The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

In 2028 the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (the Coliseum) will become the first stadium in the world to have hosted the Track & Field competitions and Opening Ceremony for the Summer Olympics three times.

Beginnings

The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to fallen veterans of World War I (1914-1918). Approximately 116,708 Americans died in that war. Groundbreaking was December 21, 1921 and was completed by May 1, 2023. Original construction costs were $954,873. On October 6, 1923 the University of Southern California (USC) and Pomona College would play in the inaugural game at the Coliseum, with USC prevailing in that game 23-7. From that point onward USC would play all its home games at the Coliseum.

Seating capacity was originally 75,144. But when Los Angeles was awarded the 2032 Olympic Games a decision was made to expand the seating to 101,574. The now-familiar Olympic cauldron torch was added above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium.

The 1932 Olympic Games

For the 1932 Olympics the Coliseum was chosen for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as the following athletic events: Field Hockey, Gymnastics, Show Jumping (only of the Equestrian events) and Track & Field. Incidentally these Games would mark the introduction of both the Olympic Village as well as the victory podium for the top three finishers in any event.

Babe Didrikson: An Athlete Ahead Of Her Time

At the 1932 Games there was Babe Didrikson, and there was everybody else. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson (June 26, 1911-September 27, 1956) was the first female athlete anywhere to prove that a woman could be a “stud athlete” (pardon my slang). This 5-5 phenom mastered many sports in her lifetime. Growing up as a teenager she already knew her calling. “My goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived” she would say. She claimed that she was nicknamed Babe early by boys who were awed by her long-distance homers.

Didrikson was accomplished in just about every sport: Basketball, track, golf, baseball, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, billiards, skating and cycling. When asked if there was anything she didn’t play, she said. “Yeah, dolls.” Babe competed in an era when female athletes were viewed as freakish. She was perceived as the antithesis of femininity, but she was not a feminist. Viewed through the patriarchal lense of the culture 90 years ago one New York sports writer would write: “It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring.”

A Dominant Performance

But Babe simply knew that she was an athlete and her body was her most valuable possession. She would qualify for five events in the 1932 Games. As the great American sports writer Grantland Rice said of Babe: “She is beyond all belief until you see her perform. Then you finally understand that you are looking at the most flawless section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical coordination, the world of sport has ever seen.”

Babe would go on to win a gold medal in the 80-meter hurdles and the javelin throw and a silver medal in the high jump. She is the only Olympian to medal in three events running, jumping and throwing. The Associated Press would go on to name her as the Greatest Female Athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. The AP would choose her Female Athlete of the year six times: Once for the Olympics, and five times as a golfer.

The 1984 Olympic Games

In 1984 the Coliseum would again be used for Track and Field events. Competition would be noticeably affected by a Soviet Union-led boycott, especially in the throwing events, and most notably among the men, in the hammer throw, in which most of the world’s top 10 did not compete. In addition Track and Field would for the first time include two new events for women athletes: The 3,000 meter run and the marathon. The 3,000 meter race would be won by Maricica Puica of Romania, but it became notorious for the epic collision between American champion Mary Decker and South African champion Zola Budd which would knock both women out of the race. The marathon would be won by Joan Benoit whose winning time of 2:22:23 was a world record. Her time made her faster than 13 of the previous twenty male Olympic marathon winners.

Carl Lewis

Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) would emerge as the huge track star of the 1984 Olympics. He entered four events at the 1984 Games with a realistic chance to win all of them–the first such American track athlete since Jesse Owens had done so in 1936, 48 years prior.

Lewis would start his quest to match Owens with a convincing win in the 100 meter dash, running 9.99 seconds to defeat his nearest competitor, fellow American Sam Graddy by 0.2 s. In his next event, the long jump, Lewis won with relative ease. Since Lewis still had heats and finals in the 200 meter race and the 4×100 men’s relay to compete in, he chose to take as few jumps as necessary to win the event. He risked injury in the cool conditions of that day if he over-extended himself, (which could put his ultimate goal to win four gold medals at risk. He knew that his first jump at 28 feet even was sufficient to win the event. He fouled on his next jump and then passed on his remaining four allotted jumps. Lewis easily won gold, and Gary Honey of Australia settled for the silver medal with a jump of 27 feet ¼ inch.

Lewis would go on to win a total of nine gold medals, one silver medal as well as 10 world championship medals. His career would span from 1979 to 1996 when he last won the Olympic long jump. He is one of only six athletes to win gold in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games, and only the second American athlete along with discus thrower Al Oerter.