Boycott of the Olympics in Moscow

[Dedpuhl]

I am too young to know what happened here. The first olympics I remember watching were in Seoul, South Korea. What exactly happened at the Moscow games? Was it the USA that boycotted them? I heard this referred to several times during the games but I dont know what they are talking about.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

Yes, the US did boycott the Moscow Olympics about 20 years ago - The Carter Administration was pissed that the USSR invaded Afganastan.

 

[nickdakick]

Ahem, not only was the Carter administration pissed but the rest of the western world.

Note: The world outside the US DOES IN FACT EXIST.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

How many other western countries were pissed off enough to boycott?

 

[Czar]

<< Note: The world outside the US DOES IN FACT EXIST >>



LOL So true, some people should know that, but somehow they dont.

 

[nickdakick]

As far as I can remember all NATO-members at that time being Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, West-Germany.
Participating were only Warsaw-Pact and neutral countries like Switzerland.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Most of the 3rd world participated though.

 

[lavie]

Once Carter acted to spoil the Moscow Games (62 nations did boycott the Games), in 1984 USSR and its allies would retaliate with another boycott at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Although Romania did send a team to Los Angeles, 16 of the USSR's other allies boycotted the Los Angeles Games.

 

[HigherGround]

Actually anly soviets boycotted the '84 games...the rest of the block was too scared to send their athletes (most of which would've defected anyway). Romania was an exception because they were ruled by a madman who could care less about Soviet's &quot;recommendation&quot;

 

[SKiller]

Kinda silly though, IMO. I mean olympics are supposed to promote unity, why would you boycott that along with a country? Economic sanctions I can understand, but boycotting something that tries to remove itself from politics for political reasons is kinda pointless.
I guess I'd have to be a politician to understand it

 

[Nick Stone]

I thought at the time the it was pretty lame for us (Carter) to hold the Olympics &quot;hostage&quot; for the short comings of the political leaders of the world. Ideally the Olympics should be above politics. The &quot;Olympic Ideal&quot; would have the Olympics &quot;transcend&quot; political influience and we Americans should demonstrate our support for this principal.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Actually the vast majority of countries went to the Moscow Olympics. Even Australia did, even though we had about the most pro-American govt ever, at that time.

I just looked it up &amp; only 17 countries boycotted Moscow. Amongst the 17 that boycotedthe 1980 Olympics were the US, China, Albania, West Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Monaco &amp; 10 3rd countries that are/were so inconsequential, they didn't even bother naming them.

 

[dennilfloss]

&quot;Amongst the 17 that boycotedthe 1980 Olympics were the US, China, Albania, West Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Monaco &amp; 10 3rd countries that are/were so inconsequential, they didn't even bother naming them.&quot;

Dabanshee,

You need to get better sources...

Are you implying that Canada is an inconsequential third-world country? We participated in the boycott. That happened during the short-lived minority government of Joe Clark's conservatives, the same government that hid a bunch of American diplomats in the Canadian embassy and made forged identities for them so that they could escape Iran (that government had received a non confidence vote and been defeated, but in Canada, a change of government does not necessarily means changing the ambassadors and consuls).

In fact, only 81 nations participated in Moscow, with 61 countries joining the US in the boycott (which was not called a boycott). In 1984, 13 communist allies followed the USSR in boycotting (the term non participation was used) the Los Angeles Olympics. Romania was the only Warsaw Pact country to come to Los Angeles. Twenty-six nations (mostly African countries) had also boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics because of the presence of the New Zealand, which rugby team had just recently toured in South Africa. Taiwan also boycotted because Canada would not allow its athletes to be identified as from the Republic Of China (Canada had officially recognized the People's Republic Of China).

Olympic history

detailed article on the 1980 and 1984 boycotts

Take Me Anywhere (Edwin)

 

[DABANSHEE]

Dennilfloss your mathematics doesnt work out because if 81 nations went to Moscow &amp; 61 boycotted, that works out at 142 NOCs in total, which is far more than what existed at that time - 113 at Mexico in 68, 122 in Munich in 72, 88 in montreal in 76 (which gives a total of 116 if you were to included the 24 countries that boycotted Montreal. BTW The New Zealand Rugby Union team was not at Montreal as Rugby Union had not been an Olympic sport since before WWII, even though it was before then. What happened was that those African countries spat the dummy because they wanted New Zealand banned from the olympics because their Rugby team toured South Africa, so they said they wouldnt go if New Zealand was going)

Actually I just re-read that thing I read &amp; it looks like the truth is half way in between. 17 nations had full total boycots (Includeing the US &amp; Canada in Nth America, West Germany, Norway, Liechenstein &amp; Monaco from Western Europe, China &amp; its ally Albania). However about another 20 nations had official boycots but allowed their athletes to go on an individual basis as just representatives of their National Olympics committees. Consequently on July 24th, history was made when no national flags were raised at a medals ceremony for the first time ever. The medal winners in the 4,000-meter individual pursuit cycling competition were a Swiss, a Frenchman, and a Dane. Three Olympic flags were raised instead of their national banners. As those 3 countries were among the ones where the athletes were representing their NOC, not their country.

 

[dennilfloss]

Let me see if we can work together to solve this puzzle:

In Atlanta, 197 going + 0 not going = 197 nations
In Barcelona, 169 going + 0 not going = 169 nations
In Seoul, 159 going + 3 not going = 162 nations
In Los Angeles, 140 going + 13 not going = 153 nations
In Moscow, 80 going + 62 not going = 142 nations
In Montreal, 88 going + 26 not going = 114 nations
In Munich, 122 going
In Mexico, 112 going

Considering the fact that these numbers represent registered nations and the effect of conquests and independance, particularly of African nations in the late seventies, the numbers do not seem far fetched to me. They seem to fit the growth curve rather well. They agree within +/- 1 with those found in Encyclopedia Britannica and I tend to trust that source.

Encyclopedia Britannica Olympic page for 1976 &amp; 1980

Another thing that might shed light on this matter are the international Olympic committees recognized in 1976-1980. These include14 committees from 1978-1980:

(data from the International Olympic Organization)

Antigua &amp; Barbuda 1976
Cayman Islands 1976
Gambia 1976
Cyprus 1978
Bahrain 1979
Mozambique 1979
Lao's People Democratic Pepublic 1979
Mauritania 1979
People's Republic Of China 1979
Seychelles 1979
Vietnam 1979
Angola 1980
Bangladesh 1980
Botswana 1980
Qatar 1980
United Arab Emirates 1980
Zimbabwe 1980 (won a gold medal in Moscow!!!)

There are still some unexplained discrepancies but I am not anal enough to go through the world history between 1972 and 1980 in detail to try and explain them. Maybe you should give it a try. As for 1976, I seem to have typed 'which' in the wrong spot.

Consider...

-because of the presence of the New Zealand, which rugby team had just recently toured in South Africa.

vs

-because of the presence of the New Zealand rugby team, which had just recently toured in South Africa.

I edited the booboo. LOL. I bet that kind of typogrammatical error could cause a war some day!

Keep up the good posts, Dabanshee. I always enjoy reading them and learning the odd detail.

Nobody Supposed To Be Here (Deborah Cox)

 

[nickdakick]

LOL, you were right.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Gez, the Olympics were growing like Lain American inflation rates in the 80'S. I s'pose the de-colonialisation helped (eg, Belize under its own flag instead of being under the British flag as British Honduras) &amp; the breakup of the Soviet Union too (a bit later).