1988 Summer Olympics

Games of the XXIV Olympiad

Emblem of the 1988 Summer Olympics
Host city	Seoul, South Korea
Motto	Harmony and Progress (화합과 전진)
Nations	160
Athletes	8,453 (6,250 men, 2,203 women)
Events	237 in 23 sports (31 disciplines)
Opening	17 September 1988
Closing	2 October 1988
Opened by	President Roh Tae-woo[1]
Cauldron	Sohn Mi-chung Chung Sun-man Kim Won-tak[1][2]
Stadium	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Summer ← Los Angeles 1984 Barcelona 1992 → Winter ← Calgary 1988 Albertville 1992 → 1988 Summer Paralympics

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1988 Summer Olympics
Bid process (bid details) Development (venues, torch relay) Marketing (mascot) Broadcasters Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Chronological summary Medal table (medallists) Olympic records World records Controversies Closing ceremony (flag bearers) Paralympics IOC KOC SLOOC
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The 1988 Summer Olympics (Korean: 1988년 하계 올림픽), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad (제24회 올림픽경기대회) and commonly known as Seoul 1988 (서울 1988), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represented at the games by a total of 8,391 athletes (6,197 men and 2,194 women). 237 events were held and 27,221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were the second summer Olympic Games held in Asia, after Tokyo 1964, and the first held in South Korea.^[3] As the host country, South Korea ranked fourth overall, winning 12 gold medals and 33 medals in the competition. 11,331 media (4,978 written press and 6,353 broadcasters) showed the Games all over the world.^[4] These were the last Olympic Games of the Cold War, as well as for the Soviet Union and East Germany, as both ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games in 1992. The Soviet Union dominated the medal count, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. The results that got closest to that medal haul in the years since are China's 48 gold medals in 2008 and the USA's 121 total medals in 2016.

Compared to the 1980 Summer Olympics (Moscow) and the 1984 Summer Olympics (Los Angeles), which were divided into two camps by ideology, the 1988 Seoul Olympics was a competition in which the boycotts virtually disappeared, although they were not completely over. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics, as did five socialist countries including Cuba, an ally of North Korea. Albania, Ethiopia, and Seychelles did not respond to the invitation sent by the IOC.^[5] Nicaragua did not participate due to athletic and financial considerations,^[6] while the expected participation of Madagascar was withdrawn for financial reasons.^[7] Nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the three previous editions were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era, and thus regarded as the Olympics that laid the groundwork for the end of the Cold War.

For South Korea, the 1988 Olympics was a symbolic event that elevated its international image while also contributing to national pride.^[8] Only thirty-five years after the Korean War which devastated the nation, and during a decade of social unrest in South Korea, the Olympics was successfully held and became the culmination of what was deemed the "Miracle on the Han River".^[9][10]