Overview:

Officially recognized as “XIV Olympic Winter Games”, the 1984 Winter Olympics was a winter sports event held in the city of Sarajevo, which was then a part of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo got the opportunity to host the games when it beat Sapporo and Gothenburg in the bidding process.

The 1984 Winter Olympics were also known to be the 2nd Olympics organized in a communist state; the first one being the 1980 Summer Games, which was organized in Moscow. The decision to host the games in Sarajevo was taken during the 1978 session of the IOC. Sarajevo overtook Sapporo of Japan by 3 votes. The traditional torch relay for the 1984 Winter Olympics commenced in the ancient Greek city of Olympia and covered a distance of 5289 kilometers. The last torchbearer was Sanda Dubravcic who was given the torch from Olympic skier, Bojan Križaj. The official mascot for the games was Vučko, who was a little wolf designed by Jože Trobec, the famous Slovenian illustrator and designer.

A total of 49 countries participated in the Sarajevo Winter Olympics of 1984. Debutants included Puerto Rico, Senegal, Virgin Islands, Monaco and Egypt. China ended its boycott of the Olympics and participated as Chinese Taipei for the first time ever.

Notable Highlights:

The 1984 Winter Olympics was also the first Olympics to be held under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch, who is considered to be one of the most effective IOC presidents of all time. Yugoslavia won its first ever medal in the Winter Olympics when Jure Franko finished second in giant slalom. Cross-country events were dominated by Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen, who won three gold medals. Senegal skier, Lamine Guèye became the first Black African skier to take part in the Winter Olympics.

The closing ceremony for the 1984 Winter Olympics took place indoors, in the venue for figure skating. This is notable as it was the last time a closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics was held indoors until the Winter Olympics of 2010, which took place in Vancouver.