May 21, 1984

Kenneth Reich's cover story began: "When the announcement came, it was sudden, unexpected, devastating. Two and a half hours after the transcontinental Olympic torch relay got under way in New York City on the drizzly morning of May 8 ... the Soviet Union declared that it was pulling out of the Games." Behind the shrewd leadership of Peter Ueberroth, however, the Los Angeles Olympics were still an unqualified financial success, ushering in an era of commercialization still evident.

Artwork by Edward Kasper