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Copyright (c) 1988 Seoul Olympics Radio and Television Organization

The Summer Games of the XXIV Olympiad were celebrated in the South Korean capital of Seoul from 17 September to 2 October 1988, and being the second Summer Olympics to be held in Asia after Tokyo 1964, 159 nations were represented by a total of 8,391 athletes with 237 medal events were held in 23 sports and 31 disciplines. But however, neighbouring North Korea boycotted the event, and was joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua, nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the three previous Olympiads were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era.

Following the previous year's declaration of national democracy, and the holding of free and fair presidential elections in 16 years, this Olympiad provided the impetus for South Korea to embrace democracy while representing a chance for the nation to take a big step forward into the international community.

These Games were held at the time of the so-called 'Miracle on the Han River' - a period that sought South Korea transform itself from one of the poorest countries in the world following the end of the Korean War to an economic power in East Asia, if not, one of the world's richest today.

Copying the exact model from the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, as a rite of passage for the Japanese economy and re-integration of Japan in the family of nations in the post-war era, the South Korean government hoped to use the 1988 Games as a "coming-out party"; the Seoul Olympics gave a powerful impetus to the development of the country's relations with Eastern Europe, the USSR and with China.

The Korean hosts had enjoyed their best Olympic performance so far, having won 33 medals including 12 golds to place at fourth in the medal tally. But the overall winners of the Seoul Games were the Soviet Union, winning 55 golds and 132 total medals to finish ahead of East Germany, which had a haul of 102 medals - 37 were golds.

Ultimately, at the time when the Cold War is reaching its end, Seoul 1988 turned out to be the last Olympiad for East Germany and the Soviet Union; following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the GDR reunified with West Germany in 1990, while the USSR disintegrated into 15 independent republics in 1991.