For the first time since 1960, South Africa is allowed to participate in the Olympics. White South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu fight out a great battle in the 10,000 m (won by Tulu) and then run their lap of honour hand in hand.
As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participate with their own teams for the first time since 1936. The other Soviet republics take part in the Unified Team.
The break up of Yugoslavia leads to the debuts Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yugoslav athletes are not allowed to participate with their own team, but may compete under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants.
In gymnastics, Vitali Shcherbo from Belarus wins no less than 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 the diving competitions, held in the view of the Sagrada Familia, Fu Mingxia wins the high dive event, being only 13 years old.
Russian swimmers dominate the freestyle events, with Aleksandr Popov and Yevgeni Sadovyi both winning two events (Sadovyi won a third with in the relays).
