History
Fast Facts
Host City: Seoul, South KoreaOpening date: Sept. 17, 1988
Closing date: Oct. 2, 1988
Nations: 149
Athletes: 8,465 athletes (2,186 women, 6,279 men)
237 events in 24 sports
The 1988 Olympics faced a small boycott, led by North Korea and joined by Cuba, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. Nevertheless, a record 159 nations and 8,465 athletes competed in Seoul.
Table tennis was added to the Olympic program and tennis was restored after a 62-year absence. Another new event was the women's match sprint in cycling, which led to a record that will never be broken. East German Christa Luding-Rothenburger, who won the silver medal in the match sprint, had won gold and silver speed skating medals at the Winter Olympics in February. She's the only athlete to medal at both Olympics in the same year. Since the Summer and Winter games are now held in different years, no one will ever do it again.
The top winners in Seoul were both swimmers. Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals and Matt Biondi of the U. S. won a total of seven medals, including two gold.
In track, sisters-in-law Florence Griffith "Flo-Jo" Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee won a total of six medals. Flo-Jo won four of them, including three golds, and Joyner-Kersee won gold medals in the long jump and the heptathlon.
The biggest story to emerge from the 1988 Olympics was the disqualification of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson after he had apparently set a world record of 9.79 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Johnson tested positive for steroids, so his world record and gold medal were both disallowed. The medal went to second-place finisher Carl Lewis, who thus became the first athlete to win that event twice. Lewis also won the long jump in more straightforward fashion, and he was the first to win two golds in that event, as well.
U. S. Diver Greg Louganis turned in the Games' most courageous performance in the springboard competition. During his ninth dive of the preliminaries, Louganis hit his head on the board, suffering a gash that required four temporary stitches.
He returned 35 minutes later, just in time to perform his last dive and advance into the finals. He went on to win gold in the springboard and, a week later, in platform diving, becoming the first male diver to win both events at two Olympics.
