Before the start of the ceremonies, in an interview during the ABC broadcast, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared to journalist Peter Jennings that the games scored a "10" out of 10.
[5] Per tradition, the final medal ceremonies of the Games took place at the main Olympic stadium during the closing festivities.
After the men's marathon medals were presented, the final victory ceremony was held to the three individual jumping medalists in equestrian, with the medals awarded by Lord Killanin, Honorary Lifetime IOC President, accompanied by Fritz O. Widmer, Secretary General of the International Equestrian Federation.
Individual jumping medalists: Joe Fargis – Gold Conrad Homfeld – Silver Heidi Robbiani – Bronze Traditionally, the final individual jumping equestrian event is also held at the Olympic stadium on the morning of the day of the closing ceremony.
However, in 1984 the event was staged the day before at the same venue, so as not to damage the Coliseum field or turning any preparation for the massive closing ceremony extravanganza late.
After the U.S. anthem was played for gold medal winner Joseph Fargis, they took a victory lap again on horseback around the Coliseum, to cheers from the crowd.
[1] Other songs were performed while the flag bearers, country name placards and, finally, the athletes of 140 nations marched en masse.
On center stage,[1] Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was joined by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch and the mayor of Seoul, South Korea, Yeom Bo-hyeon, for the Antwerp flag transfer, which was passed from Bradley to Samaranch to Bo-hyeon.
During the start of the entertainment section, the Coliseum announcers informed the audience to set their flashlights to blue and turn them on at the count of three.
The stage lit up and "spoke" to the spaceship with lights in dueling form, using a sequence of notes from the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme", similar to the ending of the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
At the end, a 7-foot tall "alien" appeared above the parapet of the cauldron and announced that the city and humanity had kept "the ideals of the Olympics", declaring, "I salute you".