United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics
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Through South Korea
Medalists
The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.
* - Indicates that the athlete competed in preliminaries but not the final.
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Archery
The United States continued to be a strong contender in archery, though it found that South Korea had taken the top spot in the sport. Jay Barrs was the only non-Korean to win a gold medal for archery in Seoul. Two-time gold medallist Darrell Pace and 1984 silver medallist Richard McKinney joined Barrs in winning the team silver, while the women's team added a bronze medal despite not having any of the individual archers advance to the final. With her women's team bronze, 15-year-old Denise Parker become the youngest medalist in the history of Olympic archery.
- Men
- Women
Athletics
The men's 100 meter sprint was marred by the usage of performance-enhancing drugs when the initial winner, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, tested positive for banned substances after the race and was stripped of the gold medal and his world record time of 9.79 seconds, thus allowing Carl Lewis to repeat as gold medal winner. In 1989, Johnson admitted to further PED usage between 1981 and 1988 and his world record of 9.83 seconds from the 1987 World Championships was rescinded as well, allowing Lewis's 9.92 seconds in the Olympic final became the new world record. This put the United States in position to sweep the gold medals in the men's sprint distances, including a sweep of all medals at the 400 meter distance. The United States men also won medals while setting Olympic records at both hurdle distances. In the men's relays, a fumbled baton exchange in the heat of the 4 × 100 caused a heartbreaking disqualification for the favored American team. In the 4 × 400, however, the United States cruised to victory while equaling the 20-year-old world record which had been set in Mexico City. In men's field events, the highlight came from Carl Lewis defending his gold medal from Los Angeles and leading the United States to a medal sweep in the long jump. In the women's events, Florence Griffth-Joyner had dominating performances in the 100 and 200 meter sprints, lowering the Olympic record by over 0.2 seconds in the 100 and lowering the world record by almost 0.4 seconds in the 200. She also helped the United States to strong performances in the relays, winning gold in the 4 × 100 and coming in second, while beating the previous world record, to a record-shattering performance by the Soviet team in the 4 × 400. Meanwhile, in the heptathlon, Jackie Joyner-Kersee dominated the competition while setting a world record that has not been approached in the succeeding 30 years. Joyner-Kersee's long jump performance in the heptathlon was enough to set the Olympic record for the discipline, only for her to eclipse it in the final of the long jump event. The high jump event also saw Louise Ritter eclipse the Olympic record on the way to a gold medal. Finally, the only United States medal in the middle-distance events came from Kim Gallagher, who captured bronze in the 800 meters.
- Key
- Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
- Q = Qualified for the next round
- q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
- Men
- Track and road events
* - Indicates the athlete ran in a preliminary round but not the final.
- Field events
- Combined event – Decathlon
- Women
* - Indicates the athlete ran in a preliminary round but not the final.
** - Griffith-Joyner's final time was faster than the Olympic record she had set in the quarterfinal but the wind reading during the race was 3 meters/second in favor of the sprinters, thus disallowing the race for any IAAF records.
- Field events
- Combined event – Heptathlon
Basketball
- Summary
Men's tournament
This was the last time that the United States was represented by college players in Olympic competition. Other countries, meanwhile, used their best professionals.
- Roster
The following is the United States roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics.
- Group play
Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
- Quarterfinal
- Semifinal
- Bronze medal game
Women's tournament
- Team roster
The following is the United States roster in the women's basketball tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics.
- Group play
Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
- Semifinal
- Gold medal game
Boxing
There were several controversies involving the American boxers at the games. Young and talented Roy Jones Jr. dominated his opponents, never losing a round en route to the final, where he controversially lost a 3–2 decision to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun despite pummeling Park for three rounds and landing 86 punches to Park's 32. The decision sparked outrage and an International Olympic Committee investigation found that the three judges who voted for Park Si-Hun had been bribed by South Korean officials. With some elements of corruption in Olympic boxing coming to light, refereeing standards were changed after the games to avoid future controversies. Corruption was also suspected in Michael Carbajal's decision loss in his gold medal match. In another controversial gold medal match, Riddick Bowe lost to future world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. After Lewis landed several hard punches the referee gave Bowe two standing eight counts and waved the fight off after the second one, even though Bowe seemed able to continue. In yet another controversy, Michael Carbajal lost the gold medal bout in the light flyweight, with suspicions of politics influencing the judges decision being quite widespread. Members of the U.S. Army Boxing Team (Anthony Hembrick, Andrew Maynard, Kennedy McKinney, Ray Mercer) trained for the Olympics at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Furthermore, middleweight Anthony Hembrick never had the opportunity to fight. Hembrick and his coach, Ken Adams, misinterpreted the fight schedule. Afterwards, they blamed the schedule for being too confusing. By the time Hembrick arrived at Chamshil Students' Gymnasium twelve minutes late, he had been disqualified and the match was being awarded to South Korean Ha Jong-ho.
Canoeing
- Men
- Women
Key: QF – Qualified to medal final; SF – Qualified to semifinal; R – Qualified to repechage; * - Heat not held due to lack of competitors. All competitors scheduled for this heat advanced to the next round.
Cycling
Nineteen cyclists represented the United States in 1988. Connie Paraskevin-Young won bronze in the women's sprint.
Road
Track
- Points race
- Pursuit
- Sprint
- Time trial
Diving
- Men
- Women
Equestrian
- Dressage
- Eventing
- Jumping
Fencing
19 fencers represented the United States in 1988.
- Men
- Women
Field hockey
Summary
Women's tournament
The US women's field hockey team competed for the second time at the Summer Olympics.
Roster
- ( 1.) Patty Shea (gk)
- ( 2.) Yolanda Hightower
- ( 3.) Mary Koboldt
- ( 4.) Marcia Pankratz
- ( 5.) Cheryl Van Kuren
- ( 6.) Diane Bracalente
- ( 7.) Beth Beglin
- ( 8.) Marcella Place
- ( 9.) Sandra Vander-Heyden
- (10.) Tracey Fuchs
- (11.) Sheryl Johnson
- (12.) Sandra Costigan
- (13.) Christy Morgan
- (14.) Barbara Marois
- (15.) Megan Donnelly
- (16.) Donna Lee
Head coach: Boudewijn Castelijn
Preliminary round
Source: FIH
5th-8th place classification
8th place game
Football
- Summary
Roster Head coach: Lothar Osiander
Preliminary round
Source: FIFA
(H) Hosts 18 September 1988Daegu Civic Stadium, Daegu 20 September 1988Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan 22 September 1988Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan
Gymnastics
Artistic
- Men
- Team
- Individual finals
- Women
- Team
- Individual finals
Rhythmic
Handball
Summary
Men's tournament
Roster
The following players represented the United States:
- Brian Bennett
- James Buehning
- Scott Driggers
- Craig Fitschen
- Steven Goss
- Bob Hillary
- Boyd Janny
- Bryant Johnson
- William Kessler
- Stephen Kirk
- Peter Lash
- Joseph McVein
- Rod Oshita
- Joe Story
- Mike Sullivan
Preliminary round
Source:
11th place match
Women's tournament
Roster
The following players represented the United States:
- Kathy Callaghan
- Kim Clarke
- Laura Coenen
- Sandra DeLaRiva
- Megan Gallagher
- Amy Gamble
- Sam Jones
- Portia Lack
- Karyn Palgut
- Carol Peterka
- Angie Raynor
- Cindy Stinger
- Penny Stone
- Sherry Winn
Preliminary round
Source:
(H) Hosts
Notes:
Placement round
Source:
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three pentathletes represented the United States in 1988.
Rowing
- Men
- Women
* - Race not run, times from heats were used to rank boats.
Qualification legend: FA = Final A (medal); FB = Final B (non-medal); SF = Semifinal; R = Repechage
Sailing
- Men
- Women
- Open
Shooting
- Men
- Women
- Open shotgun
Swimming
- Men
- Women
* - Athlete swam in the heat but not the final.
Note: Times in the first round ranked across all heats.
Qualification legend: FA – Advance to medal final; FB – Advance to non-medal final
Synchronized swimming
Three female synchronized swimmers represented the United States in 1988.
Table tennis
Tennis
- Men
- Women
Volleyball
Summary
Men's tournament
Roster
The following volleyball players represented the United States:
- Troy Tanner
- Dave Saunders
- Jon Root
- Bob Ctvrtlik
- Doug Partie
- Steve Timmons
- Craig Buck
- Scott Fortune
- Ricci Luyties
- Jeff Stork
- Eric Sato
- Karch Kiraly
- Head coach: Marv Dunphy
Preliminary round
Source:
Semifinal
Final
Women's tournament
Roster
- Deitre Collins
- Caren Kemner
- Laurel Kessel
- Liz Masakayan
- Jayne McHugh
- Melissa McLinden
- Kim Oden
- Prikeba Phipps
- Angela Rock
- Kimberly Ruddins
- Liane Sato
- Tammy Webb
- Head coach: Terry Liskevych
Preliminary round
Source:
Classification semifinal
7th place final
Water polo
- Summary
- Roster
- Craig Wilson
- Kevin Robertson
- James Bergeson
- Peter Campbell
- Douglas Kimbell
- Edward Klass
- Alan Mouchawar
- Jeffrey Campbell
- Greg Boyer
- Terry Schroeder
- Jody Campbell
- Christopher Duplanty
- Michael Evans
- Head coach: Bill Barnett
- Preliminary round
Source:
- Semifinal
- Gold medal game
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Key:
- TO – Victory by fall.
- PP – Decision by points – the loser with technical points.
- PO – Decision by points – the loser without technical points.
- ST – Technical superiority – a margin of victory of at least 15 points.
- SP - Technical superiority - a margin of victory between 12 and 14 points, the loser with technical points.
- SO - Technical superiority - a margin of victory between 12 and 14 points, the loser without technical points.
- DQ - Decision by forfeit
- PA - Decision by injury
- PZ - Loser disqualified for passivity, no technical points scored by either wrestler.
- P1 - Loser disqualified for passivity, winner leading by 11 points or less.
- Q – Qualify to gold medal bout
- q – Qualify to bronze medal bout