There were three Summer Olympics held during the decade of the 80's (1980, 1984 and 1988). I thought I would recap the highlights of each of those events which helped create some American pop culture icons.

1980 - Held in Moscow in the Soviet Union
Not much to report this year because the U.S. boycotted the games in protest of the 1978 Soviet War in Afghanistan.

1984 - Held in Los Angeles, California in the United States of America
The Soviet Union returned the favor by boycotting the 1984 games as did East Germany. Both of those nations usually competed very strongly and their absence created an opportunity for the U.S. athletes to really dominate. And dominate is what the U.S. did as they won a total of 174 medals (115 more than West Germany which was the next closest country). The U.S. won 83 gold, 61 silver and 30 bronze medals at the 1984 summer games.

> Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing led the U.S. Men's Basketball team to a gold medal before going on to become NBA superstars.

> Carl Lewis makes his first of four Olympic appearances and equals the amazing 1936 performance of Jesse Owens by winning 4 track and field gold medals (in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump).

> Mary Lou Retton captured the hearts of Americans when she became the first gymnast outside of Easter Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition. Here is a link to a video of when Retton scored the perfect 10 vault that she needed to win the gold. You can hear the crowd going wild and she became an instant icon.

1988 - Held in Seoul, South Korea
There was far less boycotting that had taken place in the previous three Olympics and that resulted in the largest ever number of participating nations to that date (160 nations and 8391 athletes!!). This also resulted in much more even competition and thus the U.S. only finished third with 94 total medals won (behind both the Soviet Union and East Germany which had not participated in 1984). The U.S. won 36 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze medals during the 1988 summer games.

> U.S. sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (nicknamed Flo-Jo) was the star of the track and field events winning 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal. Here is a link to a short video tribute to Flo-Jo's accomplishments at the 1988 games.

> Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson sets a new world record in the 100m, but later is disgraced by being disqualified for use of a banned substance (steroids).

> American boxer Roy Jones, Jr. received the Val Barker Trophy awarded to the most impressive boxer of the games despite a controversial loss in the gold medal fight to a South Korean opponent. Allegations were made that the fight was fixed to allow the South Korean to win and the three judges ruling against Jones were eventually suspended for those actions.

> The U.S. Men's Basketball team only wins the bronze medal after losing to the Soviet Union. This embarrassment would result in professional basketball players being used to compete instead of only amateurs and the formation of the "Dream Team" for the 1992 games.

> American diver Greg Louganis win back-to-back titles in both the springboard and platform diving events even after hitting his head on the board during the springboard event finals. Here is a link to short video on Louganis' 1988 accomplishments.

> Whitney Houston would release the song "One Moment in Time" as an Olympic theme song. This song would reach #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed in the top 40 for eleven weeks. Here is a link to the video for this inspirational song which includes many amazing highlights from the 1988 summer games.

I am not saying these are the only highlights, but these are the ones that I remember most.  I have my fondest Olympic memories from 1984 and 1988, so I thought (in keeping with my usual subject matter) I would give you the 80's angle on the Summer Olympics. Hope it brought some fond memories back to you and to those of you who still love watching the Olympics, I wish them to thrill you and exceed your expectations.

That will wrap up another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks so much for reading. If you are looking for more of my 80's related issues, please click there. If you enjoy Kickin' it, please tell a friend or two and be sure to come back often. Peace and much love.

Check this out: This is an interesting photo that I thought I would share. The sign reads "Be Prepared For the Unexpected" and shows a huge tree trunk which has apparently landed on and crushed an automobile. I hope nobody was driving the car when this happened.

Quote of the day: "The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Download this: Based on this issue's topic, I have to go with... "One Moment in Time" by Whitney Houston