The 12th Olympiad was played in Tarragona, one of suburbs of Barcelona, the capital of Catalunya. 33 teams arrived, equalling Laguna record from 1996. As in 2000 Russia, Poland and Ukraine were main contenders and most likely to share podium positions between themselves. The event saw a.o. 4 IMs and one player rated above 2400 (Krylov of Russia).

Romania took early lead ahead of France and Kazakhstan after day two, but it took the favourites just another 24 hours to be back on top. Russia beat Ukraine on day 4 in the first giant clash of the Olympiad levelling on points with Poland who wiped out Romania 4-0. The decisive match was played on day five. Dukaczewski beat Krylov being very fortunate as Krylov blundered in a won Rook ending but the Russians managed to pull one point back to held Poland to a 2-all draw. Standings in the halfway were: Russia and Poland 15, Ukraine 14½, Spain 14. On the next day the Poles definitely denied Ukrainian hopes with a firm 3-1 win while Russia dropped 1½ point vs Spain. With last round to go Poland were a fraction ahead of Russia, followed by a huge gap, then came a peloton of teams chasing for third place. On the last day Russia beat Croatia with ruthless 4-0 but Żółtek extricated from a very bad position vs Vykydal to grab the win and the title went to Poland by virtue of progress score (both teams finished at 28½ points and tied vs each other). Ukraine beat Germany 3-1 to take bronze medals while Yugoslavia took fourth place.

IM Dukaczewski of Poland not only lead his team to a historical gold but won individual medal himself too (7½/9 at top board). Berlinsky and Smirnov of Russia took gold medals at boards 2 and 3 respectively with 8/9. Ababsa of France was the winner of board 4. Olivera Gutiérrez of Spain was unhappy to see medals not being awarded for best results at reserve board, where he was eligible to take gold. It is worth to note that Delaney of Ireland (ranked 26th!) took silver medal at board three with excellent 7/8. Partik Berggren of Sweden was sensation of the event. He was just eleven years old (perhaps the youngest participant of Blind Olympiads ever seen) and showed very good chess to score 6/9. The legendary Milenko Čabarkapa, who took part in all eleven Olympiads until then, was missing for the first time.