¡¡¡¡The summer Games returned to the United States for the first time since the Second World War and to Los Angeles for the second time. Its first effort, in 1932, was hit by the Great Depression1 and this one also had problems the Soviet Union and 13 Communist allies stayed home in an obvious payback for the West's snub2 of Moscow in 1980. Romania was the only Warsaw Pact3 country to come to L.A..

¡¡¡¡In the absence of the awesome Eastern European track team, the Americans predictably were the biggest beneficiaries4, but Carl Lewis would have been a worth champion even if the whole world had been present. The young Californian emulated5 the great Jesse Owens 48 years before to win the 100m, 200m, long jump6 and sprint relay7, and was the true track star of the Games.

¡¡¡¡China for the first time since 1952 sent 353 athletes to participate in 16 events, winning 15 gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals. The first Olympic champion in Chinese history was Xu Haifeng.

¡¡¡¡Sebastian of Britain became the first repeat winner of the 1,500 meters since 1906. Romanian gymnast Ecaterina Szab¨®matched Lewis' four gold medals and added a silver, but the darling of the Games was little 16 year old Mary Lou Retton, who won the women's All Around1 with a pair of 10s in her last two events.

¡¡¡¡The L.A. Olympics were the first privately financed Games ever and made an unheardª²of2 profit of ¡ç215 million. Time magazine was so impressed by it and named organizing president Peter Ueberroth its Man of the Year.