This ABC Sports telecast of Day 9 of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games was a day jam-packed with excitement for Team USA….with history being made all over the Olympic venues…. especially at the Los Angeles Coliseum….where Bone Daddy and his Olympic sojourners Sky Pilot and Prince of Pleasure were sitting in the stands with 90,000 other fans.
Starting out this historic day of Olympic competition….Al Michaels, O J Simpson and Dwight Stones bring us coverage of some very exciting track and field events…..as USA Valerie Briscoe-Hooks wins her semifinal heat of the womens 400m dash in a time of 51.15 seconds….just a hair off the Olympic Record at the time.
Following this 400m semifinal heat comes another wonderful ABC Profile piece on USA sprinter Evelyn Ashford that provides interesting insight into the personal life of America’s best female sprinter at the L A Games….as ABC switches to Dwight Stones at the L A Coliseum for the final long jump attempt to make the finals round of USA Mike McRae…..who moves on “by the hair of his chinny chin chin” with a jump of 25’10.5″….which meant that Carl Lewis, Larry Myricks and Mike McRae made the finals in order to jump another day at the 1984 L A Games.
The next event covered by live ABC TV became a piece of US Olympic track and field history….as USA Evelyn Ashford sprints to glory in the women 100m finals….as she became the 1st American female to win the womens 100m dash since Wyomia Tyus won in 1968 at the Mexico City Games….plus, Ashford and Alice Brown became the first two USA womens sprinters to capture gold and silver since Mexico City when Tyus and Barbara Ferrell had done the same.
Just FYI, the women’s 100m competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico….was won by defending champion USA Wyomia Tyus…..who became the first person to defend the championship at 100 metres….a feat later duplicated by USA Carl Lewis, USA Gail Devers, JAM Usain Bolt and JAM Shelly-Ann Fraser. Director Bud Greenspan filmed Tyus casually dancing behind her starting blocks before the Olympic final….and when later interviewed….she said she was doing the “Tighten Up” to stay loose….to which American commentator Dwight Stones suggests this intimidated her opponents.
The telecast shifts to Bob Beattie and Kirk Kilqour at the volleyball venue for the semifinal match between the USA vs Peru…..as Game 1 of this contest is shown in its entirety….then was followed by another ABC Profile of USA Edwin Moses….the greatest 400m hurdler in the history of the event…..as ABC smoothly segways to the L A Coliseum along with Al Michaels and O J Simpson and a crowd of 90,000 feverishly excited fans eagerly anticipating the mens 400m hurdles…..where USA Edwin Moses would be trying to win his 2nd Olympic mens 400m gold medal….and if it hadn’t been for a “peanut farming President from Georgia” mixing politics with sports….which in this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphiles’ opinion should NEVER be done!….and if the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics had never happened….Moses would be about to win his 3rd consecutive Olympic gold medals in three consecutive Olympics in the mens 400m hurdles ….which he did in a time of 47.7 seconds…..as USA Danny Harris took silverr…..and West Germany’s Harold Smidt garnered bronze.
Any way you cut the pie….Day 9 of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was an epic day for the ole Red, White and Blue…..as history was made on the track at the L A Coliseum on that hot August afternoon….which makes this video MUST SEE TV for any and all Olympics fans.
