Seoul received the right to host the XXIV Summer Olympics at the 84th session of the IOC on September 30, 1981. After boycotts of the previous Olympics, the strongest athletes of the USSR, USA, East Germany and other countries finally got the opportunity to measure their strength again.
It was not possible to completely avoid boycotts this time either: Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and some other countries.
Despite this, 159 countries took part in the games, they were represented by 8391 athletes, which became a record. More than three billion people in 139 countries of the world watched the broadcast of the games. The program of the Olympics included new sports - tennis and table tennis, women's sprint in cycling, 10 thousand meters running for women and 11 more disciplines.
It has already become customary that the most intense struggle for medals was between the USSR, the USA and the GDR. So it was in Seoul, in the unofficial team competition, Soviet athletes won 55 gold medals, 31 silver and 46 bronze. Olympians from the GDR managed to squeeze the Americans and take second place, they received 37 gold, 35 silver and 30 bronze medals. Athletes from the United States lagged behind them quite a bit, having won 36 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze medals.
At the competitions in Seoul, Soviet gymnasts performed splendidly, having won 10 awards of the highest standard out of 14. Athletes won the same number of gold medals. The men's basketball and handball teams achieved victories. Again, like at the Moscow Olympics, Soviet swimmer Vladimir Salnikov won the gold medal. But the real heroine of the Olympics was the athlete from the GDR Christina Otto, who received 6 gold medals in swimming.
American swimmer Mat Biondi, who won 5 medals of the highest standard, is just a little behind Christina. His compatriot Janet Evans received three more gold medals.
The Soviet football team performed magnificently at the games in Seoul, which managed to beat the eminent Brazilians with a score of 2: 1 in the final, Igor Dobrovolsky and Yuri Savichev scored goals.
At the 24th Summer Olympics, athletes showed many outstanding results, but these games were also remembered for a large number of doping scandals. Thus, the famous Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who ran a distance of 100 meters with a phenomenal time of 9.79 seconds, lost his gold medal. Two Bulgarian weightlifters who won gold medals in their weight categories were disqualified. Fearing new scandals, the Bulgarian weightlifters left Seoul, even the athletes who had not yet performed left.
The judges did not always behave objectively. So, in the boxing ring, the future star of world boxing, American Roy Jones, completely outplayed his South Korean rival Park Si Hoon. The ratio of blows reached 86:32 in favor of the American, Park Xi Hoon was knocked down once. However, the judge eventually gave the victory to the beaten and barely able to stand on his feet Korean. Despite this loss, Roy Jones received the title of Outstanding Boxer of the Seoul Olympics and the Val Barker Trophy from the International Amateur Boxing Association. This prize is usually awarded to the winner of the competition. Later, the judges who judged this fight were disqualified - it was possible to prove that they had received bribes from the South Korean delegation. The decision on the winner was never revised, but in 1997 Roy Jones was awarded the Silver Olympic Order.
Despite the very ambiguous results, the Seoul Olympics became an important milestone in the history of the Olympic movement. In particular, a significant tightening of doping controls made it possible to make the next Olympics much more honest.
