Los Angeles – 1984

Shaking off the disappointment of the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was difficult for many athletes who were chronologically unable to bridge the eight year gap from the Montreal to Los Angeles Games.

It was a bit easier for me because I grew up the first twelve years of my life just ten miles away from the L.A. Coliseum.  Los Angeles was my home and my crowd.  I had attended UCLA and Long Beach State.  They had supported me, cheered me, and even booed me during my most boorish years of tirelessly promoting the sport I loved.  I had the ultimate “home-field advantage.”
 

In those intervening eight years the high jump had seen quite an explosion in the alteration of the world record.  I had cleared 7’7’¼” (2.32m) at a post-Montreal Olympic meet and coming into the L.A. Games the record stood at 7’10” (2.39m).

I was 30 years old, the father of a year old son, and coming off a sixth place finish at the inaugural World Championships the previous season.  I had lost my American record and had not improved my personal best mark for eight years.  Not exactly a recipe for Olympic success.
  

But I could certainly make a case for pursuing a spot on an unprecedented third Olympic team.  Until I managed to turn the trick in 1981, no high jumper had ever been ranked in the world’s Top Ten passed the age of 26.  The prospect of a 30 year old high jumper on the Olympic team was not one the “experts” confidently embraced.
 

But just like back in 1972, I had one of the most enjoyable, important competitions of my career when I not only won the Olympic Trials, but reclaimed the American record with a clearance of 7’8” (2.34m).  Suddenly, I was thrust right into the middle of discussions concerning Olympic medals again, with the idea of finally getting what had escaped me previously in the way of Olympic Gold being seriously contemplated.

The Eastern bloc boycott of the L.A. Olympics was certainly not going to hurt me in the pursuit of an unprecedented third Olympic medal during a career that had already spanned twice expectancy at 12 years.
 

I had been working in the sports television field for 7 years by this point and I was hired by ABC Sports as an analyst during for the Olympic broadcast.  I’m the only athlete ever to be double-credentialed at the Olympics, something that is strictly forbidden but possible in the mid-80’s due to the lack of sophistication in computer systems.  I was credentialed as an athlete as Dwight Stones and as a broadcaster without the “s” on the end of my last name.  By the time the IOC figured out what had happened it was too late but they tightened policy so it could never happen again.

I competed well, clearing 7’7” (2.31m) in the final, a height 4” (10cm) higher than I had ever cleared at previous Olympics but I finished fourth, losing to 21, 19, and 21 year old medalists.  I cleared the same height as the bronze medal winning world record holder but I had a miss that he didn’t have on the way.

Multiple world record holder and previous Olympic shot put champion Parry O’Brien calls fourth place the “lead” medal.  He won one of his own during his incredible career.  The only thing worse than being fourth in the Olympics is finishing fourth at the Olympic Trials where third is first and fourth is last.