What happened in Sarajevo at the Olympics. Media "Sport-Express Internet" founder of JSC "Sport-Express" editor-in-chief Maximov M

home / Mansions

Sarajevo (Yugoslavia)

The 1984 Games were the first after the Spanish Marquis Juan Antonio Samaranch came to power in the IOC. Therefore, the competition turned out to be experimental in many respects. A socialist country won the Winter Olympics for the first and last time. True, the vote, in which Sarajevo beat Gothenburg and Sapporo, took place two years before Samaranch was elected. The arrival of the White Games in the Balkans was used as an occasion to expand the geography of snow and ice sports. The IOC has promised to sponsor one male and one female athlete from any country to travel to Sarajevo. As a result, such hot powers as Mexico, Egypt and Senegal made their debut at the winter sports forum. The appearance of an African skier on the slopes was one of the shocks of the Olympics.

Venue: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
February 7 - 19, 1984
Number of participating countries - 49
Number of participating athletes - 1272 (274 women, 998 men)
Medal sets - 39
Winner in the team competition - GDR

Three main characters of the Games according to SE

Katharina Witt (GDR),
figure skating
Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen (Finland),
ski race
Zintis Ekmanis (USSR),
bobsled

BEFORE THE STORM

SEEING AWAY FOR TRETYAK

The main event of the 1984 Games for Soviet sports was the victory of the USSR national team in the hockey tournament and the third Olympic gold in the career of the famous goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak, who ended his international career after Sarajevo. In a head-to-head match, our hockey players failed to take revenge on the Americans for “Miracle 1980” - the US team ended up in another subgroup and did not reach the final stage. Viktor Tikhonov's team won all eight matches with a total score of 58:6. None of the opponents were able to hit the goal of the Soviet team more than once during the match. Canadians have long sought the right to use players drafted in the NHL. But in the end, the founders of hockey were still left without Olympic medals.

Soviet skier Nikolai Zimyatov, in an unequal battle with Swede Gunde Swan, managed to snatch the fourth Olympic gold in his career. The real hero of the Sarajevo ski track was the Finnish skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen, who beat the Soviet competition favorite Raisa Smetanina and won all three individual distances. Subsequently, the iron Finn, the daughter of the 1960 Olympic champion in the marathon skiing Kalevi Hämäläinen, will become the first woman in history to take part in six Olympics. At the same time, Marja-Liisa managed to avoid doping revelations, which affected many of her rivals and friends on the national team, as well as her husband, skier Harri Kirvisniemi.

For the first time in the history of the USSR, the USSR lost its primacy in the competition of dance duets in figure skating - Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin lost first place to the impeccable Britons Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean, who received 12 maximum marks from the judges, 6.0 out of 18 possible, for their performance of their “Bolero”. Serious competition for the champion dancers in terms of the number of fans was 19-year-old Katarina Witt, who quickly turned into a sex symbol of the entire winter sport. Western media will soon call Witt “the most beautiful face of socialism,” and the Stasi (GDR secret police), tasked with preventing the star from escaping to the West, will collect an eight-volume dossier of 1,354 pages on the skater. However, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Katarina will still sign a contract with an ice show in the USA.

STEEP SLOPES

The battle of slender men - Finn Matti Nykänen and East German Jens Weissflog - marked a new trend in ski jumping. From this moment on, the weight of all elite jumpers will begin to rapidly decline, which in the future will force the International Ski Federation to fight the “flying skeletons”. A new word in the Olympic movement was the performance on the ski slopes of Sarajevo by Senegalese Lamine Gueye, the first representative of Black Africa at the Winter Games. The African living in Paris did not achieve any particular sporting success, but then took part in two more Olympics, and in the 2000s he became famous for his loud speeches for expanding quotas for “small countries” during the selection for the Games.

Many colorful characters gathered on the mountain slopes of the 1984 Games. Thus, student from Ljubljana Jure Franko won silver for the hosts of the Olympics - Yugoslavia - the country's first award in the history of the Winter Games. In subsequent years, skiers from the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia and Croatia will add 15 more Olympic medals. In slalom at the 1984 Olympics, the first two places were taken by American twin brothers Phil and Steve Marais. Moreover, both performed against the backdrop of numerous injuries. Perhaps an athlete from our team, Alexander Zhirov, who took third place in the overall World Cup in 1981, could compete with them. But a year before Sarajevo, the most talented Soviet skier died in a car accident at the age of 24.

Another example of the uselessness and abandonment of Olympic venues is Sarajevo, where the 1984 Winter Olympics took place. But unlike Athens, there is a completely different story and reasons. Less than ten years after the end of the games, war broke out in Yugoslavia, and the territory went to Bosnia. During the fighting, many Olympic venues were completely destroyed or abandoned and fell into deep disrepair. You can see what’s wrong with them now in this post.

The symbol of the Olympics was chosen in an open competition, in which the Slovenian illustrator Josef Trobec won, and the wolf cub Vuchko became the symbol.

Another symbol of the Olympics is the angular snowflake, which still adorns the urban landscape of Sarajevo. The wolf cub and the snowflake are still in high demand among tourists; in souvenir and antique shops you can even now buy paraphernalia with these symbols. For example, I bought a magnet from Vuchko. I have never seen anything like this in Athens, although the Olympics took place there not so long ago relative to Sarajevo.

The Olympic Games venues are scattered throughout different parts of the city and beyond, so to see everything you need to travel around and spend a lot of time. Considering that we were in our own car, it took almost the entire day. For those tourists who are going to Sarajevo without a car, please note that there is no public transport to these sites. There is an option to buy the services of a guide, which will cost a pretty penny, take a taxi or hitch a ride. The most easily accessible facility is the stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the games took place, located in the very center of Sarajevo. Nearby is a pillar with the symbols of the Olympic Games, which is now used to advertise McDonald's, whose logo is placed on the side.

The park and the area near the stadium turned into a cemetery during the war.

Another wartime photo, with the Kosevo stadium in the background, where all the ceremonies took place.

Now this area looks like this.

The stadium was finally restored in 1998. But, unfortunately, not all Olympic venues have found a new life.

The next interesting object is the bobsleigh and luge tracks in Mount Trebevic. At the entrance to them you can see elements of the gutter, which apparently served as a demonstration.

Interestingly, luge and bobsleigh never existed in Yugoslavia, so the track was built from scratch, and team members were recruited from representatives of other sports.

The track, built in just a year, became the pride of Yugoslavia. Encircling Mount Trebevich, it repeated its natural landscape.

A then-record $10 million was spent on construction, which met all international standards. In the future, it was planned to create a sports school on its basis and continue to train Yugoslav athletes for the next competitions. By the way, World Cup competitions and national championships were also held on this luge and bobsleigh track.

But 1991 came. And during the war, the military used the steep modern track with comfortable sides to organize artillery firing points.

Now it has turned into a favorite place for adventure seekers, as well as creativity and street art lovers. I'm not a fan of this kind of art, but in some places it's very beautiful.

Acceleration location

To be honest, before I met this track, I had never been interested in bobsleigh and did not even think that the chute was designed in such a way as to be able to change the configuration of the track.

This is what systems that provide this capability look like:

We managed to walk along the entire route.

It is advised not to leave the concrete chute; you can still find mines in the forest.

During our walks, we met one man with a metal detector, who, apparently, was searching for them. This is the only treasure you can find in these places.

By the way, from the very top of Mount Trebevich there is a stunning view of the entire city.

The most distant object is the ski jumps in the town of Malo Pole on Mount Igman.

On the way to the ski jumps you can see the Igman Hotel, built for the Olympic Games. The building is huge and has unusual architecture. During the war it was used by Muslim Bosniaks as a prison for Serbian soldiers. As a result, in 1993 the building, used for less than 8 years, was burned down. After the end of the war, the government tried many times to sell the hotel. In 2004 the price was 2.5 million euros. No buyers were found, which is not surprising.

A little more from the hotel and you are already near the ski jumps.

The most interesting thing can be seen if you climb to the very top.

Along crumbling and overgrown steps

Symbol of the Olympics

The view from the top is amazing

I don't know about you, but I always feel creepy when looking from above the diving board. What metal should the eggs of athletes who jump from here be made of?

Igor decided to experience this feeling

And got ready to jump :)

The building where the judge and the media were located

Nowadays only the landing area is used; there are sports attractions for children here, but the place is not very popular

There have been no spectators for a long time and, most likely, there never will be again.

There is a cafe

Game logos are everywhere

Pedestal where the winners were awarded.

And, finally, the Olympic Village, which has been preserved on the outskirts of Sarajevo.

Refugees and those left homeless after the war received apartments here.

The symbol of the Olympics was chosen in an open competition, in which the Slovenian illustrator Josef Trobec won, and the wolf cub Vuchko became the symbol.

The park and the area near the stadium turned into a cemetery during the war.

Another wartime photo, with the Kosevo stadium in the background, where all the ceremonies took place.

Now this area looks like this.

The stadium was finally restored in 1998. But, unfortunately, not all Olympic venues have found a new life.

The next interesting object is the bobsleigh and luge tracks in Mount Trebevic. At the entrance to them you can see elements of the gutter, which apparently served as a demonstration.

Interestingly, luge and bobsleigh never existed in Yugoslavia, so the track was built from scratch, and team members were recruited from representatives of other sports.

The track, built in just a year, became the pride of Yugoslavia. Encircling Mount Trebevich, it repeated its natural landscape.

But 1991 came. And during the war, the military used the steep modern track with comfortable sides to organize artillery firing points.

Now it has turned into a favorite place for adventure seekers, as well as creativity and street art lovers. I'm not a fan of this kind of art, but in some places it's very beautiful.

Acceleration location

This is what systems that provide this capability look like:

We managed to walk along the entire route.

It is advised not to leave the concrete chute; you can still find mines in the forest.

During our walks, we met one man with a metal detector, who, apparently, was searching for them. This is the only treasure you can find in these places.

By the way, from the very top of Mount Trebevich there is a stunning view of the entire city.

The most distant object is the ski jumps in the town of Malo Pole on Mount Igman.

A little more from the hotel and you are already near the ski jumps.

The most interesting thing can be seen if you climb to the very top.

Along crumbling and overgrown steps

Symbol of the Olympics

The view from the top is amazing

I don't know about you, but I always feel creepy when looking from above the diving board. What metal should the eggs of athletes who jump from here be made of?

Igor decided to experience this feeling

And got ready to jump :)

The building where the judge and the media were located

Nowadays only the landing area is used; there are sports attractions for children here, but the place is not very popular

There have been no spectators for a long time and, most likely, there never will be again.

There is a cafe

Game logos are everywhere

Pedestal where the winners were awarded.

And, finally, the Olympic Village, which has been preserved on the outskirts of Sarajevo.

Refugees and those left homeless after the war received apartments here.

Is Ancient Greece. In an original and rich state, these competitions were part of a religious cult. More than two thousand years have passed since then, but the tradition of holding the Olympic Games every four years has not died out. Each time the number of countries wishing to participate in these competitions is growing.

Venue of the competition

In 2014, winter ones were held in the Russian city of Sochi. Eighty-eight countries took part in this event. This is almost twice as much as in Sarajevo, where the 1984 Winter Olympics were held. At that time, this city was the capital of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo could hardly be called a modern metropolis. Rather, it was a huge village with narrow streets, the houses of which were comfortably located on the hills and mounds. Until this time, the capital of Yugoslavia was famous for only one event: it was here that the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was killed. This event became a turning point in the tense relations of the West, and as a result, the First World War began.

The first Winter Olympics on the territory of a socialist country

Then, until the end of the 70s of the 20th century, this city did not manifest itself in any way. In 1978, at the next session, he decided that the 1984 Winter Olympics would be held in Sarajevo. In order to carry out the opening and closing ceremonies of the games, as well as for some competitions, the largest sports stadium, Asim Ferhatović-Hase, was reconstructed in the city. It is noteworthy that the 1984 Winter Olympics was the first event of this scale held on the territory of a socialist country.

Start of the games

The opening ceremony of the competition took place on a frosty February day on the eighth. Some people think differently. According to a small number of people, the beginning of competitions in a particular sport was the day when the 1984 Winter Olympics actually started. Hockey was the first game of the fourteenth games. This happened on the seventh of February. That day, the USSR national team successfully advanced to the next stage, brilliantly defeating Poland. The Soviet Union team became the champion that year. The Czechoslovakian team took second place.

The 1984 Winter Olympics offered ten sports disciplines to the attention of spectators and athletes: figure skating, hockey, ski jumping, luge, biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, bobsleigh, speed skating and alpine skiing. A total of thirty-nine sets of medals were awarded.

Medal count

It is noteworthy that it was at these competitions that many new names were discovered. The alpine skiers especially distinguished themselves. The delight and joy of the residents of hospitable Yugoslavia knew no bounds when their compatriot, twenty-two-year-old Jure Franko, took a silver medal in the giant slalom competition. As the Oslobodzhene newspaper later noted, this victory was a worthy reward for years of hard work and preparation for the “white” games.

On February 19, the 1984 Winter Olympics was officially closed. The medal standings for the competition are as follows. In terms of the number of valuable prizes, the USSR occupies the first step of the podium. In total, the team's athletes won 25 awards. However, in terms of the number of gold medals, the largest socialist country was inferior to the GDR. won three more “yellow” awards. The 1984 Winter Olympics gave the United States only eight medals. Norway received 9 medals, and Finland - 13. It is noteworthy that this time the Austrian team performed absolutely poorly. As a rule, this country has always achieved excellent results in winter sports. But not at this time. Austrian athletes took home only one bronze medal.

Boycott by socialist countries

In 1980, the Olympics were held in Moscow. 1984 gave the world (in addition to the “white” games) also summer games. They were held in the United States of America - in Los Angeles. It is noteworthy that these competitions were boycotted by socialist states. The reason for this lies in the strained relations between NATO and the countries of the socialist bloc. It is worth noting that initially, in 1980, democratic republics boycotted the Olympics in Moscow. Thus, the absence of the national teams of the USSR and other countries from the 1984 Summer Games was a retaliatory move to America.

Of course, in order to boycott such an event, compelling reasons are needed. Formally, the socialist cell of the countries refused to participate in the 1984 competitions due to the refusal of the leadership of the organizing committee of the games to provide safety guarantees to the athletes.

It should also be noted that the boycott of the 1984 Olympics is a kind of step against the “Carter Doctrine.” That, in turn, implies assistance to anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan.

Aeroflot doesn’t fly, Georgia doesn’t fly...

Back in the fall of 1983, the government of the Soviet Union sent a sports delegation to the United States to determine the condition of sports facilities and the future locations of guests. Having identified a huge number of shortcomings, the leadership of the countries of the socialist camp expressed concern about this matter. The greatest concern was caused by the US government's refusal to moor the Georgian ship off the coast of the city. It was planned that the USSR delegation would live on board the ship. The second negative point was the ban on the landing of Soviet aircraft by Aeroflot.

A few months later, a Politburo resolution was issued, which contained clauses describing the inappropriateness of the presence of the USSR national team at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in the USA. The pages of the document also contained measures aimed at suppressing discontent among the people and creating a favorable image of the Soviet Union (in comparison with the countries of the democratic bloc). Neighboring socialist countries were also invited to take part in the boycott. Instead of the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Friendship-84 competition was held in Moscow. If we compare the performance of the two events, the Soviet analogue gave the world several times more world records than the games in the USA.

After the boycott of the 1984 Olympics, he issued a decree on sanctions against states that decided to continue to interfere with this kind of competition.

39 sets of medals

Key facts about Sarajevo 1984

The first Olympics in a socialist country and the first Games for Juan Antonio Samaranch as IOC President. It was at the closing ceremony in Sarajevo that he said that this was the best Olympics in history. Subsequently, the phrase became traditional.

Black Africa made its debut at the Winter Games in Sarajevo. The Senegalese skier caused surprise and affection. Samaranch promised to sponsor a trip to Sarajevo for one athlete from any country. So, in addition to Senegal, Mexico and Egypt appeared.

The USSR national hockey team won the Olympics for the sixth time (out of eight). Vladislav Tretyak became a three-time champion and ended his career in the national team.

After the war, the Igman springboard turned into a concrete ruin - executions and mass shootings were carried out here

Vladislav Tretiak at his last Olympics

Jure Franko gave a gift to Yugoslavia by winning the country's first medal at the Winter Games. Giant slalom, silver

Little Wolf Vuchko - mascot of Sarajevo 1984

Katharina Witt - socialist beauty No. 1

Playboy top 5

In Sarajevo, figure skater from the GDR Katharina Witt won her first Olympic gold. Four years later in Calgary - the second.

She was very fond of blood red suits. When her mother bought her a blue outfit for training, she cut it in the toilet with nail scissors. When the coach slapped her, her father told Katarina to stop playing sports, but she couldn’t - she was drawn to the ice.

In the 1980s, Witt was the epitome of the beauty of winter sports. Time magazine called her "the most beautiful face of socialism." Playboy magazine with Witt's erotic photo shoot entered the top 5 best-selling in history.

After completing her amateur career, she participated in ice shows, acted in films, and hosted television programs. Witt is one of the best figure skaters in history and perhaps the most popular.

Medal classification Sarajevo 1984

1. GDR 9+9+6=24

2. USSR 6+10+9=25

3. USA 4+4+0=8

4. Finland 4+3+6=13

5. Sweden 4+2+2=8

…14. Yugoslavia 0+1+0=1