In 1988, the South Korean Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics. These Games were record-breaking in many respects: the number of participating countries, athletes, coaches, journalists, awards, the number of security services and television viewers. They did not manage without scandals.
The 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics were the 24th in a row. They took place from September 17 to October 2. Another Asian city, the Japanese Nagoya, competed with Seoul for the right to accept them. However, the choice of the IOC fell on South Korea.
More than 9,000 athletes from 160 countries came to Seoul to compete for 237 sets of medals. Despite the fact that the scandal of the early 80s, accompanying the Olympics in Los Angeles and Moscow, was left behind, the echoes of that period also affected the Games in South Korea. North Korea decided to boycott them. Pyongyang refused to send its athletes to Seoul, because the IOC rejected Kim Il Sung's proposal to transfer part of the competition to the DPRK in order to demonstrate the unity of the Korean Peninsula. If the Soviet authorities decided not to deprive their athletes of the main competition of the four-year period, then the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and some other states supported the boycott of Pyongyang, putting political ambitions at the forefront.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that about three dozen countries had no diplomatic ties with Seoul at all. Despite this, the IOC did not change anything, and the XXIV Summer Olympic Games were held in Seoul.
The mascot of the competition was the hero of Korean legends - the Amur tiger. To neutralize the negative aspects of this predator, he was portrayed as a rather cute tiger and named Hodori. Translated from Korean, this name means "Tiger Boy". The main attribute of the mascot was a small national cap worn over one ear.
At the opening ceremony, 76-year-old Korean marathon runner Son Ki-Chang brought a torch with fire to the Olympic stadium. The flag of the Soviet national team was carried by wrestler Alexander Karelin. In Seoul, he was able to win his first Olympic gold medal.
The Summer Games program in South Korea has been expanded once again. Tennis and table tennis, cycling and 10,000 meter running for women, as well as 11 other disciplines, appeared in it.
Not without a doping scandal at the Seoul Games. An unpleasant incident was the conviction of a sprinter from Canada Ben Johnson of taking illegal drugs. He managed to brilliantly outplay his competitors in the 100-meter race. But after doping control, the Canadian had to return the medal. For the same reason, Bulgarian weightlifters Angel Genchev and Mitko Grablev, as well as Hungarian weightlifter Kalman Chengeri, were also deprived of gold medals.
The triumphant of the Seoul Olympics was the national team of the Soviet Union, which won the overall team medal standings. The previous Games, held in Los Angeles, were forced to miss by Soviet athletes due to a political boycott. The break was only good for the athletes. They proved that, as before, they are trendsetters in world sports. Soviet footballers were able to win gold after a 32-year hiatus, and basketball players after a 16-year hiatus. In total, the USSR national team took home 55 gold, 31 silver and 46 bronze medals.
The closest rival of the Soviet team was the GDR national team. She has 37 gold, 35 silver and 30 bronze medals. The American team rounded out the top three. The sensation of Seoul was the performance of the hosts of the Games. The Korean national team was able to win 12 medals of the highest standard, which allowed it to take the fourth place in the overall team classification.
