The United States of America (USA) competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 527 competitors, 332 men and 195 women, took part in 230 events in 27 sports.
The United States finished outside of the top two in the overall medal count (third behind the Soviet Union and East Germany) for the first time and in the gold medal count for only the second time. It was revealed thereafter that the Soviet Union and East Germany operated extensive state-sponsored doping programs to prepare for the Games.
The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.
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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
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to further PED usage between 1981 and 1988 and his world record of 9.83 seconds from the 1987 World Championships was rescinded as well, allowing Lewis's 9.92 seconds in the Olympic final became the new world record.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 ÃÂ 100 caused a heartbreaking disqualification for the favored American team. In the 4 ÃÂ 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 ÃÂ 100 and coming in second, while beating the previous world record, to a record-shattering performance by the Soviet team in the 4 ÃÂ 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.
Men<br/> Track and road events
Field events
Combined event â Decathlon
Women<br/> Track and road events
Field events
Combined event â Heptathlon
Summary
This was the last time that the United States was represented by college players in Olympic competition. Other countries, meanwhile, used their best professionals.<br/> Roster<br/>
Group play
Quarterfinal
Semifinal
Bronze medal game
Team roster<br/>
Group play
Semifinal
Gold medal game
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 3âÂÂ2 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.
Men
Women
<small>Key: QF â Qualified to medal final; SF â Qualified to semifinal; R â Qualified to repechage; - Heat not held due to lack of competitors. All competitors scheduled for this heat advanced to the next round.</small>
Nineteen cyclists represented the United States in 1988. Connie Paraskevin-Young won bronze in the women's sprint.
Points race
Pursuit
Sprint
Time trial
Men
Women
Dressage
Eventing
Jumping
19 fencers represented the United States in 1988.
Men
Women
Summary
The US women's field hockey team competed for the second time at the Summer Olympics.
Roster
Head coach: Boudewijn Castelijn
Preliminary round
5th-8th place classification
8th place game
Summary
Roster Head coach: Lothar Osiander
Preliminary round
In the women's artistic gymnastics team all-around competition, the United States women's team was penalized five-tenths of a point from their team score by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) after the compulsory round. East German judge Ellen Berger noticed that Rhonda Faehn, who was the American team alternate and not competing, had been standing on the uneven bars podium for the duration of Kelly Garrison-Steve's compulsory uneven bars routine. Although Faehn was not a coach, Berger assessed the penalty under a rule prohibiting coaches from remaining on the podium while an athlete competes. The deduction caused the United States to fall to fourth place with a combined score of 390.575, three-tenths of a point behind East Germany. This incident remains controversial in the sport of gymnastics, as the United States outperformed the East German team and would have taken the bronze medal in the team competition had they not been penalized.
Men<br/> Team
Individual finals
Women<br/> Team
Individual finals
Summary
Roster<br/>
Preliminary round
11th place match
Roster<br/>
Preliminary round
Placement round
Three pentathletes represented the United States in 1988.
Men
Women
<small> - Race not run, times from heats were used to rank boats.<br />Qualification legend: FA = Final A (medal); FB = Final B (non-medal); SF = Semifinal; R = Repechage</small>
Men
Women
Open
Men
Women
Open shotgun
Men
Women
<small> - Athlete swam in the heat but not the final. <br />Note: Times in the first round ranked across all heats. <br />Qualification legend: FA â Advance to medal final; FB â Advance to non-medal final</small>
Three female synchronized swimmers represented the United States in 1988.
Men
Women
Summary
Roster<br/>
Preliminary round
Semifinal
Final
Roster
Preliminary round
Classification semifinal
7th place final
Summary
Roster
Preliminary round
Semifinal
Gold medal game