1988 Seoul Olympics
Hodori the Friendly Tiger
mascot for the 1988 Seoul Olympics

The official mascot for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games was Hodori. It was a stylized tiger designed by Kim Hyun as an amicable Amur Tiger, portraying the friendly and hospitable traditions of the Korean people.[32] Hodori's female version was called Hosuni.[33]

The name Hodori was chosen from 2,295 suggestions sent in by the public. It's a portmanteau of ho, which is a derived word from the Korean word for "tiger" (horangi), and dori, which is a diminutive for "boys" in Korean.[32]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Seoul 1988 Games of the XXIV Olympiad. www.olympic.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  2. ^ Seoul 1988 Games of the XXIV Olympiad - Did you know?. www.olympic.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  3. ^ Honored Inductees - Vladimir Artemov. www.ighof.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  4. ^ Honored Inductees - Daniela Silivas. www.ighof.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  5. ^ World Sport - Florence Griffith-Joyner. CNN.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  6. ^ (English) A Look at André Jackson, the Mystery Man (and friend of Carl Lewis) in the Drug testing area with Ben Johnson in Seoul. The Times Online (UK). Retrieved on 2003-09-23.
  7. ^ (Spanish) Ben Johnson acusa a EEUU de proteger a sus atletas dopados. www.elmundo.es. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  8. ^ (Spanish) Boxeo: Roy Jones Jr., un campeón multifacético. Lanacion.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  9. ^ 1988 Seoul. CBC.ca. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  10. ^ United States Olympic Committee - Louganis, Greg. usoc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  11. ^ Christa Luding-Rothenburger Encyclopædia Britannica article. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  12. ^ Odds against Phelps eclipsing Spitz. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  13. ^ (Spanish) El deporte en el Sur. Alejandro Guevara Onofre, Liceus.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  14. ^ Biography for Kristin Otto. IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  15. ^ United States Olympic Committee - Biondi, Matt. usoc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  16. ^ United States Olympic Committee - Evans, Janet. usoc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  17. ^ (Italian) Nuoto - risultati 200m. farfalla uomini. www.coni.it. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  18. ^ History of Awards : 1980-1989. Halberg Trust website. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  19. ^ Demonstration Sports at the Olympic Games. topendsports.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  20. ^ About WTF - History. www.wtf.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  21. ^ The Original Dream Team. NBA.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  22. ^ The Seoul Olympics: Men's Basketball; After 16-Year Wait, Soviets Stun U.S. Again, 82-76. www.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  23. ^ Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics. www.sportsofworld.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  24. ^ Obukan Judo History. www.obukan.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  25. ^ Olympic Table Tennis Champions. www.usatt.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  26. ^ The Seoul Olympics: Tennis; Tennis Returns to Good Reviews. www.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  27. ^ (Spanish) Steffi graf, la mejor. elTenis.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  28. ^ (Spanish) Gabriela Sabatini - Fotos, Vídeos, Biografía, Wallpapers y Ficha Técnica. www.idolosdeportivos.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  29. ^ The Seoul Olympics: Weight Lifting; Team Lifted After 2d Drug Test Is Failed. www.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  30. ^ Olympic Games Participating Countries - 1988 Seoul. www.olympic-museum.de. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  31. ^ Seoul 1988 Medal Table. www.olympic.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  32. ^ a b Hodori - mascot of the 1988 Olympic Summer Games. www.beijing2008.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  33. ^ Seoul 1988 - Hodori and Hosuni. www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.

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