In the years following the Seoul Games, the world went through massive political changes.

Apartheid was repealed in South Africa, allowing that nation to return to the Olympics.

The Berlin Wall fell and West and East Germany were united.

Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union, and the USSR split into 15 separate countries.

In 1992, independent teams from Estonia and Latvia made their first appearance since 1936, and Lithuania fielded its first team since 1928.

The remaining ex-Soviet republics competed at the Barcelona Games as the Unified Team, although individual winners were honoured by the raising of the flag of their own republic.

Even Albania, freed from Stalinist dictatorship, participated for the first time since 1972.

Cuba, North Korea, and Ethiopia also ended their boycott streaks at two.

In all, the 1992 Opening Ceremony was a festive occasion.

The only controversy was what to do about Yugoslavia, which was the subject of United Nations sanctions because of its military aggression against Croatia and Bosnia. At the last minute, it was decided that Yugoslavia would be banned from team sports, but that individual Yugoslav athletes could compete as ``independent Olympic participants.''

The star of the Games was the city of Barcelona itself, with its beautiful architecture and its cosmopolitan populace.

The collective mood of the 1992 Olympics was one of guarded optimism that the Olympic movement had successfully survived a difficult two decades of political turmoil.