1992 Summer Olympics

The 1992 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were held in 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Barcelona, the birth city of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, was selected over Amsterdam, Belgrade, Birmingham, Brisbane and Paris in Lausanne, Switzerland in October 1986.

Highlights

All of the IOC countries participated in the Games for the first time since Munich 1972 Summer Olympics .
Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic Flame by shooting an arrow into the cauldron. (It should be noted however that slow-motion television footage showed the arrow falling behind the elevated cauldron, which was really lighted by a failsafe mechanism.)
In basketball, the admittance of professional players led to the American Dream Team - probably the best team ever, with players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. They won the gold medal with great ease.
South Africa was allowed again to participate in the Olympics after a 28 years suspension in the Olympic Games for its apartheid policy. White South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu fought out a great battle in the 10,000 m (won by Tulu) and then ran their lap of honour hand in hand.
Following the German Reunification in 1990, Germany participated with a single team for the first time since 1960.
One of the main musical themes of the 1992 Games was "Barcelona", written especially for the Games by Freddie Mercury.
As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participated with their own teams for the first time since 1936. The other Soviet republics took part in the Unified Team.
The break up of Yugoslavia led to the debuts of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yugoslav athletes were not allowed to participate with their own team, but could compete under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants.
In gymnastics, Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus won six gold medals, including four on a single day. Five of the six golds were in individual events, tying Eric Heiden's record for individual gold medals at a single Olympics.
In the diving competitions, held in the view of the Sagrada Família, Fu Mingxia won the high dive event, being only 13 years old.
Russian swimmers dominated the freestyle events, with Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi both winning two events (Sadovyi won a third with in the relays).
The young Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary won three individual swimming gold medals.
After being demonstrated six times, baseball became an Olympic sport, with Cuba winning the gold medal, Chinese Taipei winning silver, and Japan the bronze.
Badminton and women's judo became part of the Olympic programme, while slalom canoeing returned to the Games after a 20-year absence.
Basque pelote, Roller Hockey and Taekwondo were the demo sports.