1988 Seoul Olympics

The 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in the city of Seoul, South Korea., between September 17 and October 2, 1988. In this edition, 8,391 athletes participated —6,197 men and 2,194 women— from 159 countries. If the referees are added, the figure rises to 13,304 people from 160 countries.

In a context marked by the end of the Cold War, the XXIV Olympics was the first since Munich 1972 that did not experience a massive political boycott. Although North Korea refused to attend and was followed by half a dozen countries, Seoul 1988 achieved the largest participation to date and both the United States and the Soviet Union again competed against each other. This was also the last Olympic Games for two sports powerhouses: the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic.

In the sports field, 237 events were held in 23 official sports, including the return of tennis —after sixty-four years of absence— and the premiere of table tennis. In total, 33 world records and 227 Olympic records were broken. Among the most outstanding athletes, Kristin Otto won six gold medals in swimming; Matt Biondi obtained seven metals —five golds— in the same discipline; gymnast Vladimir Artemov won four golds, and sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner won three athletics events. This edition was also marked by several cases of doping: up to five medals were withdrawn, including Ben Johnson's after breaking the record world championship in the final of the 100 meters.

The Soviet Union led the medal table with 132 medals: 55 gold, 31 silver and 46 bronze, followed by East Germany (102), the United States (94) and South Korea (33).

Seoul became the second Asian capital to host a Summer Olympics after Tokyo 1964. Although South Korea had no experience in international sporting events, the country was showing strong economic growth and the concession was taken as the opportunity to make themselves known abroad. On a logistical level, the International Olympic Committee praised the work of the Organizing Committee; the venues were ready two years in advance, as they also hosted the 1986 Asian Games; More than 27,000 volunteers participated, there was a full capacity in almost all the tests, and of the 1,030 competitions held there were only thirty delays. After its conclusion, the VIII Paralympics Games were held in the same city from October 15 to 24.

Choice of venue

Candidacy

On October 8, 1979, South Korea had submitted Seoul as a candidate to host the 1988 Summer Olympics. This country, marked by the division of the peninsula into two states after the Korean War, was experiencing strong economic growth since the 1960s and wanted to show the world its potential. However, the presentation was made at a time of national political instability. Two weeks after the announcement, President Park Chung-hee, who led the country under autocratic rule for 18 years, was assassinated by the director of the Intelligence Service. The following month there was a coup that led to the promotion of another military man, General Chun Doo-hwan, and a crackdown on civil and political rights. In addition, the South Koreans had no experience in international events—except for the 1978 World Shooting Championships—and the Seoul city council was skeptical of the depth of the planned works.

President Doo-hwan maintained the Seoul project for the Olympic Games, with the aim of both reinforcing Korea's international image and showing its growth. The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) endorsed the project before the Committee International Olympic Games and at the beginning of 1980 there were only two candidates left: Seoul (South Korea) and Nagoya (Japan). Therefore, the XXIV Olympiad was going to be held in Asia, for the second time since Tokyo 1964. Athens (Greece) and Melbourne (Australia) had considered applying, but ultimately rejected it.

Seoul's candidacy proposed a project that would group the 21 Olympic sports into two large complexes: an Olympic Park of half a million square meters and another of 2.6 million meters that would house the Olympic Village. The sub-venues would be Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon.

Voting

84.a Session of the International Olympic Committee 30 September 1981, Baden-Baden, West Germany
City	Voting
Seoul(KOR)	52
Nagoya(JPN)	27

Seoul had its only rival in Nagoya. The Japanese city was perceived as a favorite months before the IOC Session, but South Korea and its Olympic Committee managed to turn it around by selling its candidacy as an "opportunity" to guarantee peace on the war-torn Korean peninsula so far. only three decades ago, and to demonstrate that the capital was a contemporary metropolis. To reflect their Olympic commitment, the South Koreans called for the organization of the 1986 Asian Games as preparation for the main event, thus palliating their inexperience, adding that the infrastructures sports facilities were already under construction.

Ahead of the 84th IOC Session held on September 30, 1981 in Baden-Baden, West Germany, South Korea prepared numerous activities to convince the committees. Among the delegation were the main political leaders of the country, Chung Ju-yung (president of Hyundai), Kim Un-yong (president of the World Taekwondo Federation), and Park Chong-kyu, former president of the KOC, who used his experience to guarantee the support of the members of Africa and South America.

The weak points of Nagoya's bid were citizen opposition to environmental impact, fewer facilities that also needed to be built, and the fact that Japan had already hosted two recent Olympics: the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games and the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games. That did not prevent the vote from being unknown because the communist countries were more favorable to supporting the Japanese proposal; many of them only recognized North Korea as the legitimate government of the peninsula.

The president of the KOC, Cho Sang-ho, explained to the IOC Session the strengths of the South Korean candidacy, and demanded the concession to Seoul as a "world peace forum" after the Moscow 1980 edition was marked by the political boycott of Western countries. They were also asked about compliance with human rights, lack of organizational experience, relations with socialist states and the transport network. Voting 79 out of 84 members, Seoul upset Nagoya by beating Nagoya 52-27.

The IOC reached an agreement for the Paralympic Games to take place in the same venue as the Olympics from 1988, so Seoul also took over that event.

Organization

Organizing Committee

Roh Tae-woo was president of the SLOOC from 1983 to 1987.

On November 2, 1981, President Chun Doo-hwan decreed the creation of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIV Olympiad —SLOOC—, which would organize the work for the event with the collaboration of the government of the Republic of Korea, the city council of Seoul, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and the South Korean sports federations. the Asian Games was integrated into the SLOOC. At the local and provincial level, Olympic Promotion Committees were created to attract volunteers.

There were a total of three presidents of the Organizing Committee. The first was Kim Yong-shik, director of the Red Cross in South Korea and a former South Korean ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 1983 he was succeeded by Roh Tae-woo, a high-ranking general and Doo-hwan's confidant, who juggled the post with the Korean Olympic Committee. However, Tae-woo had to resign in 1986 to assume the leadership of the Democratic Justice Party, handing over the post to Park Seh-jik, the former Minister of Sports. All of them were supervised by Kim Un-yong, IOC member and vice president of SLOOC.

During the 84th Session of the IOC, a report had been presented detailing the costs of housing the athletes, the possible route of the Olympic torch and issues such as hotel capacity, transport, pollution reduction and sports and medical visits. Once granted, the SLOOC developed all of these issues under a six-phase master plan; In addition to the construction of the headquarters, an urban reorganization of Seoul was proposed through the recovery of the Han River, the creation of green areas and the modernization of the transport network.

The motto chosen for the Olympic Games was “harmony and progress” (화합과 전진, Hwahabgwa Jeonjin). The five goals of the organization were as follows:

1. "Participation Round": the 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 Montreal Games were marked by political boycotts, so it was necessary for both the United States and the Soviet Union to come to the event. The organization feared a Soviet and Chinese boycott in solidarity with North Korea, so that they requested help from the IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to avoid it.
2. "Armony": turning Seoul 1988 into a forum for peace without distinction of ideology, race, religion, languages or education.
3. "Best performance": get athletes to have all the means at their disposal to get the best sports results.
4. "Good services and safety": guarantee the functioning of both aspects, without prejudice to harmony. It includes the establishment of a government-dependent Security Committee and the strengthening of the Intelligence Service.
5. "Economic efficiency": leverage all available resources and justify the expense of all operations. Similarly, this point raises the utilization of headquarters once the JJ.OOOs have been completed.

The operational workforce was made up of 49,712 workers, divided as follows: 1,435 SLOOC members, 27,221 volunteers, 18,000 support employees and 2,775 temporary employees. In addition, 5,725 translators in 23 languages were hired.

SLOOC ceased its activity on April 3, 1989, six months after the closing of the Paralympic Games.

Events

Faced with the need to resolve the lack of experience in international events, South Korea took over the organization of the 1986 Asian Games that took place in Seoul from September 20 to October 5, 1986. A total of 4,839 athletes from 22 countries in 25 events. Most of the Asian socialist states—North Korea, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolian People's Republic, Vietnam, and South Yemen—boycotted the event, but the organization did manage to get the largest communist delegation to attend. important, the People's Republic of China, so the participation was even higher than the 1982 Games.

Five days before the inauguration, there was an attack at the Gimpo International Airport; a bomb blast in the arrivals hall left five dead and 24 injured. The South Korean government attributed the explosion to "North Korean agents" and had to tighten security measures. Despite this setback, the Games The Asians were considered an organizational success. The tests used most of the venues planned in the Olympic Park, including the Seoul Olympic Stadium inaugurated two years earlier, and only the Olympic Village, finishing the park, remained to be completed. equestrian, decontaminate the Han River for canoeing trials and polish logistical details.

On the other hand, the SLOOC developed numerous pre-Olympic competitions between 1987 and 1988 to study the acclimatization period of the athletes, the suitability of the venues and the organizational preparation.

International Olympic Committee

After the Olympic Games were awarded, the SLOOC maintained a close collaboration with the International Olympic Committee. The three presidents that the Organizing Committee had added up to 14 official IOC meetings to explain the latest advances. In addition, the president of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, made 10 official visits to South Korea, including the inauguration of the Olympic Stadium (1984) and the Asian Games (1986).

Finances

SLOOC assumed the budget calculation for the Seoul 1988 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which ended with a positive balance. After calculating all the movements from November 1981 to April 1989, more than 909.84 billion won was deposited and about 568.391 million won was spent, resulting in a profit of 341 billion won according to the report of the Organizing Committee. In dollars, they are approximately 300 million.

In Seoul 1988 there were contributions from both the South Korean government and Olympic sponsors, unlike the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics which were paid for without public money. In addition, money was raised from ticket sales, merchandising, television rights, donations, lottery and commemorative editions. Part of the benefits were used to restore infrastructure and historical monuments.

Symbols

Logo

For the official emblem of the Olympic Games. In 1988, SLOOC held a contest restricted to eight South Korean designers. The image chosen in 1983 was a representation of the sam taegeuk —symbol of Korean culture— with the colors yellow (humanity), red (earth) and blue (sky). At the bottom are the Olympic rings. The image design and implementation were carried out by Yang Sung-chun, a professor at Seoul National University.

Along with the logo, the SLOOC approved the creation of 27 sports, 12 cultural and 25 artistic posters that were presented in 1987.

The 30 Olympic pictograms were released in 1983. They are distinguished from each other by color: blue (sports), green (services) and red (emergencies).

Pet

In 1982 SLOOC organized a public competition for the official mascot to which 4,344 projects were submitted. Among four finalists, the committee selected in 1983 a cheerful Siberian tiger wearing a Korean hat with a ribbon. Its designer was Kim Hyun. The tiger is an iconic animal in Korean mythology, which is why it was quickly accepted by the country's society. The official name "Hodori" (호돌이) was chosen in 1984 by popular vote and is an acronym of the word "tiger" (in Korean, horangi) with an infant diminutive. Hodori was the first Olympic mascot to feature a female counterpart, "Hosuni".

Olympic Torch

The Olympic torch was unveiled to the public in April 1984. Its design by Lee Woo-song, a professor at Sookmyung Women's University, was adorned with two dragons symbolizing harmony between West and East. In total, more than 3,300 torches were manufactured, of which 2,600 would be for the relay in South Korea.

The lighting of the torch took place in the temple of Hera in Olympia on August 23, 1988, as tradition says. After touring Greece, a relief pitcher left from Athens airport, made a brief stopover in Bangkok (Thailand) and arrived on Jeju Island on August 27. From there, all the provinces of South Korea were visited. A total of 1,467 relievers carried the torch over 15,000 kilometers.

Broadly speaking, the route of the Olympic flame was as follows:

• Greece: Olympia, Pirgos, Patras, Corinthia, Mégara, Eleusis, Athens.
• South Korea: Jeju, Busan, Jinju, Suncheon, Mokpo, Gwangju, Daegu, Pohang, Gumi, Daejeon, Jeonju, Gongju, Cheongju, Chungju, Gangneung, Chuncheon, Wonju, Suwon, Incheon, Uijeongbu, Seoul.

Medals

On the obverse of the medals, the design that Giuseppe Cassioli introduced at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games was maintained: a representation of the goddess Nike with a palm in her left hand and a laurel wreath in her right, plus the inscription «XXIV Olympiad Seoul 1988». The reverse, designed by Yang Sung-chun, shows a dove of peace with a laurel branch in its beak, next to the Seoul 1988 logo at the top. The diameter of each medal is 60mm with a thickness of 5mm, and its weight ranges from 515g. and 550 g. In total, 1,590 medals were manufactured for competitions and 188 for exhibition sports.

Transmission

SLOOC appointed the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) public broadcaster as the official transmitter of the Olympic Games, and sealed an agreement with the Korea Telecommunications Authority (KTA) for the logistics and distribution of audiovisual material to other broadcasters. In turn, KBS collaborated with Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) channel to share the broadcasts in the host country. Internationally, the rights were sold to NBC for the United States, the European Broadcasting Union in Europe, the International Radio and Television Organization in the Eastern bloc, Network Ten in Australia, NHK in Japan and the Ibero-American Telecommunications Organization. for Latin America. The organization created by SLOOC for the broadcasts was the Seoul Olympics Radio and Television Organization (SORTO), with members from KBS, KTA and foreign networks. In total, more than 407 million were collected dollars with the sale to 227 radio stations in 140 countries.

The International Press Center was located in the Seoul Exhibition Center, near the KBS headquarters, with an area of 34,880 m². it was the center of operations for more than 10,300 accredited journalists. After the conclusion of the Games, it became another public television facility.

Offices

Sports facilities

The original project of the South Korean Olympic Committee called for the use of 21 existing venues, the construction of another 13 and the use of four sub-venues in other cities for soccer. After a thorough review, the SLOOC confirmed that 35 were necessary competition centers, 72 training fields, 70 additional facilities and 88 cultural venues. The bulk of the tests would be concentrated in two points: the Seoul Sports Complex, which includes the Olympic Stadium, and the Seoul Olympic Park, which included the Olympic Village. Both points were only 3.5 km away from each other.

The construction of venues was necessary for the success of the event. Despite the great growth of Seoul, the largest facility they had was the ancient Dongdaemun Stadium. Since 1973, a sports area had been planned in the Jamsil district, whose development was reinforced thanks to the concession of the Olympic Games. One of the most important aspects was the construction of the Jamsil Baseball Stadium; Although baseball was only an exhibition sport, it was going to be the most used venue in the long term given the popularity of this sport in the country.

The Olympic Stadium was inaugurated in 1984 and almost all the facilities were ready for the 1986 Asian Games.

Seoul Sports Complex

1. Seoul Olympic Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, hípica (end of jump), football (end).
2. Jamsil Aquatic Center – water sports, modern pentathlon (station).
3. Arena Jamsil – basketball, volleyball (final).
4. Jamsil Student Gym – Boxing.
5. Jamsil Baseball Stadium – baseball.

The World Peace Gate welcomes the Olympic Park.

Seoul Olympic Park

1. Seoul Olympic Velodrome – track cycling.
2. Halterophilia Olympic gym – halterophilia.
3. Esgrima Olympic Gym – fencing.
4. Olympic gymnastics arena – gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic).
5. Tennis Olympic Center – tennis.
6. Mongchon Toseong – modern pentathlon (field through).

Venues in Seoul

1. Dongdaemun Stadium – Football.
2. Saemaul Pavilion – volleyball.
3. Hanyang University Pavilion – volleyball.
4. Seoul Equestrian Park – water, modern pentathlon (equestrian jump).
5. Regata Misari – Remo, canoeing.
6. Royal Bowling – bowls.
7. Arena Jangchung – judo, taekwondo.
8. Changchung gym – judo, taekwondo.
9. Gymnasium of the National University – Badminton, table tennis.
10. Hwarang Tyre Field – Archery.
11. Taereung Tyre Field – Olympic shooting, modern pentathlon (tiro).
12. Streets of Seoul – marathon, athletics (song).
13. Tongillo Circuit – cycling on route.

Venues outside of Seoul

1. Busan: Regatta Center – sail.
2. Busan: Busan Gudeok Stadium – Football
3. Daegu: Daegu Stadium – football.
4. Daejeon: Daejeon Stadium – football.
5. Gwangju: Gwangju Stadium – football.
6. Seongnam: Seongnam Stadium – football, hockey.
7. Seongnam: Sangmu Gym – fight.
8. Suwon: Suwon Gym – Basketball.

Olympic Village

The Olympic Village, located in the immediate vicinity of the Olympic Park, was inaugurated on May 31, 1988 and one of the last facilities to be completed. Athletes, coaches and referees were housed in 86 apartment blocks, with a sum total of 3692 homes. The area was equipped with information centers, outpatient clinics, leisure spaces, and religious temples. A staff of 5,000 employees—more than half volunteers—served at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the 14,501 residents who they passed by. At the end of the event, the apartments went on the real estate market.

Sports

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 237 events were held in 23 official sports, with the addition of table tennis. In addition, there were four exhibition sports: taekwondo, baseball, badminton, and bowling. In judo, the female category was included as an exhibition event; it would not be official until Barcelona 1992.

Tennis returned as an official event with four events: two in the men's category and another two in the women's category. Despite being one of the most practiced sports, tennis players had not competed since Paris 1924 because the International Tennis Federation was not part of the IOC. In archery, team competition was included for the first time; in swimming, a 50 m freestyle test was added, and in shooting, the 10 m air pistol category was launched.

Officers

Exhibit

Calendar

September - October	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	1	2	Total
Opening	A
Athleticism							3	3	5	8		5	4	4	9	1	42
Basketball													1	1			2
Balonmano														1	1		2
Boxing															6	6	12
Cycling		1		1		1		4			1	1					9
Equipment						2			1		2	1				1	7
Scream					1	1	1	1			1	1	1	1			8
Football															1		1
Gymnastics				1	1	1	1	6	4					1			15
Halterophilia		1	1	1	1	1		1	1	1	1	1					10
Hockey weed														1	1		2
Judo									1	1	1	1	1	1	1		7
Fight				3	4	3							3	3	4		20
Swimming			4		5	5	5	6	6								31
Synchronized swimming														1	1		2
Penguinism														6	6		12
Modern Pentathlon						2											2
Remo								7	7								14
Balance		1		1					1		1						4
Ten														2	2		4
You have a table.														2	2		4
Tyre		2	2	2	2	1	2	2									13
Archery														2	2		4
Go.											8						8
Volleyball													1			1	2
Waterpolo															1		1
Closure																C
September - October	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	1	2	Total

Development

Opening Ceremony

Encendido del pebetero olímpico.

The opening ceremony took place on September 17, 1988 at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. It began at 10:30 a.m. (UTC +9) with a traditional Korean dance number, followed by a mass choreography involving more than 1,500 dancers. At 11:00 o'clock, the arrival of the President of South Korea marked the start of the parade of athletes. The Greek delegation led the march, as tradition dictates, and then the rest of the countries left in Korean alphabetical order: from Ghana to Hong Kong. Ultimately, the hosts of South Korea came out last.

The opening addresses were given by Park Seh-jik, director of the SLOOC, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC. Subsequently, South Korean President Roh Tae-woo declared "the Games of the XXIV Olympiad open." The arrival of the Olympic flag was escorted by the traditional military band Chitadae, while the public made a mosaic in which the words «Harmony» (harmony) and « Progress» (progress), motto of the Olympic Games. of 1988. The banner was carried by eight South Korean Olympic medalists.

After the flag was raised, the Olympic flame was entered by Sohn Kee-chung, the first Korean medalist to win the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games under the Japanese flag and name, and the lighting of the cauldron was led by three young athletes around 12:20. The organization imported white doves to release during the ceremony as a symbol of peace, but in doing so before lighting some of those doves had landed on the cauldron and burned to death. The Olympic oaths followed: Son Mi-na and Hur Jae for the athletes, and Lee Hak-rae for the referees.

After the South Korean anthem was played, the athletes filed out of the stadium and an hour-long "epilogue" ensued with the following acts: a skydiving show, a peace dance, a massive taekwondo demonstration, folk dances and a performance by the group Koreana with the song Hand in Hand. The gala ended at 1:30 p.m. and a total of 13,625 people participated.

Events

Athletics

President Ronald Reagan receives Florence Griffith after the four medals obtained in the athletic tests.

The 42 events that made up the athletics program took place between September 23 and October 1 at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, with the record participation of 1,727 athletes: 1,148 men and 579 women. In total, four world records and 42 Olympic records were broken. In the medal table, the United States and the Soviet Union tied in 26 metals, but the North Americans surpassed the Soviets in gold, thirteen to ten. However, the most successful country was East Germany with 27 medals, although it was third in the general classification by harvesting only six golds.

Carl Lewis, in the 100 meter final, obtained the world record with 9:92 seconds, ahead of the British Linford Christie (9:97, European record) and his compatriot Calvin Smith. The original winner of that final was the Canadian athlete Ben Johnson with a record of 9:79; however, he was dispossessed of his medal two days later after testing positive for stanozolol. Lewis also defended his 1984 long jump victory with a mark of 8.72 metres, and was silver in the 200 meters when beaten by teammate Joe DeLoach. The other protagonist of Seoul 1988 was the American Florence Griffith, triple gold medalist in the women's 100 meters (10:54, world record), 200 meters and 4 x 100 meter relay, and silver in the 4 × 400 m relay.

The middle distance events were dominated by African athletes. Kenya took gold in the 800m (Paul Ereng), 1,500m (Peter Rono), 5,000m (John Ngugi) and 3,000m hurdles (Julius Kariuki), while Moroccan Brahim Boutayeb broke the Olympic record in the 10,000m.. Among the Soviet athletes, Sergei Litvínov finally won the hammer throw (84.80 m, Olympic record), Vyacheslav Ivanenko did the same in the 50 km walk and a young Sergei Bubka took gold in the pole vault. East German Ulf Timmermann broke the Olympic record in the shot put. Finally, the marathon brought the Italian Gelindo Bordin the winner in the men's category and the Portuguese Rosa Mota in the women's category.

American Jackie Joyner-Kersee broke the world record in the heptathlon (7,291 points) and the Olympic record in the long jump. The other world record broken was that of the Soviet women's team in the final of the 4 x 400 m relay. There were surprises such as the defeat of record holder Stefka Kostadinova, who had to settle for silver in the high jump after being beaten by Louise Ritter.

Basketball

Arvydas Sabonis, with Dorsal 11, during the basketball game between the USSR and the United States.

All basketball games were held at the Jamsil Arena between September 18 and 30. The FIBA regulation introduced in these Olympic Games. the triple line. Twelve nations participated in the men's category and the Soviet Union, led by Arvydas Sabonis and Rimas Kurtinaitis, took gold by 63:76 over the Yugoslavia of Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac. The bronze went to the United States, which was left out of the final for the first time in its history, losing to the USSR in the semifinals. The participation of NBA professionals was banned until that year, so the Americans had come with a team of university students.

The United States won the women's gold medal over Yugoslavia by 70:77. The Soviet Union took bronze by defeating Australia 68:53.

Handball

The Suwon Gymnasium hosted the handball competition from September 20 to October 1, with twelve men's and eight women's teams participating in two groups. Instead of having playoffs, the champion of each group played directly in the final and the runners-up played for bronze. South Korea surprised in both categories by obtaining a medal. In the men's, the hosts were group leaders and took silver by losing to the Soviet Union by 32:25. And in the women's, the South Koreans took the first gold in their history by beating Norway and the USSR in the final group.

Boxing

The Jamsil Student Gymnasium hosted the 427 bouts that made up the twelve boxing events—all men—from September 17 to October 2. A total of 441 amateur boxers and 159 judges from 106 national committees participated, the largest turnout to date. The United States led the medal table with eight medals (three gold), followed by South Korea and East Germany (two gold each).

The three Americans to win gold were Kennedy McKinney (Super Bantamweight), Andrew Maynard (Light Heavyweight) and Ray Mercer (Heavyweight). In the super heavyweight, the triumph of Canadian Lennox Lewis stood out, who years later would develop a successful career in the World Boxing Council. His rival in that fight was the American Riddick Bowe. In light flyweight, the Bulgarian Ivailo Marinov (bronze in Moscow 1980) beat Michael Carbajal by unanimous decision, and in welterweight there was the victory of Robert Wangila, the first Kenyan medalist without competing in athletics. The other winners were South Koreans Kim Kwang-sun (flyweight) and Park Si-hun (light middleweight), Italian Giovanni Parisi (featherweight), East Germans Andreas Zülow (lightweight) and Henry Maske (middleweight), and Soviet Vyacheslav Yanovskiy (light welterweight).

Boxing was marked by two incidents. The most relevant occurred in the semi-middleweight final between Park Si-hun and the American Roy Jones Jr.; Despite the fact that Jones hit 86 punches to the host's 32, the judges gave Si-hun the victory in a close decision (3:2). Two of the three referees who voted for the South Korean were suspended in perpetuity, despite which he kept the gold medal. Due to the controversy that arose, in Barcelona 1992 the scoring system was changed. In addition, in the super bantamweight qualifiers the coaches Byun Jung-il's tried to attack the referee after his fighter was penalized. As Jung-il refused to get out of the ring, all the judges left the stadium and the competition was suspended until the next day.

Cycling

The cycling events, held between September 8 and 24, included the participation of 455 athletes —391 men and 64 women— from 62 countries. In road cycling there were three events: two men's and one women's. East Germany dominated both the team time trial and the individual route at the Tongillo circuit (Tongil-ro, Seoul), where their athlete Olaf Ludwig prevailed over West Germans Bernd Gröne —silver— and Christian Henn —bronze. The winner in the women's singles was the Dutch Monique Knol, after a close final stretch in which it was necessary to review the finish photo.

The six track cycling events, held at the Seoul Olympic Velodrome, were dominated by the Soviet Union with four golds, one silver and one bronze. In the five men's categories, the Lithuanian Gintautas Umaras stood out with his victory in the individual and team pursuits. Lutz Heßlich won a gold medal for the GDR in the men's 1000 m sprint. The Estonian Erika Salumäe managed to win with the USSR in women's sprint, a test that was carried out for the first time in a Olympic Games.

East German Christa Rothenburger took silver in the 1000m sprint. Six months earlier she had been gold in speed skating at the Olympic Games. Calgary Winter Championships 1988, becoming the only athlete to have won metal in both events in the same year.

Horse riding

The equestrian events included the participation of 197 riders —138 men and 59 women— from 32 countries who used 241 horses. Most of the events took place at the Seoul Equestrian Park, located 18 kilometers from the Olympic Village. It was one of the few facilities that was not completed until 1988.

The medal table was won by West Germany, with two gold medals in dressage for Nicole Uphoff (individual and teams) and her horse Rembrandt. For the first time in the Olympic Games, all the dressage tests yielded a female winner. In three-day individual competition, Australian Mark Todd and his horse Charisma retained their 1984 gold, while West Germany triumphed in teams with a score of 225.95. Finally, the grand prix of jumping ended with victory for the Frenchman Pierre Durand and his horse Jappeloup (individual), and West Germany (teams). The American Joseph Fargis, champion of both categories in Los Angeles 1984, had to settle for a silver in teams.

Fencing

The eight fencing events were held at the Olympic Park's Olympic Fencing Gym from September 20-30. A total of 247 men participated in the six men's. Arnd Schmitt won gold in individual épée for West Germany, but was defeated in the team final by France, led by six-time medalist Philippe Riboud in his last participation. In foil, the Italian Stefano Cerioni prevailed individually and the Soviet Union, led by Aleksandr Románkov, did the same in teams. Finally, the French Jean-François Lamour revalidated the gold medal in saber, and Imre Gedővári's Hungary achieved it in teams.

The women's category was limited to foil and was dominated by West Germany, with triple podiums in individual —with Anja Fichtel at the top— and gold in teams. Kerstin Palm, representative of Sweden, became the first woman to attend seven Olympic Games. consecutive since her debut in Tokyo 1964.

Football

A total of sixteen teams participated in the soccer tournament, divided into four groups. 32 games were played in five cities: Seoul (Olympic Stadium and Dongdaemun Stadium), Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon. The participation of professionals was restricted to those under 23 years of age without a presence in the World Cup, but the IOC exempted Asian soccer players from that limitation. After the qualifiers, eight teams reached the quarterfinals: Sweden, West Germany, Zambia, Italy, Soviet Union, Argentina, Brazil and Australia.

In the semifinals, the Soviet Union defeated Italy 2:3 with outstanding performances by Russian Igor Dobrovolski and Lithuanian Arminas Narbekovas. For its part, Brazil got rid of West Germany 1:1 (2:3 on penalties) with a young squad led by Bebeto and Romario, top scorer. The final was held on October 1 at the Olympic Stadium and Brazil, the clear favourite, was leading at halftime by 0:1. However, the Soviets equalized on a penalty and came back from behind after extra time thanks to a goal from Yuri Savichev. With the final 2:1 the Soviet Union took the gold, Brazil the silver and Federal Germany the bronze.

Gymnastics

Yelena Shushunova in full balance bar exercise.

The Olympic Gymnastics Arena was the venue for artistic gymnastics —September 18 to 25— and rhythmic gymnastics —September 28 to 30. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the artistic routines would be evaluated by six judges and the final score would be the total sum, eliminating the highest and lowest. Similarly, the ball was exchanged for the rope in the exercise program.

In artistic gymnastics the Soviet Union had no rival in the men's category. Soviet gymnasts won team gold and competed against each other in the individual events: Vladimir Artiomov took three more golds, including the individual event; Sergei Kharkov won the floor exercise, Valeri Liukin won the high bar, equal on points with Artiomov, and Dmitri Bilozérchev won the rings and pommel horse, where there was a triple tie for first place. The only event where there was no Soviet finalist was in the vault, where the Chinese Lou Yun defended the gold medal at Los Angeles 1984.

As for the female gymnasts, a duel was established between the Soviet Yelena Shushunova and the Romanian Daniela Silivaș for which both would match Nadia Comaneci's mark of seven tens in a single edition. In the end Shushunova won the individual contest and the team contest, while Silivas took three golds in the apparatus finals (floor, bar and uneven), silver in the contests and bronze in vault. Thanks to those titles, Yelena Shushunova equaled the feat of Lyudmila Turishcheva by winning the four most important gymnastics competitions: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup and European Gymnastics. The other great winner was the Soviet Svetlana Boguínskaya, a native of Belarus: four metals, two gold.

In rhythmic gymnastics, the USSR also won the gold medal thanks to Marina Lóbach, who shared the podium with the Bulgarian Adriana Dunavska and bronze with Olexandra Timoshenko.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting took place from September 18 to 29 at the Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium with the participation of 245 weight lifters, all male, in ten events. The return of the socialist states after their absence in Los Angeles 1984 marked the future of the competition, as they won nine of the tests. The Soviet Union won eight medals —six gold— followed by Bulgaria —two gold—, East Germany and Turkey. Although China did not win any events, they demonstrated their upward trend in the sport with one silver and four bronzes, the second in number of metals.

As far as world records are concerned, the Bulgarian Sevdalin Marinov climbed to the top of the 52 kg podium, breaking the world record with 270 kg; the Turkish Naim Süleymanoğlu, nicknamed "Pocket Hercules", did the same in 60 kg (190 kilos in two times, 342.5 in total), and the Soviet Aleksandr Kurlovich surpassed 462.5 kilos lifted in +110 kg. In addition to Kurlovic, the Soviets dominated with the victories of the Armenian Oksen Mirzoyan (56 kg), the Chechen Israil Arsamakov (82.5 kg), the Kazakh Anatoly Khrapaty (90 kg) and the Russians Pavel Kuznetsov (100 kg) and Yury Zakharevich (110 kg). Zakharevich had dislocated his elbow five years earlier and was able to return to competition thanks to having synthetic tendons implanted. The other victories were for the German Joachim Kunz at 67.5 kg and the Bulgarian Borislav Gidikov at 75 kg.

There were two winners who were dispossessed of the gold medal for being positive for furosemide: the Bulgarians Mitko Grabnev (56 kg) and Angel Guenchev (67.5 kg). This caused the Bulgarian team to withdraw in protest. Likewise, the Hungarian Andor Szanyi lost the silver in 100 kg for positive for stanozolol. In total there were five detected cases of doping.

Hockey

From September 18 to October 1, Seongnam Stadium hosted field hockey games with twelve men's teams and eight women's teams. In the men's category, Australia and West Germany topped their respective groups, joined in the semi-finals by the Netherlands and Great Britain. In the fight for the metals, the British surprised Australia by eliminating Australia in the semifinals and beating the Germans 1:3 in the final. The United Kingdom had not won a gold medal in hockey since the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. The bronze went to the Dutch.

Australia was able to win gold in the women's category, defeating South Korea in the final (2:0) with an outstanding performance by captain Rechelle Hawkes.

Judo

The judo competition took place at the Changchung Gymnasium from September 25 to October 1. In the men's category, with 250 athletes from 69 countries, seven events were held. South Korea led the medal table thanks to victories in the lower weighing categories of Kim Jae-yup (-60 kg) and Lee Kyung-keun (-65 kg). Frenchman Marc Alexandre defeated Sven Loll in -71kg, and Pole Waldemar Legień took the first of his two Olympic medals in -78kg. There were two judokas who revalidated the gold obtained in 1984: the Austrian Peter Seisenbacher (-86 kg) against Vladimir Shestakov, and the Japanese Hitoshi Saitō (+95 kg). The last gold medal was for the Brazilian Aurélio Miguel in -95 kg.

The female category, limited to exhibition sports, had the participation of 53 athletes from 23 countries. It was not until the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games when women were able to fight for medals. The Belgian Ingrid Berghmans, one of the most outstanding judokas of her time, won in -72 kg.

Fight

Seongnam Sangmu Gymnasium, 8 kilometers from the Olympic Village, hosted the wrestling competition with 429 men from 69 countries in twenty events: ten wrestling and ten Greco-Roman wrestling events. Unlike other Olympic Games, this time a limit of 130 kg was included in the super heavyweight category. The Soviet Union was the clear winner of the medal table with 15 metals —eight golds—, followed by South Korea with nine —four golds. Bulgaria was third in number but only got one gold.

In freestyle wrestling, the Soviets won four golds: Sergei Beloglazov retained victory at Moscow 1980 at 57 kg, while his teammates Arsen Fadzayev (68 kg), Majarbek Jadartsev (90 kg) and Davit Gobedzhishvili (130 kg) debuted with victories after having dominated the championships of this specialty. In Greco-Roman wrestling, the Italian Vincenzo Maenza revalidated the 1984 gold in the super lightweight; Soviet champions Kamandar Madzhidov (62 kg), Mikhail Mamiashvili (82 kg) and Alexandr Karelin (130 kg) excelled in their respective categories, and Pole Andrzej Wroński took gold in the 100 kg.

Swimming

Kristin Otto, winner of six gold medals.

The swimming program consisted of 31 events held between September 18 and 25 at the Jamsil Aquatic Center. Two tests were included with respect to the previous program: the 50 m freestyle in the men's and women's categories. With the participation of 633 swimmers —381 men and 252 women—, seventeen Olympic and seven world records were beaten. All water sports are under the supervision of the International Swimming Federation (FINA).

In the men's category, the name of swimming was American Matt Biondi with seven medals, five of them gold: 50m freestyle (22:14, world record), 100m freestyle (48:63, Olympic record) and the three relay events. In the final of the 100m butterfly he had to settle for silver after being beaten by Anthony Nesty, the first Surinamese athlete to win a gold medal, by just one thousandth of a difference. The Hungarian Tamás Darnyi broke two world records in the 200 m and 400 m in four styles. Finally, the Soviet champion Vladimir Salnikov, triple medalist in Moscow 1980, won gold in the 1500 m event before retiring from the competition.

In the women's events, East Germany's Kristin Otto was the most decorated athlete with six gold medals, something no woman had achieved to date: 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and both relay events. The GDR team won 10 of the 15 events, including Silke Hörner's world record in the 200 m butterfly. Only the American swimmer Janet Evans could overshadow them, who in her debut won three golds in the long-distance events: 400 m freestyle, 800 m freestyle and 400 m in four styles.

East Germany won the medal table with 28 medals —eleven gold—, followed by the United States with 18 —eight gold—.

Synchronized swimming

Seoul 1988 were the second Olympic Games. with a synchronized swimming program in individual and duets. Canada won both events thanks to Carolyn Waldo (two golds) and her partner Michelle Cameron. The United States achieved silver with the contest of Tracie Ruiz, champion in Los Angeles 1984, and the Josephson twins in teams. For its part, Japan obtained bronze through the mediation of Mikako Kotani and Miyako Tanaka.

Jumps

Greg Louganis added four gold medals in Seoul before he retired.

Four events—two men's and two women's—made up the diving competition, also held at the Jamsil Aquatic Center. The American Greg Louganis ended his Olympic career with two victories in 3 and 10 meters, but not before causing a scare: the diver hit his head against the 3-meter springboard, something that did not prevent him from continuing to compete. Despite Louganis, the North Americans ceded their dominance to the jumpers from the People's Republic of China, who led the medal table with six of the twelve metals at stake, including the gold medals in springboard (Gao Min) and platform (Xu Yanmei). The Mexican Jesús Mena Campos was bronze in the men's platform.

Water polo

The men's water polo tournament included the participation of 12 teams. At the end of the group stage, the teams from West Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States and Yugoslavia had advanced to the tie. Finally, the 1984 Los Angeles final was repeated with the same result: the Yugoslavs defeated the Americans 9:7 to climb to the top of the podium. Bronze went to the Soviet Union.

Modern pentathlon

For the modern pentathlon, five events were held, one per day, in the following order: dressage, fencing, swimming, shooting and athletics. Between September 18 and 22, a total of 65 men from 26 countries participated. In the individual, the Hungarian János Martinek won the gold medal behind the Italian Carlo Massullo —silver— and the Soviet Vakhtang Iagorashvili —bronze. The good performance of the Magyars, with their three representatives in the top 10, also brought Hungary a medal in the team event; Italy took silver, while bronze fell to Great Britain.

Canoeing

The canoeing events were held at the Misari Regatta on the course of the Han River, completely remodeled for the occasion. There were nine men's and three women's events attended by 275 canoeists. The program was the same as in Los Angeles 1984, with all the events in calm water: slalom canoeing was not included until Barcelona 1992. East Germany won the medal table with nine medals - three golds - followed by the Soviet Union with six —three gold—

In the kayak events, American Greg Barton won two gold medals in the K1 1000m (singles and doubles) and New Zealander Paul MacDonald took three metals, one from each class. Zsolt Gyulay of Hungary also had an outstanding performance with two gold medals in the K1 500m and the K4 1000m team. In the canoe events, the Soviet Union won three of the four events, including all the team events and Ivans Klementjevs' C1 1000m win. The only one to break that dominance was East German Olaf Heukrodt in the C1 500m. The women's events were limited to kayaking with wins for Bulgarian Vania Gesheva in the singles and East Germany in the two team events.

Rowing

End of row at the Misari Regatta.

Rowing also took place at the Misari Regatta between September 19 and 25, with eight men's and six women's events. For the first time, a women's rowing event without a coxswain was included. The return of the communist countries after the boycott in Los Angeles 1984 was noted in the medal table; East Germany took eight of the fourteen golds at stake, and Romania medaled in seven different events. Among the multiple medalists, the British Steve Redgrave stood out, obtaining the second of his five consecutive golds, along with Andy Holmes in the men's coxless pair event.

Tennis

The return of tennis to the Olympic program —from which it had been absent since Paris 1924— also led to the entry of professional players affiliated to the International Tennis Federation, with no age limit. A total of 129 tennis players —81 men and 49 women—from 39 countries competed in the singles and doubles qualifiers. In the men's, Miloslav Mečíř won gold for Czechoslovakia in the individual category: the Americans Ken Flach and Robert Seguso defeated the Spanish pair of Emilio Sánchez Vicario and Sergio Casal in doubles. In the women's singles, the German Steffi Graf defeated the Argentine Gabriela Sabatini in the final; Both had already met in the 1988 Wimbledon final with the opposite result. The women's doubles went to the American duo of Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison.

Table tennis

Table tennis debuted on the Olympic program with four events: two men's and two women's. Until then it had not even been an exhibition sport. The events were dominated by Asian tennis players: South Korea won the men's singles (Yoo Nam-kyu) and women's doubles (Hyun Jung-hwa and Yang Young-ja). The People's Republic of China did the same in women's singles (Chen Jing) and men's doubles (Chen Longcan and Wei Qingguang), leading the medal table with five metals. The only Western countries to medal were Yugoslavia (silver) and Sweden (bronze).

Shooting

The Olympic shooting events were held from September 18 to 24 at the Taereung Shooting Range, with the participation of 408 shooters—293 men and 115 women. The program had thirteen tests, including for the first time the 10 meter air pistol. In addition, preliminary phases and a grand finale were included in various tests, with the intention of making them more attractive to spectators. In total, three world records and 37 Olympic records were broken. The Soviet Union had no rival in the medal table with eleven medals, four of them gold.

Regarding the mixed events, the skeet podium was taken by the East German Axel Wegner, silver for the Chilean Alfonso de Iruarrizaga and bronze for the Spanish Jorge Guardiola. In trap, a tiebreaker was necessary where the Soviet Dmitri Monakov defeated the Czechoslovakian Miloslav Bednařík.

Archery

The four archery events took place from September 27 to October 1 at the Hwarang Shooting Range. For the first time, team events were included in the program. In addition, the qualifying system was simplified with knockout rounds and fewer shots. In the men's category, 84 archers participated: Jay Barrs beat host Park Sung-soo in the singles, but in teams the tables were turned and South Korea beat South Korea. USA. In the women's, with 62 archers in contention, the South Koreans took the podium with gold for Kim Soo-nyung, silver for Wang Hee-kyung and bronze for Yun Young-sook. All three were also team gold, after defeating Indonesia in the final.

Candle

Transcourse of the final fine class.

The sailing events were held in Busan, the second most populous city in South Korea and 325 km from the capital. Strong winds forced the postponement of several competitions. This time eight events were included, including the debut of the 470 women's category. France led the medal table thanks to two golds in the men's 470 (Thierry Peponnet and Luc Pillot) and in tornado (Jean Le Deroff and Nicolas Hénard), while Spain achieved its only gold medal in these Olympic Games. through José Luis Doreste in finn. The country that obtained the most medals was the United States, five in total.

Volleyball

In the volleyball program, two events were held, one for men and one for women, with the final phase at Arena Jamsil. The selection of participants was made according to the criteria of the International Volleyball Federation. In the men's tournament, 12 teams competed: the United States retained its Olympic title and shared a podium with the Soviet Union —silver— and Argentina —bronze. In the women's tournament, made up of 8 countries, the Soviet Union won gold against Peru, the revelation of the event, and silver in the best participation in its history. Bronze went to China.

Exhibition sports

The main exhibition sports chosen by the SLOOC were taekwondo (domestic) and baseball (international). Taekwondo is the emblematic martial art of South Korea, characterized by its kicking techniques, while baseball is one of the most practiced team sports in the country. Three more were included in these tests: bowling, badminton and judo in the female category.

The taekwondo tournament was held at the Changchung Gymnasium between September 17 and 20, with sixteen events —eight men and eight women— under the regulations of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) in which 120 athletes participated. The South Koreans won seven of the eight men's events, although there was more equality in the women's. Taekwondo returned to being an exhibition sport in Barcelona 1992 and would not form part of the official program until Sydney 2000.

As for baseball, the Jamsil Baseball Stadium hosted an eight-team tournament from September 19 to 28, whose champion was the United States, with a team full of university students in which the pitcher< stood out /i>Jim Abbott. This sport was included in the Olympic program in the following edition of Barcelona 1992, after having been an exhibition sport up to seven times.

Closing Ceremony

Fireworks at the closing ceremony.

After two weeks of sports competitions, the Olympic Stadium hosted the closing ceremony on October 2, 1988. At 7:00 p.m. (UTC +9) it began with a traditional pungmul, and five minutes later all the athletes entered without distinction of nationality. This was followed by a representation of the "magpies bridge" in which more than 750 artists participated.

The president of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, publicly congratulated the SLOOC and all the participants for "their contribution to the success of these Olympic Games, the best and most universal in our history", to then close the event with the formal formula: «I declare the Games of the XXIV Olympiad finished and I invite the youth of the world to gather, in four years, in Barcelona, for the celebration of the Games of the XXV Olympiad». The mayor of Seoul, Yong Nae-kim, handed over the Olympic flag to his colleague from the city of Barcelona, Pasqual Maragall.

A contemporary Spanish dance performance preceded the lowering of the Olympic flag and the slow extinguishing of the Olympic flame. For the farewell, more than 1,200 dancers participated in a lantern dance, followed by a fireworks display. The show ended at 8:30 p.m.

Participants

The participating countries appear in green. In blue are the debutants.

159 countries participated in the Olympic Games in Seoul, through their respective national committees affiliated with the International Olympic Committee. 8,391 athletes competed (6,197 men and 2,194 women), which was a record participation.

The positive news was that the United States and the Soviet Union returned to compete against each other in Olympic Games. The Americans had boycotted Moscow 1980 and the Soviets did the same in Los Angeles 1984, so convincing both nations meant recovering the greatest sports powers in the last years of the Cold War. However, Seoul 1988 did not get rid of the boycotts; North Korea, a historical political rival of the South, refused to participate and was followed by its allies in Albania (for the fourth time in a row), Cuba and Ethiopia. In addition Madagascar, Nicaragua and the Seychelles resigned for different reasons.

The IOC upheld the veto of South Africa for its apartheid policies, with 1988 being the last edition in which that would occur.

This was the last Olympic Games for two countries that traditionally dominated the medal table: the Soviet Union (dissolved in 1991) and the German Democratic Republic (reunited in 1990). They also meant the goodbye of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Several committees made their Olympic debut at Seoul 1988: Aruba, Guam (already present at the Winter Games), Cook Islands, Maldives, American Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vanuatu and South Yemen. Newcomer Brunei sent only one referee. The youngest athlete was the Angolan swimmer Nádia Cruz (13 years old), while the oldest was the Bahamian sailor Durward Knowles (70 years old).

Medal table

A total of fifty-two countries medaled at these Olympic Games. The most successful was the Soviet Union with 132 metals, followed by the German Democratic Republic with 102; both nations signed their last participation in this event. The United States was third in the medal table with 94 and South Korea finished fourth (33) thanks to a greater number of gold medals, despite West Germany (40) and Bulgaria (35) having won more medals.

Countries that won a medal for the first time include Netherlands Antilles (sailing), Costa Rica (swimming), Indonesia (archery), US Virgin Islands (sailing), Senegal (athletics), Suriname (swimming) and Djibouti (athletics).

No.	Country				Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	55	31	46	132
2	Eastern Germany (GDR)	37	35	30	102.
3	United States (USA)	36	31	27	94
4	South Korea (KOR)	12	10	11	33
5	Western Germany (FRG)	11	14	15	40
6	Hungary (HUN)	11	6	6	23
7	Bulgaria (BUL)	10	12	13	35
8	Romania (ROU)	7	11	6	24
9	France (FRA)	6	4	6	16
10	Italy (ITA)	6	4	4	14

Multiple medalists

Multiple medalists

Athlette	Country	Sport				Total
Kristin Otto	German Democratic Republic	Swimming	6	0	0	6
Matt Biondi	United States	Swimming	5	1	1	7
Vladimir Artemov	Soviet Union	Gymnastics	4	1	0	5
Daniela Silivaș	Romania	Gymnastics	3	2	1	6
Florence Griffith-Joyner	United States	Athleticism	3	1	0	4
Dmitri Bilozérchev	Soviet Union	Gymnastics	3	0	1	4
Janet Evans	United States	Swimming	3	0	0	3

Disputes

Political situation

Manifestation in Seoul for the restoration of democracy (1987).

At the time the Olympic Games were awarded, South Korea was ruled by an authoritarian government heavily influenced by the military. General Park Chung-hee came to power in a coup in 1960, He maintained a limited democracy and in 1972 declared martial law to govern without opposition until his assassination in 1979. And despite the timid attempts at democratic reforms, they were repressed with another coup that led to the rise of General Chun Doo-hwan in 1980. Throughout the decade there were demonstrations in large cities to demand both civil and political rights and free elections.

Democratic movements saw the Olympic event as a great opportunity to achieve their goals, even more so when Chun Doo-hwan proposed in 1987 that Roh Tae-woo, former president of SLOOC, succeed him as president. Confirmed, the opposition —headed by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam— constituted the June Democratic Movement, which through daily mobilizations demanded a transition towards full democracy, and whose turning point was the «National March for the Peace". These mobilizations had international support and especially from the United States, interested in the political stability of the peninsula. Finally, Doo-hwan had to resign and on June 29, 1987 he announced a constitutional reform that, in addition to presidential elections by universal suffrage, restored civil and political rights.

The pro-government candidate Roh Tae-woo was elected president by a simple majority and arrived in Seoul in 1988 as the head of state of a multi-party democracy.

Arrest and murder of homeless people

In 2016 it was revealed that the South Korean police had arrested and mass murdered thousands of homeless people before the Olympic Games, to hide their presence for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. They were sent to forced labor camps, where they would live situations such as summary murders, torture, sexual abuse and beatings (which occasionally caused the death of those attacked) that were the norm. Said swedish was hidden by the South Korean authorities for even decades.

Boycott North Korea

After the end of the Korean War, the Korean peninsula was divided into two sovereign states that claimed all of the territory as their own: North Korea —juche socialism, sponsored by the People's Republic of China— and South Korea —capitalist, supported by the United States. The 1953 ceasefire established the creation of a demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel north, but formally both parties were still at war because a peace treaty had not been signed. Although the reunification of Korea was a common objective, it could never be carried out due to the entrenchment of the conflict and the continuous disputes between the two actors. However, SLOOC was hopeful of a unified Korean team.

In October 1985, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was involved in organizing the Inter-Korean Sports Meeting in Lausanne, which was attended by members of the South Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and the North Korean Olympic Committee (NOC), these the latter at the request of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has revealed that the North Koreans were demanding a 50-50 shared Olympics between Seoul and Pyongyang, which the IOC refused for logistical reasons. The South Koreans were not willing to give up more than is essential, and although Samaranch offered up to three events —soccer, table tennis and archery— there were no significant advances.

Finally, North Korea confirmed on September 2, 1988—two weeks before the inauguration—that it would not attend Seoul. Their allies from Albania, Cuba and Ethiopia joined the boycott. Samaranch managed to prevent the People's Republic of China from joining due to Deng Xiaoping's interest in organizing the 2000 Olympic Games. They served for the Republic of Korea to initiate a diplomatic opening with the Eastern bloc.

In addition to the negotiations, another notable event was the terrorist attack against Korean Air Flight 858, which exploded on November 29, 1987 with 115 people on board. The attack was the work of two North Korean secret agents who attempted suicide when arrested; the only survivor, Kim Hyon-hui, assured that, among other objectives, they intended to sabotage tourism during the Games.

Doping

Although the 1988 Seoul Olympics were an organizational success, they ended up marred by doping cases. In total, more than 1,600 controls were carried out and a dozen violations were detected. The test most affected was weightlifting: of the five disqualified athletes, three had won a medal. There were also positives in athletics, horse riding and wrestling. As a result of all those detected, the fight against doping intensified in the 1990s.

Ben Johnson's positive for anabolic drugs had a huge impact worldwide, as he had won the final of the 100-meter dash with a world record of 9:79 seconds. The IOC withdrew his gold medal effective immediately and it was awarded to the second classified, Carl Lewis, while the International Athletics Federation sanctioned the Canadian for two years. All these events opened a debate on the use of prohibited substances in high competition sport, and both Lewis and Linford Christie came under suspicion. In 2003, former United States Olympic Committee (USOC) anti-doping director Wade Exum claimed that the body authorized Lewis's participation despite having tested positive in previous controls. However, the USOC removed iron to the accusations and attributed them to personal vendetta. The untimely death of Florence Griffith Joyner in 1998 also raised suspicions of doping, although no evidence was ever found.

It is suspected that the number of doping cases could be significantly higher. The German Democratic Republic, second in the medal table with 102 medals, was accused after German reunification of having established a massive doping network, the "State Plan 14.25", through which several coaches confessed to having supplied steroids to their athletes without them they had knowledge.

Legacy

The 1988 Seoul Olympics had a huge impact on South Korea. In addition to confirming the country as one of the major powers in East Asia, they served in its external opening and in the establishment of a multi-party democracy. Just as the Japanese did with Tokyo 1964, the South Korean government wanted to use the Olympics to encourage foreign investment, as well as diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, allies of North Korea. And although the North Koreans boycotted the event, the United States and the USSR were able to compete against each other, something that had not happened since Montreal 1976. The president of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, defined its development as "the best and most universal Olympic Games of our history" to date.

In general terms, it is considered that Seoul 1988 was a success due to the attendance at the stadiums, with full houses in almost all events, and the organization's preparation since the 1986 Asian Games. All of this has allowed South Korea to South hosts other major international sporting events: the 1989 Taekwondo World Championship, the 2002 Soccer World Cup, the 2011 World Athletics Championships, and two editions of the Asian Games in Busan (2002) and Incheon (2014).

Thirty years after the Summer Olympics, South Korea hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pieonchang.

As far as Seoul, which had experienced uncontrolled population growth decades before, was concerned, the works served to create green areas, rehabilitate historical monuments and decontaminate the Han River. Seoul Olympic Park is now a residential area and several of its facilities, such as the Olympic Gymnastics Arena or the Olympic Pavilion, have been converted into concert halls.