Milestone

The Games of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona were boycott-free. The Soviet Union no longer existed but the Commonwealth of Independent States did. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were once again free countries. East and West Germany were no more, replaced again by a unified Germany. North and South Yemen had merged into one. All of these new national groupings appeared at Barcelona. South Africa had eliminated apartheid, at least constitutionally, and competed for the first time since 1960.

The Commonwealth of Independent States competed as a "Unified Team" for the last time, representing all the former republics of the Soviet Union, save for the Baltic States. The Games were opened beautifully as Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic cauldron with a flaming arrow.

(Credit: IOC / Olympic Museum)