Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-2: 1984 Summer Olympics

*Welcome back to BOTNS as we celbrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics! 

*The Games of the 23rd Olympiad took place July 28 through August 12, 1984, with events spread out over the greater L.A. metro area.

*Jon Wertheim's excellent book is Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever.

*The Games had first been in Los Angeles in 1932, as we clarify on the show. 

*Here's a scathing take on ABC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Games.

*Xu Haifeng of China won the first gold of the Games in the 50-meter pistol event.

*Cathy Rigby emerged on the national stage in the 1968 Olympics, then was hampered by injury in the 1972 edition.

*Konstantin Chernenko was running the Soviets at the time following the death of  Yuri Andropov in February 1984.

*One aspect we did not get into: The Eastern Bloc countries held "The Friendship Games" over 2.5 months and 9 countries, starting in early July and ending in early September. The Opening Ceremonies in Moscow took place weeks after the first event.

*Gymakta is a notorious 1985 movie featuring 1976 Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas. Thomas was unable to compete in 1980 due to the boycott.

*"All Night Long (All Night)" is Lionel Richie's 1983 #1 hit from his Can't Slow Down album. We don't have to tell MIKE that, of course, but the rest of you might find the info helpful.

If you want more Lionel Richie, we suggest our Night of 100 Stars episode!

*Somewhat surprisingly, Dunk Tank was not a sport in the 1984 Summer Games.

*I just want to say that I forgot to mention the awesomeness of Summer Games and Summer Games II for Commodore 64.

*Final medal count: USA 174, West Germany 59, Romania 53.

Gold medals: USA 83, Romania 20, West Germany 17.

Note that Romania was the one Soviet Bloc country to show up at the '84 Games, and they got a warm reception from the crowds and other athletes for doing so.

*We're doing something a little different with the playlist this week. While we do have a few extended clips of sporting events we mention on the podcast, we have mostly news clips, promos, commercials, and more, but here we also include a couple of the other big lists we reference. That way you can search for the sporting events that interest you.

First up is our own assembled playlist:

Here is a list with a lot of individual events:

Here is a list with the complete Opening and Closing Ceremonies as broadcast and more: