Election The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. They were also the fourth Olympic Games to be held in Autumn; the Games were not held in Autumn again until the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. In the Seoul Games, 160 nations were represented by a total of 8391 athletes: 6197 men and 2194 women. 237 events were held. 27221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics. 11331 media (4978 written press and 6353 broadcasters) showed the Games all over the world. These were the last Olympic Games for two World's "dominating" sport powers, and both the Soviet Union and East Germany ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games. North Korea, still officially at war with South Korea, boycotted the event and was joined by Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Seychelles. However, the much larger boycotts seen in the previous three summer Olympics were avoided, resulting in the largest ever number of participating nations to that date. - Soviet Vladimir Artemov wins four gold medals in gymnastics. Daniela Silivaş of Romania wins three.
- Fresh off a demolition of the world record in the 100m at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, US sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner sets a still-standing Olympic Record (10.62) in the 100 meter dash and a still-standing world record (21.34) in the 200 meter dash to capture gold in both events. She adds a gold medal in the 4x100 relay and a silver in the 4x400. Just after the Games, she would announce her retirement.
- Canadian Ben Johnson wins the 100 m in a new world record, but is disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. In 2004, Johnson accused the American sports authorities of protecting American athletes at the expense of foreign ones. He still claims to this day that Andre "Action" Jackson, "the Mystery Man" put the stanozolol in his food or his drink.
- American boxer Roy Jones Jr. loses the gold medal to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun in a very controversial 3-2 judge's decision. Allegations swirled that Korean officials had fixed the judging. Jones Jr. receives the Val Barker Trophy, an award for the most impressive boxer of the Games. The three judges ruling against Jones were eventually suspended.
- Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor. He arrived in 21st place, but was recognized by the IOC with a special award honoring his bravery and sacrifice.
- US diver Greg Louganis wins back-to-back titles on both diving events, but only after hitting the springboard with his head in the 3 m event final. This became a minor controversy years later when Louganis revealed he knew he was HIV-positive at the time, and did not tell anybody. Since it is now known that HIV cannot survive in open water, no other divers were ever in danger.
- Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany becomes the first (and only) athlete to win Olympic medals at the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in the same year. She adds a cycling silver to the speed skating gold she won earlier in the Winter Olympics of that year in Calgary.
- Anthony Nesty of Suriname wins his country's first Olympic medal by winning the 100 m butterfly, scoring an upset victory over Matt Biondi by .01 of a second (thwarting Biondis attempt of breaking Mark Spitz' record seven golds in one Olympic event); he is the first black person to win individual swimming gold.
- Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany wins six gold medals. Other multi-medalists in the pool are Matt Biondi (five) and Janet Evans (three).
- Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm becomes the first woman to take part in seven Olympics.
- In swimming Mel Stewart of the USA is favorite to win the men's 200 m butterfly final[citation needed] but comes in 5th.
- Mark Todd of New Zealand wins his second consecutive individual gold medal in the three-day event in equestrian on Charisma, only the second time in eventing history that a gold medal has been won consecutively.
- Baseball and Taekwondo are demonstration sports. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison.
- This is the last time the US are represented by a basketball team that doesn't feature NBA stars; the team wins the bronze medal after being defeated by the Soviet Union.
- For the first time in history all the dressage events are won by women.
- Women's judo was held for the first time, as a demonstration sport.
- Table tennis is introduced at the Olympics, with China and South Korea both winning two titles.
- Tennis returns to the Olympics after a 64-year absence, and Steffi Graf adds to her four Grand Slam victories in the year by also winning the Olympic title, beating Gabriela Sabatini in the final.
- Two Bulgarian weightlifters are stripped of their gold medals after failing doping tests, and the team withdraws after this event.
- A series of controversies involving Korean boxers included the gold medal being awarded to a Korean light-middleweight after having apparently been defeated by an American boxer and an assault on a New Zealand referee by Korean officials after the referee cautioned a Korean bantamweight.
- Soviet weightlifter Yuri Zakhareivich wins the mens Heavyweight (up to 110kg class) with a 210kg snatch and 245kg clean and jerk for a 455kg total. Zakhareivich had dislocated his elbow in 1983 attempting a world record and had it rebuilt with synthetic tendons.
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