Highlights

• With the exception of Afghanistan, it was the first time since the Munich 1972 Olympics that all of the IOC countries participated in the Games.
• Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic Flame by firing a burning arrow towards the cauldron. The arrow passed over the cauldron, which was emanating gas at that moment. The gas ignited and the flame appeared in the cauldron.
• In basketball, the admittance of professional players led to the American Dream Team, with players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird. They won the gold medal with great ease.
• South Africa was allowed again to participate in the Olympics after a 28 years suspension in the Olympic Games for its apartheid policy. White South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu fought out a great battle in the 10,000 m (won by Tulu) and then ran their lap of honour hand in hand.
• Following the German Reunification in 1990, Germany participated with a single team for the first time since 1960.
• As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participated with their own teams for the first time since 1936. The other Soviet republics took part in the Unified Team.
• The break up of Yugoslavia led to the debuts of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to United Nations sanctions, Yugoslav athletes were not allowed to participate with their own team, but could compete under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants.
• In men's artistic gymnastics, Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus won six gold medals, including four on a single day. Five of the six golds were in individual events, tying Eric Heiden's record for individual gold medals at a single Olympics.
• In women's artistic gymnastics, Tatiana Gutsu took gold in the All-Around competition edging the United States' Shannon Miller.
• In the diving competitions, held in the view of the Sagrada Família, Fu Mingxia won the high dive event, despite being only 13 years old.
• Russian swimmers dominated the freestyle events, with Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi both winning two events (Sadovyi won a third with in the relays).
• Evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold medal in the 4x100 metre relay, making her one of only four female athletes to have achieved this in history.
• The young Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary won three individual swimming gold medals.
• After being demonstrated six times, baseball became an Olympic sport, with Cuba winning the gold medal, Chinese Taipei winning silver, and Japan, the bronze.
• Badminton and women's judo became part of the Olympic programme, while slalom canoeing returned to the Games after a 20-year absence.
• Basque pelota, roller hockey, taekwondo and Valencian pilota were the demonstration sports.
• Chris Boardman won the 4000M individual pursuit track cycling event for Great Britain.
• Linford Christie finally won the 100m at the age of 32.
• Several of the USA Men's Gold Medal volleyball team from the 1988 Olympics return to vie for another medal. In the first round, they lost a controversial match to Japan, sparking them to shave their heads in protest (including Steve Timmons, sacrificing his trademark red flattop for the protest).
• Mike Stulce of the USA won the men's shot put, beating heavy favored Werner Günthör of Switzerland.
• On the 20th anniversary of the Munich massacre, Yael Arad became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, winning a silver medal in judo. The next day, Oren Smadja became Israel's first male medalist, winning a bronze in the same sport.
• Derek Redmond of Britain pulled a hamstring during a 400m semi-final heat. As he struggled to finish the race, his father entered the track without credentials and helped Derek complete the race to a standing ovation from the crowd.
• Sergei Bubka had won gold in the men's pole vault in Seoul 1988, setting an Olympic record. He was favored to easily take the gold again, but he left Barcelona empty-handed, failing to make any height in the pole vault. He failed in all his attempts. A little over a month later,in Tokyo, Bubka vaulted 20 feet 1 and 1/2 inches - his 3rd outdoor record of 1992 and 32nd world record overall.
• There were two main musical themes of the 1992 Games. One was "Barcelona", written five years earlier by Freddie Mercury and sung as a duet with Montserrat Caballé. The duo were to have performed the song during the opening ceremony, but due to Mercury's untimely death the year before, the song was played over a travelogue of the city at the start of the opening ceremony. The other was "Amigos Para Siempre" (Friends for Life), written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, and sung by Sarah Brightman and José Carreras during the closing ceremonies.

Medals awarded

Demonstration sports