Host city selection

Highlights

• At the opening ceremony, Greek mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa sang "Romiossini" as the Olympic flag was paraded around the stadium. Alfredo Kraus later sang the Olympic Hymn in Catalan, Spanish and French, as the flag was hoisted.

• The Olympic cauldron was ignited using a flaming arrow, lit from the flame of the Olympic torch. It was shot by Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo, who aimed the arrow over the top of the cauldron to ignite the gas emanating from it. The arrow landed outside the stadium.^[7] This unusual method for lighting the cauldron had been carefully designed to avoid any chance of the arrow landing in the stadium if Rebollo missed his target.^[8][9]

• South Africa was allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1960 Summer Olympics, after a long suspension for its apartheid policy. After a close race in the Women's 10,000 metres event, white South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu (winner) ran a victory lap together, hand-in-hand.^[10]

• Following its reunification in 1990, Germany sent a single, unified Olympic team for the first time since the 1964 Summer Olympics.

• As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, sent their own teams for the first time since 1936. The other former Soviet republics preferred to compete together as the Unified Team, which consisted of present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The Unified Team finished first in the medal standings, edging the United States.

• The separation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led to the Olympic debuts of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to United Nations sanctions, athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were not allowed to participate with their own team. However, some individual athletes competed under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants.

• In basketball, the admittance of NBA players led to the formation of the "Dream Team" of the United States, featuring Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and other NBA stars. Prior to 1992, only European and South American professionals were allowed to compete, while the Americans used college players. The Dream Team won the gold medal and was inducted as a unit into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.^[11]

• Fermín Cacho won the 1,500 metres in his home country, earning Spain's first-ever Olympic gold medal in a running event.^[12]

• Chinese diver Fu Mingxia, age 13, became one of the youngest Olympic gold medalists of all time.

• In men's artistic gymnastics, Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus, (representing the Unified Team), won six gold medals, including four in a single day. Scherbo tied Eric Heiden's record for individual gold medals at a single Olympics, winning five medals in an individual event (Michael Phelps would later equal this record in 2008).

• In women's artistic gymnastics, Tatiana Gutsu took gold in the All-Around competition edging the United States' Shannon Miller.

• Russian swimmers (competing for the Unified Team) dominated the men's freestyle events, with Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi each winning two events. Sadovyi also won in the relays.

• Evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay, making her one of only four female athletes to have achieved this in history.

• The young Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary won three individual swimming gold medals.

• In women's 200 metre breaststroke, Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan won a gold medal at age of 14 years and six days, making her the youngest-ever gold medalist in swimming competitions at the Olympics.

• Algerian athlete Hassiba Boulmerka, who was frequently criticized by Muslim groups in Algeria who thought she showed too much of her body when racing, received death threats^[13] and was forced to move to Europe to train, won the 1,500 metres, also holding the African women's record in this distance.

• After being demonstrated in six previous Summer Olympic Games, baseball officially became an Olympic sport. Badminton and women's judo also became part of the Olympic program, while slalom canoeing returned to the Games after a 20-year absence.

• Roller hockey, Basque pelota, and taekwondo were all demonstrated at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

• Several of the U.S. men's volleyball gold medal team from the 1988 Olympics returned to vie for another medal. In the preliminary round, they lost a controversial match to Japan, sparking them to shave their heads in protest. This notably included player Steve Timmons, sacrificing his trademark red flattop for the protest. The U.S. team ultimately progressed to the playoffs and won bronze.

• Mike Stulce of the United States won the men's shot put, beating the heavily favored Werner Günthör of Switzerland.

• On the 20th anniversary of the Munich massacre and the 500th anniversary of the Alhambra Decree, Yael Arad became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, winning a silver medal in judo. The next day, Oren Smadja became Israel's first male medalist, winning a bronze in the same sport.

• Derek Redmond of Great Britain tore a hamstring during a 400-meter semi-final heat. As he struggled to finish the race, his father entered the track without credentials and helped him complete the race, to a standing ovation from the crowd.

• Gail Devers came into the 100 meters hurdles as the favorite. Though her Olympic history shows her winning the 100 meters dash twice, the first time earlier in this Olympics, she primarily made her career as a hurdler. And true to form, Devers had a commanding lead in this race, until the final hurdle. Devers came up short and hit the hurdle, foot first, hard, knocking her off balance. She stumbled toward the finish line, falling on the last step, but still finished fifth, .001 out of fourth place.

• Jennifer Capriati won the singles tennis competition at the age of 16. She had previously earned a spot in the semifinals of two grand slams at the age of 14.

• Two gold medals were awarded in solo synchronized swimming after a judge inadvertently entered the score of "8.7" instead of the intended "9.7" in the computerized scoring system for one of Sylvie Fréchette's figures. This error ultimately placed Fréchette second, leaving Kristen Babb-Sprague for the gold medal. Following an appeal FINA awarded Fréchette a gold medal, replacing her silver medal and leaving the two swimmers both with gold.^[14]

• Indonesia won its first-ever gold medal, after winning a silver medal at 1988 Olympics. Susi Susanti won the gold in badminton women's singles after defeating Bang Soo-hyun in the final round. Alan Budikusuma won the badminton men's singles competition, earning a second gold medal for Indonesia. Several years later, Susanti and Budikusuma married and she received the nickname golden bride or Olympic bride.

Records

Venues

• Montjuïc Area: Cross-country course – modern pentathlon (running) Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics Palau Sant Jordi – gymnastics (artistics), volleyball (final), and handball (final) Piscines Bernat Picornell – modern pentathlon (swimming), swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo (final) Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc – diving and water polo Institut National d'Educació Física de Catalunya – wrestling Mataró – athletics (marathon start) Palau dels Esports de Barcelona – gymnastics (rhythmic) and volleyball Palau de la Metal·lúrgia – fencing, modern pentathlon (fencing) Pavelló de l'Espanya Industrial – weightlifting Walking course – athletics (walks)

• Diagonal Area: Camp Nou – football (final) Palau Blaugrana – judo, roller hockey (demonstration final), and taekwondo (demonstration) Estadi de Sarrià – football Real Club de Polo de Barcelona – equestrian (dressage, jumping, eventing final), modern pentathlon (riding)

• Vall d'Hebron Area: Archery Field – archery Pavelló de la Vall d'Hebron – Basque pelota (demonstration) and volleyball Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron – tennis Velodrome – cycling (track)

• Parc de Mar Area Estació del Nord Sports Hall – table tennis Olympic Harbour – sailing Pavelló de la Mar Bella – badminton

• Subsites A-17 highway – cycling (road team time trial) Banyoles Lake – rowing Camp Municipal de Beisbol de Viladecans – baseball Canal Olímpic de Catalunya – canoeing (sprint) Circuit de Catalunya – cycling (road team time trial start/ finish) Club Hípic El Montayá – equestrian (dressage, eventing endurance) Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta – football Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa – field hockey Estadio Luís Casanova – football La Romareda – football L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Baseball Stadium – baseball (final) Mollet del Vallès Shooting Range – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting Palau D'Esports de Granollers – handball Parc Olímpic del Segre – canoeing (slalom) Pavelló Club Joventut Badalona – boxing Pavelló de l'Ateneu de Sant Sadurní – roller hockey (demonstration) Pavelló del Club Patí Vic – roller hockey (demonstration) Pavelló d'Esports de Reus – roller hockey (demonstration) Pavelló Olímpic de Badalona – basketball Sant Sadurní Cycling Circuit – cycling (individual road race)

• Some events, including diving, took place in view of construction of the Sagrada Família

Medals awarded

Demonstration sports

• Basque pelota (10)

• [[INLINE_IMAGE|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg/20px-Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg.png|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg/30px-Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg/40px-Roller_hockey_pictogram.svg.png 2x|Roller hockey pictogram.svg|h20|w20]] Roller hockey (quad) (1)

• Taekwondo (16)

Calendar

*All times are inCentral European Summer Time(UTC+2)*

Participating National Olympic Committees

• Brunei participated in the Opening Ceremony, but its delegation consisted of only one official. This also occurred in the 1988 Games^[15][16]

• [[INLINE_IMAGE|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg.png|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg/35px-Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg/46px-Flag_of_Afghanistan_%281987%E2%80%931992%29.svg.png 2x|Afghanistan|h12|w23|thumbborder flagicon-img flagicon-img]] Afghanistan didn't send their athletes to compete, but the country took part in the Parade of Nations.^[17]

• Liberia^[18] and  Somalia^[19] also participated in the Opening Ceremony, but its accredited athletes (five and two, respectively) did not enter to compete.^[15]

Medal count

Broadcast rights

Terrorism

Effect on the city

Cost and cost overrun

Songs and themes

Mascot

Corporate image and identity

See also

• 1992 Summer Paralympics

• 1992 Winter Olympics

• 1992 Winter Paralympics

• List of IOC country codes

• Olympics Triplecast

• Use of performance-enhancing drugs at the 1992 Olympic Games

• Barcelona Gold – compilation album released for the 1992 Games