|
Did you know?
- By winning the 1500m freestyle event, the Soviet champion in swimming Vladimir Salnikov became the first swimmer who regained the Olympic title eight years later in the same event. Salnikov had won the gold medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, whereas four years later, in the Los Angeles Olympics, he did not compete due to the abstinence of his country from the organization.
- The members of the Iranian and Iraqi delegations were accommodated at the two ends of the Olympic Village, seeing that the two countries were at war. Both the athletes and the other members of the delegations had no contact among them and at the restaurant of the Village the officials saw to placing them discreetly in far-removed tables. Iran even required from the Korean organizers not to have a woman holding the sign with the name of the country at the parade of the athletes during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, because it was unacceptable for a woman to go ahead of men.
- The American Olympic winner in the 400m hurdles Edwin Moses completed his successful athletic career with a new success in the South Korea Olympics. After his victories in the 1976 and 1984 Olympics he won the bronze medal in the contest that offered him worldwide renown.
- The lighting ceremony and the handing-over of the Olympic flame to the South Koreans, who had taken care of every detail, were imposing and magnificent. Over 150 people worked for the torch relay, whereas 13 different kinds of torches were submitted to the organizing committee. The selected one weighed 1 kg and was 55 centimetres high. On the whole 3,300 torches were made; 500 of them were used in Greece, 2,600 in South Korea, whereas the rest were used in the Special Olympics that were held a few days after the end of the regular ones.
The Olympic flame was carried by aeroplane to the city Che Yioun and in commemoration of that event a monument was built and 500 trees were planted.
|
