7/29/1984 Summer Olympic Games, Swimming & Basketball Preliminaries, Los Angeles & Inglewood, CA


 37 years ago today...

July 29, 1984 - Los Angeles & Inglewood, CA

Day One of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games saw preliminary action in swimming at the USC Swim Stadium and men's basketball at the Forum.
In the swimming competition, we caught glimpses of American stars and eventual Gold Medal Winners Rowdy Gaines and Nancy Hogshead. Watching swimming was relatively boring, but we were treated to a practice routine from U.S. diver Greg Louganis, working from the 10-meter platform in a diving pool adjacent to where we were sitting. The fans were far more interested in watching Louganis from afar, and applauded every practice dive.
Olympic basketball was held at the Fabulous Forum, then home to the Los Angeles Lakers. We saw Australia defeat Brazil, and then Yugoslavia with Drazen Petrovic edge West Germany with Detlef Schrempf, both players becoming NBA stars.



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