1984 | La Mesa, California
Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics, having been the only viable bidder that year, and the centerpiece was again the same Memorial Coliseum used in the 1932 Games. I hardly remember that the Soviet Union boycotted the Games, along with all of the Eastern Bloc, less Romania, plus Iran and Libya for other reasons. (The U.S. had boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.)
During the run-up for the Games, the Torch was brought from Greece by relay, arriving on our shores in New York, then was carried by hand through thirty-three states over 9,000 miles by over 3,600 relaying runners. Crowds really did come out to celebrate its passing through their communities on its generously serpentine route around the country. Here people gathered to celebrate a runner passing through La Mesa toward San Diego, to complete the route into Los Angeles from the south.
I do miss the days when we could join a big crowd with common enthusiasm, celebrate international sport, ignore boycotts, and cheer what we all shared.