As ABC Sports enters Day 11 of their 1984 Los Angeles Olympics telecast….they focus most of their early window of coverage for the day on boxing at the Los Angeles Sports Arena…. with boxing broadcast legend Howard Cosell at the mike for three featured bouts throughout the day….as 1st up is a 3rd round flyweight bout between MLW Peter Ayesu verses USA Steve McCrory….which McCrory wins a unanimous 5 – 0 decision on his way to winning the flyweight gold medal…..and next up for Cosell is a Light Flyweight fight between PUR Rafael Ramos vs ITA Salvatore Tadisco….which goes the distance to a split decision win for Todisco that Cosell describes as a “complete sham” by the judges….calling it an outrageous decision. The last fight in this Day 11 telecast is another light flyweight contest between USA Paul Gonzales verses GBR John Lyon….which turns out to be a really good fight…..as Gonzales win a 4 – 1 split decision on his way to winning the light flyweight gold medal.
During this telecast is an ABC News Business Brief with Dan Cordtz….as he comers how the US dollar is getting stronger….whereas consumer confidence is going down…..as unemployment is rising…..after which comes a special piece on television coverage by the BBC television network regarding the finals in track and fields men’s 800m race….wherein the Brits had two national heroes, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe, competing against the world. Day 11 coverage then shifts to the Olympic Swimming and Diving center for the final 3 dives in the men’s 3m springboard preliminaries….featuring the USA’s Greg Loughanis and Ron Merriot….along with China’s Li Hongping, GBR Chis Snode and ITA Luciano Italiani…. as they compete to move on to the finals.
Since I enjoy each an every piece of footage in ABC Sports broadcast of the 1984 Los Angeles Games….it is usually hard to pick a favorite for any particular day’s coverage….but for this Day 11 telecast….I especially appreciate the piece that ABC’s Jim McKay does in providing an overview of what transpired in regards to the USOC’s (United States Olympic Committee) response to “the peanut farming US President Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics”….as something good besides the robbing of some 450 USA Olympic Team members’ dreams actually came as a result of this horrific decision by a politician….who proves that when it comes to sports….the worst tics are poli-tics….as the USOC and corporate American got behind the future 1984 USA Olympians by providing training facilities, nutritional programs designed for optimum output, many more coaches and trainers and the Colorado Springs USA Olympic training center….in order to insure a successful endeavor at these Los Angeles Games.
