1984 Los Angeles Summer Games
7,078 Athletes, 140 Countries, 221 Events
The City of Angels last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932, where
it became the first to turn a large profit ($1 million). After
paying the bills from the 1984 Games, they were again left with a
surplus but a far bigger one. It has been said that the second Los
Angeles Games became the model to follow especially considering
that it left a surplus of $223 million.
To understand where all this money came from, one must first
know that Los Angeles was the only candidate for the 1984 Games.
The political strife of 1968 (Mexico City) and 1972 (Munich)
suddenly made the Games unattractive. Contributing to this school
of thought was the enormous debt that Quebec was saddled with after
the overbudget 1976 Montreal Games. The city of Los Angeles and the
state of California knew that could happen to them, which is why
they voted to give the Games no public financing. For the first
time since the 1896 Games, the Summer Olympics would be completely
privatized. This worked largely due to the ingeniousness of Peter
Ueberroth, who led the organizing committee. Ueberroth championed
corporate sponsorships in all realms of competition a method,
though criticized, was largely the source of the surplus.
Anita DeFrantz, a Penn Law School graduate and
current lifetime member of the International Olympic Committee, was
also a big part of the Los Angeles organizing committee.
For the Leaguers at the Games, which played host to a record 140
nations, rowing took center stage. Nineteen of the Ivy athletes
were rowers, and all but two of the thirteen medals won at the
Games came from rowers. Three out of four members of the United
States fouroared coxless boat were Ivy Leaguers, winning a silver
medal. In the women's quadruple sculls with coxswain race, seated
in the American boat were Lisa Rohde (Penn),
Anne Marden (Princeton '81), and Virginia
Gilder (Yale '79) also winning a silver medal. Marden won
silver in the single sculls four years later in Seoul. Ivies also
medalled in the men's fouroared with coxswain, men's eight, and
women's single sculls races.
American track star Carl Lewis won gold in the
100meters, 200meters, long jump, and 4x100meter relay matching
legend Jesse Owens' 1936 Berlin performance. In
his career, Lewis would win nine gold medals, making him one of
only four athletes in Olympic history to do so. Lewis is enshrined
on the Penn Relays Wall of Fame, having first run with his
Willingboro (N.J.) High School track team, and later with the
University of Houston and the Santa Monica Track Club.
| Name |
School |
Sport |
| John Smith |
Brown University |
Men's Rowing |
| Steve Trevor |
Columbia University |
Men's Fencing |
| Michael Bach |
Cornell University |
Men's Rowing |
| Dave Clark |
Cornell University |
Men's Rowing |
| Terry Kent |
Cornell University |
Men's Kayaking |
| Walter 'Chip' Lubsen |
Cornell University |
Men's Rowing |
| Pete Pfitzinger |
Cornell University |
Men's Athletics |
| Charlotte M. Geer |
Dartmouth College |
Women's Rowing |
| Julia H. Geer |
Dartmouth College |
Women's Rowing |
| Norman Bellingham |
Harvard University |
Men's Kayaking |
| Michael Miao |
Harvard University |
Men's Swimming |
| Andrew H. Stone |
Harvard University |
Men's Field Hockey |
| Andrew Sudduth |
Harvard University |
Men's Rowing |
| Christopher R. 'Tiff' Wood |
Harvard University |
Men's Rowing |
| Michael Hughes |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Rowing |
| Bruce Ibbetson |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Rowing |
| Barbara Kirch |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Rowing |
| Joan Phenglaor |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Athletics |
| Lisa Rhode |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Rowing |
| Julie Staver |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Field Hockey |
| Philip Stekl |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Rowing |
| Michael Storm |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Modern Pentathlon |
| Carol Whipple Colgan |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Rowing |
| Kay Worthington |
University of Pennsylvania |
Women's Rowing |
| Harold Backer |
Princeton University |
Men's Rowing |
| Carol Brown |
Princeton University |
Women's Rowing |
| Tina Clark |
Princeton University |
Women's Rowing |
| Mike Evans |
Princeton University |
Men's Rowing |
| Ridgely Johnson |
Princeton University |
Men's Rowing |
| Anne Marden |
Princeton University |
Women's Rowing |
| Christopher Penney |
Princeton University |
Men's Rowing |
| Lee Shelley |
Princeton University |
Men's Fencing |
| August Wolf |
Princeton University |
Men's Athletics |
| Virginia Gilder |
Yale University |
Women's Rowing |
| Jonathan McKee |
Yale University |
Men's Sailing |