Commemorative Participation Medallion from the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California

Commemorative participant medallion from the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California. Made of solid bronze with a low relief motif of the Olympic torch bowl depicting the entrance to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On the reverse is a star with the five ring Olympic logo and is contained in a velvet blue container with white silk lining.

The 1984 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were held in Los Angeles, California with 140 countries, 5,263 men and 1,566 women athletes participating. These Games were boycotted by fourteen countries, including the Soviet Union because of America’s boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American Carl Lewis won four gold medals in track and field while Joan Benoit won gold for the U.S. in the first women’s marathon. Mary Lou Retton dominated women’s gymnastics becoming the first American to win the gymnastics all-around competition and the American men won the gold in the gymnastics team competition. With the addition of women’s only events of rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming and the addition of women’s events in track and field, shooting and cycling, women athletes were just beginning to see results from Title IX legislation of twelve years prior. The United States won the medal count with 174.

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