1984 Winter Olympics

XIV Olympic Winter Games
The emblem symbolizes a stylized snowflake, as well as the embroidery produced in the Sarajevo region with the Olympic rings above.
Host city	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Nations participating	49
Athletes participating	1272 (998 men, 274 women)
Events	49 in 6 sports
Opening ceremony	February 7
Closing ceremony	February 19
Officially opened by	Mika Špiljak
Athlete's Oath	Bojan Križaj (Alpine skiing)
Judge's Oath	Dragan Perović
Olympic Torch	Sanda Dubravčić (Figure skating)
Stadium	Asim Ferhatović Stadion

The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Sarajevo in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which later became Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden. It was the first Winter Games and the second Olympics held in a Communist state (the first was the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union).

Host Selection

The host city for the XIV Winter Olympics was announced on May 18, 1978 during a session of the International Olympic Committee in Athens, Greece. Sarajevo was selected over Sapporo, Japan by a margin of three votes.

1984 Winter Olympics Bidding Results[1]
City	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2
Sarajevo	Yugoslavia	31	39
Sapporo	Japan	33	36
Gothenburg	Sweden	10	-

Torch relay

The torch relay for the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic games started in Olympia-Athens and then proceeded by airplane to Dubrovnik (Route One) Split- Ljubljana–Zagreb-Sarajevo (Route Two) Skopje–Novi Sad–Belgrade–Sarajevo. The total distance of the torch relay was 5,289 km (plus 2,879 km of local routes). There were two main routes–one in the west (2,602 km) and the other in the east (2,687 km). The final torchbearer, from a total of 1600, was Sanda Dubravcic, who received the torch from skier Bojan Križaj. Today one of the two original torches (one for each route) is in Slovenia in a private collection in Žalec.

Highlights

The opening ceremony

• First Games under the presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.
• The 20 kilometre race was added to women's Nordic skiing.
• Skier Jure Franko won Yugoslavia's first Winter Olympic medal; a silver in the giant slalom.
• Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen won all three individual cross-country races for women.
• Gaétan Boucher and Karin Enke each won two gold medals in speed skating, while East German women win all but three out of the twelve medals in the sport.
• Austria, usually a formidable winter sports nation, won only one bronze medal.
• Biathlete Eirik Kvalfoss earned a complete set of medals.
• Twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre took first and second place in the slalom.
• Torvill and Dean of the United Kingdom earned across-the-board perfect scores for artistic impression in the free dance ice dancing competition, a feat that was never matched.^[2]
• Disabled skiing was a demonstration sport for the first time.
• Bill Johnson became the first American to win an Olympic downhill event.
• Lamine Guèye of Senegal was the first Black African skier to compete in the Winter Olympics.
• The closing ceremony was held indoors in the figure skating venue.This is the last time the closing ceremony for the Winter Games was held indoors until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Official mascot

Readers of Yugoslav newspapers were asked to choose the mascot for the 1984 Winter Olympics from a list of six finalists. The winner was Vučko, the little wolf, designed by Slovenian designer and illustrator Jože Trobec. The other finalists were a chipmunk, a lamb, a mountain goat, a porcupine, and a snowball.

Venues

City venues

Damaged Olympic Symbol as a result of Bosnian War

• Koševo Stadion - opening ceremonies
• Zetra Ice Hall - figure skating, ice hockey, closing ceremonies
• Zetra Ice Rink - speed skating
• Skenderija II Hall - ice hockey

Mountain venues

• Mount Bjelašnica - men's alpine skiing
• Mount Jahorina - women's alpine skiing
• Igman, Veliko Polje - cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, biathlon
• Igman, Malo Polje - ski jumping
• Trebević - bobsleigh, luge

Other facilities

• Olympic Village, Mojmilo
• Press Village, Dobrinja
• Hotels: Igman (Igman), Famos (Bjelašnica), Smuk (Bjelašnica), Bistrica (Jahorina)

Competitive events

Demonstration sport

• Disabled skiing

Medal count

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	East Germany (GDR)	9	9	6	24
2	Soviet Union (URS)	6	10	9	25
3	United States (USA)	4	4	0	8
4	Finland (FIN)	4	3	6	13
5	Sweden (SWE)	4	2	2	8
6	Norway (NOR)	3	2	4	9
7	Switzerland (SUI)	2	2	1	5
8	Canada (CAN)	2	1	1	4
	West Germany (FRG)	2	1	1	4
10	Italy (ITA)	2	0	0	2

Participants

A then record of 49 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) entered athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.

Egypt, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Senegal, and Virgin Islands participated in their 1st Winter Olympic Games.

The Republic of China ended its boycott of the Olympic Games over the controversy regarding the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China, and competed as Chinese Taipei for the first time.

See also

• 1984 Winter Paralympics
• 1984 Summer Paralympics
• 1984 Summer Olympics

• Winter Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes

Notes

References

• "Sarajevo 1984". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Sarajevo-1984. 
• "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1334092&Country=&Sport=&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30. 
• Official Report from the Organizing Committee on the AAFLA website
• Olympic Review 1984 - Official results

External links

• "Sarajevo 1984". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Sarajevo-1984. 
• Official site
• The program of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics