How L.A.’s 1984 Summer Olympics Became the Most Successful Games Ever

It ’s almost showtime for Sochi , which may or may not have its asshole togetherby the time the opening ceremonial start . While it ’s too tardy for Sochi to deepen its flight , perhaps the2016 host citycould jot down down a few tips from what are widely regard to be the most successful Olympics ever : L.A. , 1984 .

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In the previous 1970s , hosting the Olympics was not a very desirable matter for a city to do . The games were seen as financially bad : Montreal ’s debt from the 1976 Summer Games totaled $ 1.5 billion dollars , which was n’t paid off until 2006 . Denver was really awarded the 1976 Winter Games but its voters did not O.K. public funding , so it went to Innsbruck , Austria . Plus , tensions were in high spirits when it come to external acrobatic contest . Munich had suffer a virulent hostage crisis in 1972 and the Cold War was brewing . The 1980 games in Moscow were boycotted by the U.S. and other countries , and the U.S.S.R. and many other Eastern European boycott the 1984 games . An former front - runner , Tehran , pulled out from the 1984 command cognitive process at the last minute due to societal unrest .

In the closing , only two cities officially bid to host the 1984 Summer Games : New York City and Los Angeles . Since the U.S. could only commend one city for the external bid , when they decided on L.A. to represent the U.S. , it became the winning metropolis by default .

Preparing for challenges

The Olympics are essentially a mellow - profile opportunity for civil rebranding : A chance for a small city to put itself on the mapping or for a large one to reinvent itself . While L.A. was by no agency a petite hamlet looking for validation , the city was for certain hoping to change state around its repute as a smoggy , straggle megalopolis miss a center or any real civic superbia . detractor were quick to judge the option of L.A. as too big , too unprepared , and too financially strapped . Plus , L.A. had already hosted the Summer Olympics once , back in 1932 .

But L.A. did have one real handicap : The 1984 Summer Olympics were the first in history not to be shop at by the government , as they still are in many countries and had previously been in the U.S.

Ueberroth was named Time ’s Man of the Year .

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Budget-minded development

L.A. ’s fiscally responsible for school of thought extended to its innovative architectural scheme . The building frenzy that accompanies a winning bid is often followed by a crushing post - Olympics C , where the city is left with rotting stadiums and empty transportation system . This is most infamously illustrate in Athens , Greece ; there , not only are most of the metropolis ’s 2004 venue now empty and dilapidated , but it has been suppose that the egregious disbursement may have actually contributed to Greece ’s ongoing financial crisis . Nagano , Japan , also fall into a recession after their 1998 Winter Olympics . Much of this is illustrate inThe Olympic City , where Gary Hustwit and Jon Pack go to host cities to document what pass off after the game leave .

Also , as we ’ve seen in Sochi — which is building entire townspeople , not to mention a whole new main road and tunnel to access them — the infrastructural additions are often so ambitious that they are n’t quick in metre . Olympian cities seldom are . In Montreal in 1976 , theirOlympic stadiumwas not wind up when the games began due to twist issues and confinement strikes . Not finished , mean : It was supposed to have roof , and it didn’t — for 11 years .

Great design saves the day

Back then , committees only had about five years from the awarding of the game to the open up ceremonies — today ’s host cities get almost ten years of strategizing . A design team was quickly assembled that included leading from two big design firms , Jerde PartnershipandSussman / Prejza , as well asmany other firms and designers , who cultivate together at a studio on 8th Street in downtown Los Angeles . L.A. graphic artistRobert Miles Runyanwas tapped to create the ” Stars in Motion ” logo : five superstar which looked as if they were racing forward .

For the quietus of the branding , the team seem west . A palette and outfit - of - portion was inspired by the textures and patterns of Pacific Rim countries , string colour and human body from Mexican , Indonesian , and Nipponese cultures . This boast a signature magenta subtlety , plus other bright colors like greenish blue , red , jaundiced and purple , which deviated boldly from the expected cherry-red , white-hot and aristocratical , and give the design a truly outside look .

face up with a minuscule budget of $ 10 million and a beat clock , the designer quickly realized they would have to employ material which were affordable and bountiful to design thousands of pieces from programs to signage to irregular buildings . Inspired again by the Pacific Rim , the team look at the temporary tents and altars which were build for festival .

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rather of hulking sculptures and grandiloquent tower which had been rear in many other cities , the team used inflatables and change scaffolding to build unproblematic , colorful landmarks . Signage and wayfinding was made from painted woods and Sonotubes — pretty much giant composition board electron tube like you ’d determine in the core of a coil of giving wrap — with a vinyl striping system . The social system were effective , inexpensive , and completely transitory .

Shining TV moment

As part of the moneymaking TV deal that help finance the games , LA84 would be the first games to truly become a global television event . Although many games had parts televised in some conformation before 1984 , this broadcast would run 180 hours and be see to it by the large audience in history — not to mention very enthusiastic American buff . Knowing this , the fashion designer focused on elements that would interpret well on the small screenland , with bright colors and openhanded graphical impact . Tiny metal reflecting telescope , like you see at car dealerships , were utilise to add scintillation to buildings .

Design also help to make Southern California ’s 88 metropolis and multiple counties — many with their own identities — feel like they were part of the same small town . With 42 venues sprinkled throughout a 305 square - stat mi region — some venues were 100 miles away from each other!—there was no real sentience of persistence between locations ( except maybe the presence of palm trees ? ) . The branding , which was take over in elements across the landscape , helped to knit together an incredibly large area and create an identifiable sense of place . To globular interview watching from home base , this was , and will always be , L.A.

But the world was also watching for another rationality : To see if L.A. ’s famously suburban landscape painting could treat it . It was by far the most spatially dispersed summer games of all time . Residents fretted about L.A. ’s normally atrocious traffic becoming paralyzing ( recollect , although there was a bus web , the games happened when L.A. was “ between ” rail systems — today ’s subways were a decennary away ) . But the revelatory gridlock never happened . “ Olympic pyrexia ” take hold . People stayed home , carpooled and used shuttlecock , and the urban center was miraculously navigable .

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A lasting legacy

In 1979 , the L.A. organizing committee had made a deal . If the games saw any profit , LA84 would give 60 percent back to the U.S. Olympic Committee and keep 40 pct for Southern California . At the end of the game , the total expenditures total in at a respectable $ 546 million , but even more telling was the profit : A excess of $ 232.5 million , meaning $ 93 million would last out in the area . This was Brobdingnagian . The only other games at the time which could claim to be financially successful at all were the other L.A. Olympics : The 1 held in the city in 1932 .

The profits were used to create an endowment called theLA84 Foundation , which fund youth sporting events , resources , and facilities throughout the area . With saucy management , the endowment has acquire over the years , and over $ 214 million has helped an estimated three million children and 1,100 constitution in Southern California . Recently , the LA84 Foundationhelped rise moneyto pay coaches and purchase equipment at LAUSD mellow school after budget cuts decimate their programs .

What Los Angeles was able-bodied to do was wreak some farsightedness to the hosting of the game by look at what will be left for the urban center after the athlete , press , and witness have gone home . Not every metropolis to host the games since has learned this lesson , of course . But Los Angeles became a model for cities like Barcelona ( 1992 ) and Atlanta ( 1996 ) , which orchestrated both successful games and positivist development which revitalized their urban cores , and not at the disbursal of residents . Although other Olympic city have been profitable , it remains the most financially successful Olympic biz — by far .

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L.A. also helped make the Olympics something for a city to be proud of again . Striking , advanced design that captured the imagination of both its residents and a global audience made the city feel visually joined . Los Angeles itself was made small by the experience , seeing itself not just as a city but as a region , with far - flung communities that for the first clock time felt like they were part of this growing swell of Southern California superbia . If it could hap in L.A. , it could happen anywhere .

Los Angeles isreportedly planning to conjure for the 2024 games , which would make for a nice 40th day of remembrance celebration of its most shining moment . The command appendage begins in 2015 .

Additional sources : Design Quarterly 127 , 1985 , release by the Walker Art Center

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