Olympic Games
Events > Olympics > Summer > Hosts > Los Angeles
Los Angeles, 1932
The 1932 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles. The Games were held in this city again in 1984.
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These are the first Games ever to turn a profit, a feat not repeated until LA again hosted the Games in 1984. -
The Brazilian government couldn't afford to send its 69 athletes to the 1932 Los Angeles Games, so they herded them onto a ship with 50,000 sacks of Brazilian coffee, hoping to sell the beans to various ports of call on the way to California.
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American Mildred "Babe" Didriksen won medals in high jumping, hurdling, and the javelin in 1932. She is the only athlete to ever medal in all three events.
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Distance runner Paavo Nurmi was barred from the Los Angeles Games, on grounds that, on a trip to a German meet, he had claimed too much money in travel expenses.
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Babe Didrikson picked up gold medals in the hurdles and javelin. She would have tied for a gold in the high-jump, but her jumping style was ruled as illegal.
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The Olympic Yachting events in 1932 took place in the Pacific Ocean directly off the Port of Los Angeles.
Related Pages
- complete list of Olympic host cities
- USA have also hosted the Games in St Lois 1904, Los Angles 1984, Atlanta 1996
