1984: Fourth Olympic gold medal won by Carl Lewis.
American track-and-field athlete Carl Lewis qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 1980 but did not compete, because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games. At the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, he won gold medals in the 100-metre (9.9 seconds) and 200-metre (19.8 seconds) races, the long jump (8.54 metres [28 feet 0.25 inch]), and the 4 × 100-metre relay. On this day Lewis became the third track-and-field athlete to win four gold medals in one Olympics, joining Americans Al Kraenzlein (1900) and Jesse Owens, the latter of whom won the same four events at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
| 1994: | | The Major League Baseball Players Association began a labour strike following the games of August 11. The dispute resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of the season, including the World Series. |
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| 1965: | | Race riots erupted in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Thirty-four people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. |
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| 1956: | | | Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock died in an automobile accident. |
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| 1924: | | A newsreel of presidential candidates was filmed for the first time; it included footage of Calvin Coolidge, John W. Davis, and Robert La Follette. |
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| 1919: | | The Weimer constitution was formally declared, establishing Germany as a republic. |
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