Day 11 coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics continued with this 40 minute program window that featured Howard Cosell at the L A Sports Arena calling the 4th round light flyweight match between USA Paul Gonzales vs GBR John Lyon….as Gonzales continued on his path to winning the gold medal in the 48kg light flyweight class.
Basketball contests at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at The Forum in Inglewood, CA from July 29 to August 10…..as the United States won the gold medal in both events….with the first coming in the women’s team history. Due to the boycott by the Soviet Union and Hungary….who withdrew from the tournament….as the former had already qualified for both events….whereby they were replaced by West Germany in the men’s competition….while both nations’ women’s teams were replaced by Australia and South Korea….as the Koreans would unexpectedly reach the finals with the USA…..as seen in this video herewith.
In the middle of the 1st half of the women’s basketball finals between the USA vs. South Korea is an ABC News Brief with Peter Jennings….as he reports on the US Presidential Campaign between Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan….plus a report on mines that were sinking ships in the Red Sea between Egypt and Saudi Arabia….followed by a report of a huge quaaludes drug bust…..so, when you think about the news that is on television today in 2018….not much has really changed…. as it is still about conflict in the Middle East….drugs coming across our US borders…..and political posturing.
As ABC Sports lead women’s basketball broadcast team of Ann Meyers, a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame….and Keith Jackson, who was already a legend in college football broadcasting at the time of the ’84 L A Games. The USA women’s team was loaded with great players including Teresa Edwards, Lynette Woodard, Anne Donovan, Kim Mulkey, Pam McGee, Cindy Noble and Cheryl Miller, who without question was the best women’s basketball player in the world at the time of these L A Games…..plus this team was coached by college basketball legend Pat Summit from the University of Tennessee. By the time the 1st half ended…. the USA was already up by a commanding 38 – 23 margin.
