WTI Magazine #45    2014 October, 15
Author : Simone Callisto Manca      Translation by:

At We the Italians we tell not only stories about today's success and victories of Italian sport, but also of our historic triumphs. Today we will talk about one of the editions of the Olympics where the Italian team brought home more medals: Los Angeles 1984. This year is the 30th anniversary of what was, for many reasons, a historical edition.

It was the first time in history that a city hosted for the second time an edition of the Olympic Games: Los Angeles already hosted the 1932 edition. The 1984 Olympic Games were, ina sense, a mutilated edition: it lacked the Soviet Union and the countries of so-called Warsaw Pact, as well as "non-aligned" such as Libya and Iran. Officially this happened to protest against the "anti-Soviet hysteria in the United States"; unofficially it was to counterbalance what was done in 1980 Moscow, when the US did not participate to the Olympic Games to protest against the invasion of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Despite missing many Eastern European countries (this was particularly noted in jumps and throws, disciplines where athletes from the Communist countries had always excelled, often thanks to the doping help), however, these were Games memorable for many reasons.

Italy won 32 medals, fifth in the official medal ranking after the United States, Romania, East Germany and China: with 14 golds, 6 silvers and 12 bronzes. The heroes of that edition were Alberto Cova (gold in the 10 thousand meters run), the (Giuseppe and Carmine) Abbagnale brothers (with two gold in rowing) and Gabriella Dorio (gold in the 1500 meters run). The great Sara Simeoni won the silver in the high jump and, as usual, cycling, fencing, boxing were among the sports where the azzurri won other prestigious medals.

Those were good years, perhaps the last before the ebb of the nineties, the millennium of terrorism, the chaos of the 2010's. The symbol of the Los Angeles Olympic Games was undoubtedly Carl Lewis: the "son of the wind", at the apex of a career that will see even more successes in the following years, won the 100m and 200m run, the 4x100m run and the long jump (as the great Jesse Owens), dominating with his image the Olympics, certainly marked by his magnetic presence.

The organizing committee, chaired by Peter Ueberroth, marked a turning point in the preparation of the Olympic Games: entirely private, it managed to do $ 250 million in revenue, representing a model that later will be always imitated.

The absence of the Soviet bloc and the great success were, in a sense, anticipating what would have happened in a few years, when the Cold War would end in favor of the United States, with the first perestroika and the dissolution of the USSR: the triumphal entry of President Ronald Reagan with the American anthem before the public at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum confirmed his leadership once again.

For us Italians, the LA Games were also one of the latest editions with big successes in athletics: the generation of Pietro Mennea and Sara Simeoni, of Alberto Cova and Salvatore Antibo, ended leaving no heirs. Those were different times, another world, another Italy: there was certainly less competition (and not just for the boycott) but also the spirit of the country was different, confident in the future and maybe even a little bit unconscious.