The Image Photo Booth: 1984 Olympians today
A gala celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Olympic Games was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on July 18, 2009. The Image Photo Booth caught up with a few very good sports before the event.
Pictured: Olympic champion Jeff Float goes freestyling before the celebration. In 1984, as the captain of the U.S. swimming team that received a gold medal in 4X200m freestyle relay, he became the only legally deaf athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
His best memory of the 1984 Olympic Games: When he came out of the water after swimming the third leg for the U.S. 4x200 relay, he heard the roar of the crowd. “It was the first time I remember hearing distinctive cheers at a meet. I’ll never forget what 17,000 screaming people sound like. It was incredible!”
He is now the swimming coach at the Fountain of Youth in Sacramento. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Olympic champion Al Joyner shows that he can still jump. With a leap of 56 feet, 7.5 inches, Joyner in 1984 became the first American in 80 years to win a gold medal in the triple jump.
He is now the jump/sprint coach for the U.S. Olympic Committee. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton recalls when she scored perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault to win the gold all-around title by just 0.05 points. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Ruby Fox, who won a silver medal for lady sport pistol at the 1984 Olympics, is now a consultant for Smith & Wesson. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Advertisement
Boxers Paul Gonzales, left, Richard Sandoval and Henry Tillman were all Olympians. Gonzales won the light flyweight gold medal in 1984. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Tracee Talavera was a member of the 1984 U.S. team that won the gymnastics silver medal.
She works now as a paralegal in
Champion cyclist Steve Hegg won Olympic gold in the 4000 meter individual pursuit and silver in the 4000 meter team pursuit in 1984.
He is now the team director of the Successful Living Pro Cycling Team in Encinitas, Calif. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Teammates Peter Vidmar, front, and Bart Conner still make it look easy 25 years after Vidmar won gold on the pommel horse and silver in the men’s all-around individual gymnastics competition and Conner won an individual gold on the parallel bars.
Conner is now a gymnastics coach in Oklaoma; Vidmar is a motivational speaker. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Advertisement
Olympic champion swimmer Rich Schroeder show his “84 breaststroke†-- the one he used to swim the preliminary breaststroke leg of the 4x100 medley relay. The U.S. won the gold medal for the medley relay that year.
He is now president and chief executive of the Olympic Construction Co. in Santa Barbara. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Track and field teammates Sherri Howard, left, and Denean Howard-Hill at the L.A. Coliseum gala. In 1984, Sherri won the gold medal for the 4x400 meters. Four years later, at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and Denean (then Howard) won the silver medal in the same event. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Kimberly Ruddins won a silver medal with the U.S. National Women’s Volleyball Team in 1984.
She is now an urban planner in Laguna Niguel. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team -- which included Kathy Johnson Clarke, left, Michelle Dusserre-Farrell and Julianne McNamara -- won the silver medal in 1984, and individuals won multiple medals including McNamara’s gold (tied with Ma Yanhong of China) on the uneven bars. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
Advertisement
Evelyn Ashford-Washington won the gold medal for the 100 meters in 1984 with a new Olympic record of 10.97 seconds. With the relay team, she won a second gold medal.
She is now a full-time mom in
Dragomir Cioroslan, who won a bronze for weightlifting for Romania in 1984, is now
