Brief Olympic History

 A brief look at the 22 Summer Olympics, leading up to the Centennial Games in Atlanta July 19-Aug. 4:
 1896, Athens, Greece
 280 athletes, 13 countries, 45 events
 After a gap of more than 1,500 years, the Olympics came back to life with a flash of pageantry and athletic greatness. French Baron Pierre de Coubertin's dream of uniting mankind through sports began in Athens. The Greek government, plagued by bad harvests, poor planning and the defection of some of its wealthiest business leaders overseas, almost backed out. But with the Crown Prince Constantine and money from philanthropist Georges Averoff, the Olympics were saved. A new stadium and other facilities were built, and for the first time since the Armenian boxer Barasdates in 393 A.D., an Olympic champ was crowned. James Connolly, a sophomore at Harvard, won the hop-step-and-jump with a leap of 44 feet, 11 3/4 inches, more than 3 feet better than runner-up Alexandre Tuffere of France. "It was a moment in a young man's life," Connolly said.
 1900, Paris
 1,066 athletes, 19 countries, 60 events
 Paris was chosen as host for the second games in honor of native son Coubertin, but the city had trouble keeping up with rapid changes in politics and society. The Olympics became little more than an afterthought to the world's fair. Some athletes in Paris said they were unaware that they had competed in the games. Take Peggy Abbott, for example. She and her mother were members of the Chicago Golf Club, on vacation in Paris in the summer of 1900. They saw an ad for an international golf tournament and decided to enter. Peggy shot 47 for nine holes to win the contest; her mother finished seventh. They were Olympians and never knew it. Charlotte Cooper of Britain won the Olympic tennis tournament the same summer she won Wimbledon. And American Alvin Kranzlein won four gold medals -- the 60-meter dash, the 110- and 200-meter hurdles and the long jump.
 1904, St. Louis
 681 athletes, 12 countries, 87 events
 Like the Paris Games, the Olympics in St. Louis were staged in conjunction with a world's fair, and they were a sideshow in every sense. Foreign athletes snubbed the St. Louis Games; of the 681 athletes, 525 were from the United States. These were two-fisted games, with boxing -- even women's boxing -- on the program. Baseball, lacrosse and water polo appeared, with the latter labeled "softball in the water" by the disgruntled German team. George Poage of Milwaukee became the first black to win an Olympic medal, finishing third in the 400-meter hurdles. But the appearances of two other black athletes represented the kind of carnival quality that draped itself over the third Olympics. The world's fair included an exhibit on the Boer War, and two Zulu tribesmen -- Lentauw and Yamasani -- were imported. They ran in the marathon, wearing bib numbers 35 and 36, and became the first black Africans to compete in the Olympics.
 1908, London
 1,999 athletes, 22 countries, 110 events
 Rome was supposed to stage the 1908 Games but pulled out for financial reasons. London turned them into a hometown gala. Believing that events such as Wimbledon, the Henley Regatta and horse-racing's Derby gave Britain unparalleled expertise in running top sports events, the IOC allowed the British to control the Games from top to bottom. The games were, indeed, well-organized and widely promoted. They attracted the largest field thus far. But they were British from beginning to end. The hosts refused to fly the Irish flag. Then, British judges and referees blatantly favored British athletes, leading to formal protests from at least five countries, loudest and longest from the United States. British athletes won 56 gold medals, which were awarded for the first time, and 145 overall, more than double the totals for the second-place Americans. The most famous athletes of the London Games was one who did not win -- Italian runner Dorando Pietri, who lost the marathon when he collapsed and was helped across the finish line.
 1912, Stockholm
 2,490 athletes, 28 countries, 108 events
 The Olympics, in desperate need of an athletic hero, may have been saved by a man who looked more like a truck driver. Jim Thorpe was an American original. A member of the Sac and Fox Tribe born in Shawnee, Okla., in 1888, Thorpe was raised at an Indian school in Carlisle, Pa., where he honed his speed, strength and agility to an incredible degree. Stockholm built a 30,000-seat stadium and a new swimming arena, and festooned the city with flags and banners. The Olympics were the main attraction. And the biggest star was Thorpe, a star in baseball, football and track. Thorpe came in fourth in the high jump and seventh in the long jump, then won the pentathlon. The last test was the decathlon, an event Thorpe had never entered. But in Stockholm he set a standard that would not be equaled for years -- 8,412 points, 998 more than the old world record. Thorpe later was stripped of his medals because he played sandlot baseball for money.
 1920, Antwerp
 2,668 athletes, 29 countries, 161 events
 The Olympics stopped for World War I, but the success of the Stockholm Games meant a return was inevitable. Peace found many of the heroes of Stockholm dead on the battlefields, and led the IOC to place the 1920 Games in Belgium, a country that perhaps suffered more than any other during the fighting. Organizers had 20 months to put the games together, and did so with a makeshift ease. Antwerp donated a flag, a big white banner with the five Olympic rings in the center and a golden fringe around the edge, that is still handed down from host city to host city. A 30,000-seat stadium -- it was rarely full, despite ticket prices of around 30 cents -- was built and a requiem Mass was held for the war dead. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey -- the defeated powers of World War I -- were not invited to the Olympics. A survivor of the war was among the heroes of the games. Joseph Guillemot recovered from a mustard gas attack on his French army unit to win the 5,000 meters over one of the great names of track, Paavo Nurmi. Nurmi won the 10,000 meters plus golds in the team and individual cross-country races.
 1924, Paris
 3,070 athletes, 44 countries, 140 events
 The same year they added a Winter Games in Chamonix, France, the Olympics returned to Paris. Interest reached new heights, and Olympic ticket scalpers appeared for the first time. Stars included Paavo Nurmi, swimmer Johnny Weismuller and rower Benjamin Spock. But Paris '24 is best known for the story told in the Academy Award-winning film "Chariots of Fire" and the deeds of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. Abrahams was the son of a Lithuanian Jew, educated at Cambridge. He was relentless in his quest to become the first European winner of the Olympic 100 meters. Liddell was the son of missionaries from Scotland. He was the Commonwealth record-holder in the 100-yard dash and one of the few people who could challenge Abrahams in the short sprints. A devout Christian, he refused to run on Sundays. The Olympic 100-meter heats were set for a Sunday. Abrahams ran. Liddell did not, instead seeking out a Scottish church in Paris and preaching the sermon. Abrahams went on to win the 100 in 10.6 seconds. Liddell, in his unorthodox style of running with head thrown back and arms flailing, won the 400 meters and took the bronze in the 200, in which Abrahams finished sixth.
 1928, Amsterdam
 2,694 athletes, 46 countries, 119 events
 Another British athlete on whom a character in "Chariots of Fire" was loosely based became a star in the 1928 Games. David Lord Burghley, a future member of Parliament, won the 400-meter hurdles in an Olympic-record 53.4 seconds. Men were joined on the track by women for the first time in Amsterdam, and among them was a Canadian star with one of the most enchanting nicknames you could find. Ethel Catherwood was "The Saskatoon Lilly," breezing in from the northern plains to win the high jump.
 1932, Los Angeles
 1,328, 37 countries, 128 events
 As the Depression gripped much of the world, the Olympics returned to the United States in the almost-mythical land of milk and honey -- California. The Los Angeles Olympics would signal a new, expansion stage in the revival of the sports festival, the IOC believed. But then came the stock market crash of 1929, and the world's economy was in a shambles. Nations with teetering economies and fans with empty wallets suddenly placed Olympic participation very low on their list of priorities. A Norwegian living in Los Angeles had to pay for his home country's team to attend. Even the U.S. team suffered, raising just about half of the $350,000 needed to field a full squad for LA. Southern California real estate magnate William May Garland, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, raised enough money to save the games and produce two unique innovations -- an Athletes Village and a surplus on games operations. The United States dominated the competition and had the biggest star -- Texas track athlete Mildred "Babe" Didriksen. She won gold medals in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles and might have added a gold in the high jump, but judges said her Western roll violated rules against diving over the bar.
 1936, Berlin
 3,956 athletes, 49 countries, 148 events
 The five rings were almost overwhelmed by the swastika of Nazi Germany. Adolph Hitler was looking for a stage on which to promulgate his beliefs of Aryan superiority. The Olympics, awarded to the German capital before the Third Reich came to power, gave him the ultimate platform. Jewish groups in the United States protested and called for a boycott of the Games, and U.S. Olympic officials finally approved sending a team by a 58-56 vote. The IOC decided to keep the games in Berlin and maintain a watchful eye on the Fuhrer. The games opened with the Olympic flame carried into the stadium before rows and rows of brown-shirted soldiers and Hitler Youth, their right arms extended in salute. Hitler sat in the chancellor's box and those who passed were told to shout "Sieg Heil." The American team did not salute at all. The crowd jeered them. From all the tumult of Berlin, however, the enduring image is of one athlete eclipsing the politics and the hate-mongering by doing what he did best. He ran faster and jumped further than anyone else. Jesse Owens was the son of a cotton picker and the grandson of slaves. He went to Berlin the favorite to win the long jump, 100 and 200 meters, and thus set up a direct confrontation with the racial theories of the host. Owens won all three individual events, and led the U.S. 400-meter relay team to victory as Hitler looked on.
 1948, London
 4,064, 59 countries, 151 events
 World War II wiped out two Olympic years, 1940 and 1944. London, the choice to host the '44 Summer Games, was picked as the site for 1948. Britain still had wartime rationing, with food, gasoline and building materials in short supply. So organizers decided to eliminate an Olympic Village, housing the athletes instead in schools, military camps and private homes. Not a single new stadium or arena was built. Wembley Stadium, perhaps the most hallowed soccer field on earth, was the main venue and the centerpiece of the games. Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia was an easy winner in the 10,000 meters, the first of his four Olympic gold medals. Hungarian boxer Laszlo Papp won the first of three consecutive middleweight gold medals, and a 17-year-old from Tulare, Calif., Bob Mathias, won the decathlon gold, a medal he also would win in 1952. And Fanny Blankers-Koen, an also-ran in Berlin as an 18-year-old, won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 80-meter hurdles, then anchored the Dutch team to victory in the 400-meter relay.
 1952, Helsinki
 4,879 athletes, 69 countries, 151 events
 The Helsinki Games belonged to Emil Zatopek and the big, red Bear. The Soviet Union ended a self-imposed 40-year exile from the Olympics, erected a big scoreboard at their secluded camp to highlight the competition between themselves and the athletes from the United States. Nina Romashkova won the first gold medal for the Soviets in the women's discus by an amazing 14 feet, 3 inches. With strong showings in track, wrestling and gymnastics, the Soviet Union led the medal chart through the early stages. But its scoreboard was wiped clean when American athletes, helped by five gold medals from the boxing team, passed the Soviets in the closing days. The United States wound up with more medals, 76-71, and more golds, 40-22. Zatopek successfully defended the title in the 10,000 meters and added the 5,000, the first runner to accomplish the distance double since Hannes Kolehmainen of Finland in 1912. He then ran the first marathon of his life -- and won. He was signing autographs by the time silver medalist Reinaldo Gorno completed the race.
 1956, Melbourne
 3,258 athletes, 67 countries, 153 events
 For the only time, the games were staged in two countries. Australia's animal quarantine laws kept foreign horses out, so the equestrian events were staged in Sweden. Down Under, the games were staged amid global tension. The Soviet Union had invaded Hungary less than three weeks before the games began. In the Middle East, the Suez Canal crisis was brewing. These two events led to the first Olympic boycotts. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland withdrew to protest the Soviet invasion, while Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon pulled out over Suez. At the end of the Games, half the Hungarian team refused to go back to Budapest. All this passion spilled out in a water polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary, where there was blood in the pool and police had been called in to protect the Soviet players from the crowd.
 1960, Rome
 5,348 athletes, 83 countries, 150 events
 Against a backdrop of the Coliseum and the Forum, the Rome Games were among the most exciting in history. Wilma Rudolph won the women's 100 and 200 meters and anchored the U.S. 400-meter relay team to victory. Rafer Johnson of the United States edged C.K. Yang, his close friend and UCLA teammate from Taiwan, for the decathlon gold. Ralph Boston won the long jump at 26 feet, 7 3/4 inches. And the men's 100 featured one of the closest finishes ever, with Germany's Armin Hary edging Dave Sime of the United States for the gold. Both were timed in 10.2 seconds and all six sprinters were timed within .02 seconds of each other. And the world met "The Louisville Lip," 18-year-old Cassius Clay, who won the light heavyweight gold medal. Clay later adopted Islam, changed his name to Muhammad Ali and became a social force in civil rights and anti-war movements.
 1964, Tokyo
 5,081 athletes, 93 countries, 167 events
 The Tokyo Games were the first beneficiary of a new satellite network of global communication. In Rome, videotape provided viewers with same-day coverage of events. The tape still had to be flown from Rome to New York for American networks to use it, but it didn't have to be processed as film did. With Telstar and similar satellites, the games moved right into the living rooms of the world. The television connection would prove to be the savior -- if also the occasional curse -- of the Olympic community. Tokyo spent some $3 billion on new stadiums, arenas and infrastructure. These were the first computerized games, with scoring and timekeeping all done electronically. Don Schollander of the United States became the first swimmer to win four gold medals in a single games, taking the 100- and 200-meter freestyle and anchoring two winning free relay teams. Dawn Fraser of Australia won the women' 100 freestyle for a record third consecutive Olympics; just seven months earlier, Fraser had broken her neck in a car crash that killed her mother. Joe Frazier, a former worker in a Philadelphia meat locker, won the heavyweight gold medal despite a broken left thumb. Bob Hayes ran won the gold medal in the men's 100 meters, and Wyomia Tyus won the women's 100, her first of two straight. The biggest surprise was in the longest race, the 10,000 meters, where American Billy Mills upset one of the greatest distance fields in history.
 1968, Mexico City
 5,423 athletes, 112 countries, 205 events
 In an environment of anti-establishment feeling and quest for something new, the Olympics moved to Mexico City, ensnared in social and political problems on a mammoth scale. Mexico's economy was crumbling. Many people saw the money spent on Olympic facilities as a waste. Mexican students staged protest demonstrations against spending for the games, capped by a confrontation between 10,000 protesters and the Mexican army in which 260 people were killed and another 1,200 were wounded. The athletes wanted to be heard, as well. Black members of the American team threatened to boycott if South Africa was allowed to compete. Two of the best, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, appeared for the medal ceremonies in the 200 meters wearing black gloves and flashed clenched fists -- the black power salute -- as the national anthem was played. Later, U.S. runners Lee Evans, Larry James, Ron Freeman and Vince Matthews staged similar protests. The demonstrations overshadowed what was probably the greatest track meet in history, including the emergence of African distance runners and the record-shattering long jump of Bob Beamon. The leap of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches was almost 2 feet beyond the previous world mark and stood for 23 years.
 1972, Munich
 7,153 athletes, 122 countries, 205 events
 These were the games that changed international sports forever -- not because of the athletes but because of political terror. On the morning of Sept. 5, eight Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village and broke into apartments housing the Israeli team. They killed two Israelis immediately and took nine others hostage, demanding the release of some 200 Palestinians held on terrorist charges in Israel. After a day of negotiations, officials allowed the terrorists to take their hostages by helicopter to a military airfield, from which they would be flown out of Germany. Sharpshooters were poised in the darkness. A first group left one of the helicopters. Shots were fired. A hand grenade exploded, blowing apart the second helicopter and its occupants. All nine hostages were dead, along with a German policeman and five of the terrorists. Three terrorists were captured. Although it had nothing to do with Munich or the games, the attack happened there because of the intense attention the Olympics attract, and it ushered in an era of ever-tighter security around athletes and fans. There were plenty of sports heroes at Munich. Mark Spitz won a record seven gold medals with seven world records in swimming. Lasse Viren of Finland won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Olga Korbut won a gold medal in the women's floor exercises and sparked a worldwide interest in gymnastics. In the mararthon, Frank Shorter of the United States recorded a surprising victory and helped to start the running boom. But Munich also witnessed some of the most bizarre officiating actions in Olympic history, including the gold-medal basketball game where the Soviet Union beat the United States on its third try at the final field goal. In protest, the U.S. team failed to appear for the awards ceremonies and never accepted their silver medals, which remain in an IOC vault in Lausanne.
 1976, Montreal
 6,026 athletes, 88 countries, 198 events
 The Olympics were almost broke when they arrived in Montreal, and things didn't get much better in the beautiful city on the St. Lawrence River. Trying to produce a breathtaking series of stadiums and arenas, the Montreal organizers rolled up a billion-dollar public debt that scared off most future Olympic bidders. The IOC encountered political disputes over teams from China and Taiwan, and African nations angered by New Zealand rugby tours of apartheid South Africa boycotted the games. Athletically, the games were smashing. They featured Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old Romanian gymnast who recorded the first perfect "10" on the bars and won two gold medals; Bruce Jenner, who won the decathlon; Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, who turned an unprecedented Olympic double in track, winning the 400 and 800 meters; Lasse Viren of Finland, who repeated the double gold-medal feat of Munich, winning the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for an unprecedented four gold medals in the two events; boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Teofilo Stevenson; and John Naber, who won four swimming gold medals.
 1980, Moscow
 5,217 athletes, 81 countries, 204 events
 The Cold War caught up with the Olympics in Moscow. Angered by the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter directed a boycott of the 1980 games that angered U.S. athletes and officials and deprived a generation of athletes their shot at medals. Rower Anita DeFrantz, a medalist in Montreal, sued unsuccessfully to have the decision overturned. DeFrantz later became an IOC member. In the end, 61 nations boycotted Moscow, while 81 others -- including Afghanistan -- attended. Some nations that did send teams decided to stage their own protests, such as marching under the Olympic flag or having the Olympic hymn played at medals ceremonies instead of their national anthems. The Moscow Games were marked by controversy over officiating, including a bizarre example in the men's triple jump. Two of the few Western athletes competing, Joao Carlos de Oliveira of Brazil and Ian Campbell of Australia, were called for fouls on nine of their 12 jumps. The gold and silver went to a pair of veteran Soviet athletes, Jaak Uudmae and Viktor Sanayev. Uudmae's winning leap was 56 feet, 11 1/4 inches, the same as Saneyev had in winning his second of three consecutive gold medals in 1972 and almost 2 feet shorter than Oliveira's world record. The games also featured the long-awaited middle-distance duel of Britain's Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, with Coe winning the 1,500 meters and Ovett the 800.
 1984, Los Angeles
 6,797 athletes, 140 countries, 224 events
 To no one's surprise, the Soviet Union retaliated for the 1980 boycott by staying away from the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and keeping most of its East bloc satellites away, too. Word of the boycott came the day that the cross-country relay of the Olympic torch from New York to Los Angeles got under way. "It will be all right," was the initial reaction of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, and that prediction proved accurate. A combination of a good time, great performances and unbounded patriotism helped turn the Los Angeles Olympics into the most successful sports event in history. It made a $230 million profit for American athletic training and support, showed the IOC how to make millions on its own and convinced the world that maybe the games were worth saving. It also produced some of the greatest athletic performances in history, topped by the four gold-medal performance of Carl Lewis. In matching Jesse Owens' feat of 48 years earlier, Lewis won the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and anchored the 400-meter relay to victory. And Los Angeles produced an American gymnast to take on the Olgas and Nadias -- Mary Lou Retton, who became the first U.S. woman to win the all-around gymnastics gold. China sent its first team to the Olympics and showed glimpses of the athletic giant that would emerge. Other winners included Britain's Daley Thompson in the decathlon and Sebastian Coe in the 1,500.
 1988, Seoul
 8,465 athletes, 159 countries, 260 events
 Los Angeles showed that the Olympics could make money from private financing. It also underscored that the time for Olympic boycotts was over. And with the next Games in Seoul in 1988, that would prove more important. With the demilitarized zone separating two countries technically at war just 35 miles away, the South Korean capital seemed ripe for another superpower political confrontation. Two fatal bombings were linked by the South Koreans to North Korean efforts to disrupt the games. North Korea even demanded that it co-host the games, and the IOC tried to negotiate a settlement. It did not reach agreement, but a thaw in East-West relations and constant cajoling by Samaranch brought all but four nations -- North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua -- to Seoul. The athletes included U.S. swimmers Janet Evans and Matt Biondi, who won eight gold medals between them; Kristin Otto of East German, with a record six golds in the pool; diver Greg Louganis, banging his head on the springboard and requiring stitches to close the cut, yet finishing his Olympic career with two more gold medals; and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, finally winning the heptathlon gold. Despite all the triumph, the legacy of Seoul was one of disgrace. Canada's Ben Johnson tested positive for strength-building steroids after setting a world record of 9.79 seconds in the 100 meters. He lost the record and the gold medal. "We love you," Canadian team leader Carol Ann Letheren told the sprinter, "but you're guilty." Johnson later tested positive again for drugs and was banned for life.
 1992, Barcelona
 9,368 athletes, 169 countries, 284 events
 Welcome to the Olympics, everybody! Not just some athletes but the best, and from every country. That's essentially what the games in Barcelona displayed. Held in a country that was relatively neutral politically, with the Berlin Wall gone and boycotts with it, the games now welcomed professionals, including the multimillion-dollar stars of the NBA. The U.S. "Dream Team," featuring Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, obliterated the field and won the gold medal by an average of 40 points a game. For most opposing players, the highlight was the postgame picture with their conquering heroes. But Barcelona was more than just hoops. The city of Picasso, Miro and Gaudi had used the games to revitalize itself. The old stadium on the top of Montjuic was gutted and turned into a state-of-the-art facility for track. A stunning 20,000-seat arena for gymnastics was built next door. Some $8 billion was spent on the Olympics and related projects. German athletes competed as one team for the first time since 1952. South Africa was back, its international banishment ended by the fall of apartheid. The Soviet Union had dissolved with the end of communist rule, but the IOC worked a deal allowing most of its former republics to be represented as a Unified Team to save training and other expenses. And the athletes put on quite a show. Gail Devers, who almost lost her feet to a blood disorder, won the women's 100 and almost took the 100 hurdles. Carl Lewis won his third consecutive long jump gold medal and anchored the U.S. 400-meter relay to a world record. Alexandr Popov of the Unified Team won the two fastest swimming races, the men's 50- and 100-meter freestyle. Yael Arad's silver medal in women's half-middleweight judo was the first ever won by an Israeli athlete. And Vitaly Scherbo won six gymnastics gold medals for the Unified Team, wearing the hammer-and-sickle symbol of the Soviet Union. It wasn't a political statement, he explained. He was just saying thanks to the system that made him a champion.