DOG COMMENTARY:
ABC Sports’ televised coverage of Day 9 of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games took place on Sunday, August 5th…..as this portion of the day’s events leads off with Al Michaels, Wilma Rudolph and O J Simpson on the mikes at the Los Angeles Coliseum for track and field competition….as the first heat of the semifinals of the women’s 400m race gets under way…..while featuring USA Valerie Briscoe-Hooks ….as she comes in 1st and qualifies for the finals…..action at the Coliseum then shifts to the men’s broad jump qualifying….with USA Mike McRae making his final jump….which qualifies his for the finals.
When Jim McKay comes on to give some Olympic updates….he then passes to Bob Beattie and Kirk Kilgore at the volleyball venue for the women’s semifinals game between the USA and Peru…..as it is important to note here that this video has coverage of this game up to the middle of the 2nd set…..for we have another Day 9 video already posted that has the completion of the game….along with ABC’s completion of Day 9 coverage.
We have often commented about the ABC Profiles of various Olympic competitors around the USA and the world….which takes the viewers “up close and personal” into the daily lives and personalities of the athletes being profiled….and the two athletes profiled in this Day 9 coverage are really special to me….cuz Evelyn Ashford and Edwin Moses are two of Bone Daddy’s favorite athletes from his record setting experience at the ’84 games….by being a part of Los Tres Amigos becoming the 1ST FANS EVER to see a live event in every sport that a medal was competed during the Games…26 sports 26 sports seen live….which set an Olympic fan record that can ONLY BE TIED….NEVER BROKEN…..for he was at the L A Coliseum on August 5, 1984 and saw both Ashford and Moses win gold medals…..as Evelyn Ashford set a new Olympic Record in the women’s 100m dash of 10.98 seconds…..while Moses won his 105th consecutive 400m hurdles race….as he won his 2nd gold medal (1976 and 1984)….for Moses, even more than most other of the 1980 US Olympic Team who got robbed by some “peanut farming politician” of competing for their country at the 1980 Moscow Olympics…..cuz that was right smack-dab in the middle of his 105 consecutive win streak…..so, most likely Moses would have had gold medals in 3 straight Olympics.
Personally, I get a kick out of Evelyn Ashford’s comments in her ABC Profile segment….when she explains how running becomes “time and space” when she said with a most wonderful smile that “it is better than sex”. No matter how you cut the pie….this Day 9 of the 1984 Olympics provides an extra portion of magic in sports…. for this video is just another “nugget of gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories.
Anyway, back at the track with Al, Wilma and O J….the viewer gets to see Evelyn Ashford’s Olympic Record gold medal victory…as USA Alice Brown captures the silver medal…..while JAM Merlene Ottey-Page garners the bronze. Then comes the most anticipated race of the day at the Coliseum…..as Bone Daddy says there was a “high pitched energy’ running throughout every human body in the crowd of 93,000 like he had never felt before…..for as the energy started to swirl around the Coliseum as the groundskeepers began to bring out the hurdles to set up the track for the men’s 400m hurdles finals…..which erupted into a cheers that was like “a champagne cork’s departure from a good bottle of French champagne” when USA Edwin Moses appeared on the track for warm-ups…..as the ensuing historic race saw Moses go out to a huge lead….a lead he never gave up. Bone Daddy says the cheers continued the entire time that Moses did his “slow walk” victory lap. USA Edwin Moses won gold in the men’s 400m dash in a time of 47.76 seconds…..as USA Danny Harris raced to the silver medal…..and West Germany’s Harald Schmid captured the bronze. What a day….what a video!!!
…..
