At the track and field events at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, a pair of women from the United States joined forces to make their presence known. Together, sisters-in-law Florence Griffith-Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee won five gold medals and set four Olympic records.

In cycling, another woman, Christa Luding-Rothenburger of the German Democratic Republic, recorded her own amazing feat. Having won two speed skating medals earlier that year at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Luding-Rothenburger's silver in the cycling track event made her the only athlete in the history of the Games to have medalled at both Olympics in one year. In the medal count, the Soviet Union bested the G.D.R. 132-102.