In the current day, a vast number of the nations on Earth compete at every Olympic Games, with the competition in London two summers ago having huge success and going down as one of the better Games in history. However, there was a time in the past when the Olympics was far less well-received by many nations able to take part.
For example, in the 1988 Games in Seoul not only did the opening ceremony manage to burn a whole flock of doves to a crisp, it was not attended by quite a few countries. North Korea, naturally, did not travel south of the border, but also Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Seychelles did not take part for various reasons.
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On the track and in the arenas there was plenty of controversy too. Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, was later stripped of his 100m gold for testing positive for a banned substance, while home favourite boxer Park Si-Hun was awarded the victory over Roy Jones Jr, despite having been bettered for the vast majority of the contest.
The world, however, changed a lot politically between 1988 and the next Games in Barcelona in 1992. Some countries had had bans on competing lifted in time for the Spain Olympics and the full complement of nations - a record number of 169 - were present for the opening ceremony on this day in 1992. It was a real turn-up for the International Olympic Committee and a sign of things to come for an event that is intended to unite a planet.
The opening ceremony itself was a success. The Olympians and Paralympians were united with Paralympian Antonio Rebollo lighting the torch with a flaming arrow. It also included a piece about Barcelona being born mythically from the sea, and the battle between creatures from the deep was generally well received. It, of course, finished with the obligatory firework display.
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Perhaps the biggest inclusion for the Barcelona Games was South Africa, who had not taken part since 1992 but were now able to again after the end of apartheid. Nelson Mandela was there to witness the ceremony, which also included an operatic section, with Placido Domingo and Jose Carerras singing.
Other new nations competing included Latvia and Estonia, who took part for the first time since becoming countries in their own right - their last showings were in 1936 - and Lithuania appeared for only the second time since 1928. The 12 countries who broke free of the Soviet Union opted to compete as one Unified Team, along with Germany, who were back together since 1964.
All in all, the Barcelona Games reflected the changing political sphere, and took sport into the modern day with it still flourishing today.
Matt Domm
