MORE HIGHLIGHTS

• Canada, the host country, finished with five silver and six bronze medals. This was the first time that the host country of the Summer Games had not won any gold medals. This feat had occurred previously only in the Winter Games – 1924 in Chamonix, France and 1928 in St.Moritz, Switzerland. This later occurred at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and again at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Canada.

• Because of the Munich massacre, security at these games was visible, as it had been earlier in the year at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

• Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union won his third consecutive triple jump gold medal, while Klaus Dibiasi, of Italy, did the same in the platform diving event.

VIKTOR SANEYEV

KLAUS DIBIASI

• Alberto Juantorena of Cuba became the first man to win both the 400 m and 800 m at the same Olympics. Finland's Lasse Virén also achieved a double in the 5000 and 10,000 m and finished 5th in the marathon, there by failing to equal Emil Zátopek's 1952 achievements.

ALBERTO JUANTORENA

LASSE VIRÉN (THE FIRST MAN)

• Five American boxers – Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, Leo Randolph and Howard Davis Jr. won gold medals in boxing. This has been often called the greatest Olympic boxing team the United States ever had, and, out of the five American gold medalists in boxing, all but Davis went on to become professional world champions.

• Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto performed on a broken right knee, and helped the Japanese team win the gold medal for the team cahmpionship. Fujimoto broke his leg on the floor exercise, and due to the closeness in the overall standings with the USSR, he hid the extent of the injury. With a broken knee, Fujimoto was able to complete his event on the rings, performing a perfect triple somersault dismount, maintaining perfect posture. He scored a 9.7 thus securing gold for Japan. Years later, when asked if he would do it again, he stated bluntly "No, I would not."

SHUN FUJIMOTO

• The East German women's swimming team won all but two gold medals.

• The U.S. men's swimming team won all but one gold medal.

                                

• U.S. track and field athlete Bruce Jenner won the gold medal for decathlon, setting a world record of 8,634 points.

BRUCE JENNER

• Alex Oakley, the Canadian race walker, became the oldest track and field athlete to compete at the Olympic Games. He was 50 years old, and he was taking part in his fifth Olympics.

ALEX OAKLEY IN THE PRESENT

• The New Zealand Black Sticks Men Hockey team beat Australia to win gold, becoming the first non-Asian/European team to win the gold medal in hockey.

• Boris Onishchenko, a member of the Soviet Union's modern pentathlon team, was disqualified after it was discovered that he had rigged his épée to register a hit when there wasn't one. Because of this, the USSRmodern pentathlon team was disqualified.

BORIS ONISHCHENKO