In Photos: Historic moments of the Olympic Games -- Barcelona 1992

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Reflecting the end of the Cold War, among the teams participating in the opening ceremony were a unified team consisting of former Soviet Union republics as well as North Korea and Cuba, which had boycotted the 1988 Seoul Games. Japan won three gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals at the event.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Kyoko Iwasaki competes to win the gold medal in the women's 200-meter breaststroke. Aged 14 years and 6 days, she became the youngest swimmer to win a gold medal in Olympic history.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Kyoko Iwasaki competes to win the gold medal in the women's 200-meter breaststroke and set a new Olympic record of 2 minutes 26.65 seconds. Commenting on her success, she said, "I thought perhaps (I could win) when I turned at the 150-meter mark but I didn't expect I could overtake the leader."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Kyoko Iwasaki, who turned 14 years old only a week before the competition, became the third Japanese female swimmer to ever win a gold medal following Hideko Maehata at the 1936 Berlin Games and Mayumi Aoki at the 1972 Munich event. (Mainichi/Toshifumi Ito)

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Kyoko Iwasaki attracted great public attention in Japan when she commented after her win, "This is the happiest I've been in my life."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The Japanese team finished in seventh place in the women's 400-meter medley relay. From left, Suzu Chiba, Yoko Koikawa, Yoko Kando and Kyoko Iwasaki are seen. (Mainichi/Toshifumi Ito)

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Competitors run in the women's marathon near the 13-kilometer mark from the start.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Yuko Arimori crosses the finish line in the women's marathon in second place, some 8 seconds behind the winner. (Mainichi/Toshifumi Ito)

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Yuko Arimori, left, who won the silver medal in the women's marathon, and Valentina Egorova, of the unified team of former Soviet Union member countries, who captured the gold, celebrate together after the race.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Yuko Arimori secured the silver medal in the women's marathon. It was the first time in 64 years for a Japanese woman to capture a medal in athletics following Kinue Hitomi's achievement in the 800-meter race at the 1928 Amsterdam Games.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Koichi Morishita pours a special drink over his head at the 30-kilometer mark in the men's marathon.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Koichi Morishita earns the silver medal in the men's marathon. It was the first medal for a Japanese male marathon runner in 24 years since Kenji Kimihara captured silver at the 1968 Mexico City Games. (Mainichi/Kikuya Katayama)

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Tekeyuki Nakayama runs to finish in fourth place in the men's marathon.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Hiromi Taniguchi runs to finish in eighth place in the men's marathon. A competitor stepped on Taniguchi's heel, forcing him to fall. "I turned back to pick up my shoe so this was the best I could do," he said after the competition.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Susumu Takano finishes in eighth place in the men's 400 meters. He became the first Japanese finalist in 60 years in the short-distance athletics event.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The Japanese team finished in sixth place in the men's 400-meter relay. From left, Tatsuo Sugimoto, anchor, Satoru Inoue, running third, Shinji Aoto, running first, and Hisatsugu Suzuki, running second.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Hidehiko Yoshida wins the gold medal in the 78-kilogram division in the men's judo by defeating Jason Morris, of the United States, in the final by ippon.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Toshihiko Koga celebrates after defeating Hungary's Hajtos Bertalan by a decision to win the gold medal in the 71-kilogram division in the men's judo.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Toshihiko Koga is congratulated by team members after winning a gold medal in judo. Koga was the captain of the Japanese delegation.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Toshihiko Koga won the gold medal after he received a painkiller shot in his left knee that he injured during a free practice session with Hidehiko Yoshida, who also won a gold medal, just before the games.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Ryoko Tamura competes to defeat Britain's Karen Briggs in a semifinal in the 48-kilogram division in the women's judo.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Ryoko Tamura captures the silver medal in the 48-kilogram division in the women's judo after she was defeated by France's Cecile Nowak in the final. After the competition, Tamura said, "I wasn't strong enough (to win the gold). I'll start over from the very beginning for the next Olympics four years from now."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Naoya Ogawa is flipped by the opponent in the final in the over-95-kilogram division in men's judo. He secured the silver medal.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Yukio Iketani secured the silver medal in the floor exercise of the men's gymnastics after a solid moon somersault landing to score 9.787.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The Japanese pair of Fumiko Okuno and Aki Takayama performs to take the bronze medal in duet synchronized swimming.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Fumiko Okuno, left, who replaced Mikako Kotani just before the final, performs well in the duet synchronized swimming final.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Fumiko Okuno, right, was moved to tears when she snared the bronze medal in the duet synchronized swimming after earlier winning the bronze medal in the solo event. "This bronze is really great compared with yesterday's bronze."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Fumiko Okuno performs to take the bronze medal in the solo synchronized swimming.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The Japanese team takes the bronze medal in baseball by defeating the United States in the third place match after earlier losing their semifinal game against Taiwan.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Kosei Akaishi seals the bronze medal in the 68-kilogram division in the men's freestyle wrestling. It was his three consecutive Olympic Games and his second medal after he captured the silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Ryoji Isaoka performs in the 82.5-kilogram division in men's weightlifting. He successfully lifted 155 kilograms in the snatch but was disqualified from the event.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Ryohei Koba is seen after taking the bronze medal in the free rifle event in men's shooting. After the competition he said, "I concentrated while singing a (Japanese popular boy band) Hikaru Genji tune."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Yuki Motobuchi performs to finish in 26th place in the women's high platform diving. She finished in 11th place in springboard diving after having qualified in fourth place in the preliminary round.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The Japanese pair of Yumiko Shige, left, and Alicia Kinoshita competes to finish in fifth place in the two person dinghy in women's sailing.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Japan's Seiko Hashimoto competes to set a national record in cycling but failed to qualify for the finals. She appeared in seven summer and winter Olympic Games in her career and took the bronze medal in speed skating at the 1992 Albertville Games.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Aleksandra Timoshenko, of the unified team comprising former Soviet Union republics, performs to win the gold medal in the individual all-around event in rhythmic gymnastics.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The U.S. men's basketball team consisting of NBA superstars, including Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, was admired as the "dream team."

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- The U.S. men's basketball team show their skills in a game.

1992 Barcelona Olympics -- Magic Johnson, of the U.S. men's basketball team, celebrates after his "dream team" won the gold medal.