The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Calif. marked a return for America to global competition after then-President Ronald Reagan banned the county from participating in Russia’s 1980 games. A collective of Black track and field stars set new athletic marks and collected plenty of gold medals during the 1984 games.
Birmingham, Ala. standout Carl Lewis made his debut, winning four gold medals in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 4×100 relay, and the long jump events, tying Jesse Owens‘ 1936 performance in Berlin.
Valerie Brisco-Hooks set a record by becoming the first Olympian to win the 200 and 400-meter dash events Brisco-Hooks went on to win three gold medals overall. Despite her achievement, Brisco-Hooks was overshadowed by gold medal-winning gymnast, Mary Lou Retton. Brisco-Hooks did appear on an episode of the popular NBC sitcom,The Cosby Show, in 1986. Today, the Greenwood, Miss. Native coaches at West Los Angeles College.
On this day, two American athletes also scored gold. Edwin Moses and Evelyn Ashford won their medals in the 400-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash events respectively. Moses won the gold eight years after winning his first in 1976. Even more astounding, the Ohio native never aspired to be an athlete and entered Morehouse College on an academic scholarship.
Though he was a star for Morehouse’s track team, he didn’t even have an official school track to train on and largely trained himself. Today, Moses, a child of educators, is one of the sporting world’s most prominent voices against athletes using performance enhancements and is also a noted humanitarian.
Ashford came to sports as a teen, inspired by the legendary Wilma Rudolph. A standout athlete at Roseville High School in California, the Louisiana native made her Olympic debut as a college freshman in 1976. A speedy 100-meter specialist, she not only won gold, but set an Olympic record at the event. Ashford added another gold medal as part of the 4×100 relay squad. In the 1992 Summer Olympics, Ashford won gold once more, retiring shortly after.
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