Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Olympic games for wider area of: "SPAIN Country IBERIAN PENINSULA" .
BARCELONA (Town) CATALONIA
The Barcelona 1992 Olympics were christened the Friendship
Olympics. Quite rightly so. Cuba returned after two Olympiads of absence.
So did S. Africa with the apartheid problem solved. Twelve thousand athletes
were listed to compete, somewhat fewer than 1988, due to Spanish government
economizing schemes, a decision that received hard criticism.
Security measures cost the Spanish authorities the record sum of
$ 490 million that was spent on electronics and various devices to facilitate
the work of a 50,000 men force, on constant alert whose guarding went as far
up to the border to France and to Portugal!
The track and field held no great surprises, except for the 100m
men's dash. Johnson, the disgraced Seoul champion, returned less muscular, less
pompous. He stumbled in the semifinals, ended his bid for redemption looking
at the backs of Leroy Burrell and Linford Christie. Then came the finals bang
as 32-year old Christie burst from the blocks like a young bull and to the gold
as history's oldest 100m winner (9.96"). "They said I'm too old and the
sprint isn't an old man's sport. Well, I don't know..." he told reporters later.
The women's 100m dash was also a surprise. Eighteen months ago,
Gail Devers came close to have both of her feet amputated due to over-radiation
in a thyroid treatment. Gail, following loyally what the Olympic Team's physicians
ordered, avoided the immediate danger and for a year and a half trained on a
daily basis to regain her old self. And she did. Now, in Barcelona, she dashed
with a perfect lean of her head at the finish and a remarkable 10.82".
Devers was dreaming of doubling her triumph with the 100m hurdles.
But Voula Patoulidou of Greece had her own dream as well, a dream that was destined
to come true. In the women's 100m hurdles finals, Voula exploded at the finish
line ahead of Devers and, with a time of 12.64", won the gold for Greece,
much to the world's surprise.
A second gold Greek victory came from the powerful hands of weightlifter
Pyrros Dimas who won a tough contest in his 82.5 kilos class...
Text by Dimitri N. Marcopoulos
Barcelona 1992
Links with various Organizations' WebPages:
The Olympic Movement
American Sport Art Museum and Archives , a division of the United States Sports Academy
International Sailing Federation
Barcelona 1992
Links with various Media's WebPages:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
British Broadcasting Corporation
1992 Barcelona Olympics: Various WebPages
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