1980 Summer Olympics

In this concept of occult subtle energy, the Soviets saw the idea of their own bioplasma.

At a conference of sports science in 1980, one that coincided with the 1980 Olympics, Soviet and American scientists started to meet regularly to pursue better, stronger athletes.

But behind all of this collaboration, of course, was funding from the American and Soviet governments who wanted superior athletes gaining victories for their side.

But they also were interested in the military and espionage applications of the quest for the Superman through the supernatural.

It was a...

A long time ago, I was training for the Olympics in New Zealand with Dave Moorcroft, who went on to become world record holder for the 5000 metres.

We ran this random race in Auckland, which started in the city centre, finished at the seaside.

And it had 12,000 runners in it.

Here we were with 10,000.

And we just didn't know, we really didn't understand what we were doing, what was happening.

And when we finished the race, I said to Dave, we were both, I was going to retire after the 1980 Olympics.

And I said to Dave, when I got back home, I'm going to organize an event like this, starting in the middle of the city, finishing at the seaside, like this one in the UK in Newcastle.

I seem to remember that we had managed to get hold of some alcohol, which added to the fun.

The Moscow Hotel was one that had been built for the 1980 Olympics, and we had a fantastic view from our room on the 22nd floor.

We also visited other hotels for lunch.

All were similarly cavernous with a certain brutalist charm about them.

I was a butterfly swimmer.

And it was just in time for the 1980 Olympics.

Moscow.

Moscow Olympics.

Mm.

It's directed by Chiu Keng Guan, written by Chan Yoke Ying and Tan Pi Yi, and it is famously based on the Malaysian football team that qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics and how they came together for the love of the game and country-

[laughs]

...

Mm.

Largely a retaliation for a US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

On January 24th, 1984, Steve Jobs introduced the original Apple Macintosh-

Mm

In that first year, ESPN's live sports strategy was built on an early deal with the NCAA, which gave them access to around 50 college football games, a couple of dozen soccer games, and in what would be a signature element of ESPN's early years, college basketball.

The rest of the early rights lineup included tennis, pro bowling, and hockey exhibition games featuring the U.S. Olympic men's teams as it prepared for the 1980 Olympics.

An eclectic mix of programming rarely seen on national TV rounded things out, including American Legion baseball, lacrosse, full-contact karate, rugby, and the slow-pitch softball World Series between the Milwaukee Schlitzes and the Kentucky Bourbons.

The relationship between founder and company remained strained for 19 years until outreach from ESPN's then president, George Bodenheimer, ahead of the network's 20th anniversary, brought Rasmussen back into a venerated place.

Architect Yevdokimov and his team weren't just putting up a building, they were building a view.

For the 1980 Olympics, the Baltic Hotel was meant to host foreign fans and delegations arriving for the football tournament.

Every service was built around that, simultaneous interpretation booths in the conference center, currency exchange, its own medical unit with a dentist on staff, a tailor shop, a hair salon, and tellingly, its own fire brigade, so the hotel wouldn't have to rely on city services during international events.

By Soviet standards, this wasn't a hotel.

And it did work.

But once I got to Howard, When I got to Howard, you had athletes coming in who had ran in the 1980 Olympics representing their country.

And so he had a lot of sprinters coming in.

So my focus became the 400 and the 800.