1980 Summer Olympics boycott


The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, and its allies would later boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Background

Western governments first considered the idea of boycotting the Moscow 1980 summer Olympics in response to the situation in Afghanistan at the 20 December 1979 meeting of NATO representatives. The idea was not completely new to the world: since 1975/1976 proposals for an Olympic boycott circulated widely among human rights activists and groups as a sanction for Soviet violations of human rights. At that moment, not many of the member governments were interested in the proposal. The idea began to gain popularity in early January 1980 when Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov called for a boycott. On 14 January 1980, the Carter Administration joined Sakharov's appeal and set a deadline by which the Soviet Union must pull out of Afghanistan or face the consequences, including an international boycott of the games. On 26 January 1980, Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark announced that Canada, like the US, would boycott the Olympic Games if Soviet forces did not leave Afghanistan by 20 February 1980. Jimmy Carter also proposed moving the Olympics to Greece on a permanent basis to eliminate the issue of politicization of the Games' hosting, but the IOC rejected this idea.
When the deadline passed a month later without any change to the situation in Central Asia, Carter pushed U.S. allies to pull their Olympic teams from the upcoming games.
In late January the Soviet regime prepared to face down this "hostile campaign". As Central Committee documents show, in addition to its own propaganda efforts it was relying on the International Olympic Committee and its 89 member committees to behave as in the past, and not give in to pressure from national governments. It noted that the government and National Olympic Committee of France had already stated a willingness to participate.
After its 24 April meeting, the head of the United States Olympic Committee Robert Kane told the International Olympic Committee that the USOC would be willing to send a team to Moscow if there were a "spectacular change in the international situation" in the coming weeks.
In an attempt to save the Games Lord Killanin, then president of the IOC, arranged to meet and discuss the boycott with Jimmy Carter and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, before the new 24 May deadline. Killanin insisted that the Games should continue as scheduled, while President Carter reaffirmed the US position. viz. to boycott the Games unless the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan.
Several interventions at the late April 1980 Bilderberg meeting in Aachen included discussion of the implications of the boycott. The world would perceive a boycott, it was argued, as little more than a sentimental protest, not a strategic act. An African representative at the Bilderberg meeting voiced a different view: whether there was additional support outside the US or not, he believed, a boycott would be an effective symbolic protest and be dramatically visible to those within the Soviet Union. Some Russian dissidents expressed an opinion that boycott would be a strong message to the Soviets who breached the Olympic rules to achieve their political goals. The Carter administration brought considerable pressure to bear on other NATO Member-States to support the boycott. Their support was not universal.
The International Olympics Federations protested that the pressures by the US and other supporting countries for the boycott was an inappropriate means to achieve a political end, and the victims of this action would be the athletes. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said that the American attitude that the allies "should simply do as they are told" was unacceptable, although West Germany did join the boycott.

Responses by country and continent

Boxer Muhammad Ali traveled to Tanzania, Nigeria, and Senegal to convince their leaders to join the boycott. He also successfully convinced the Kenyan government to do so.
Many countries ultimately joined the US in a full boycott of the Games. These included Japan and West Germany where Chancellor Schmidt was able to convince the National Olympic Committee to support the boycott. China, the Philippines, Chile, Argentina and Canada also boycotted the Games entirely. Some of these countries competed at the alternative "Liberty Bell Classic" or Olympic Boycott Games held in Philadelphia that same year.
The governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Australia supported the boycott, but left any final decision over the participation of their country's athletes to their respective NOCs and the decision of their individual athletes. The United Kingdom and France sent a much smaller athletic delegation than would have originally been possible. The British associations that governed equestrian sports, hockey, and yachting completely boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics.
Spain, Italy, Sweden, Iceland and Finland were other principal nations representing western Europe at the Games. Of these, Spain and Italy participated under a neutral flag with the Olympic anthem played in any ceremony. Italian athletes serving in its military corps could not attend the Games, however, because of the national government's official support of the boycott. Many events were affected by the loss of participants and some US-born athletes who were citizens of other countries, such as Italy and Australia, did compete in Moscow.
A firm enemy of the United States under Ayatollah Khomeini's new theocracy, Iran also boycotted the Moscow Games after Khomeini joined the condemnation by the United Nations and the Islamic Conference of the invasion of Afghanistan. Independently of the United States, the Islamic Conference urged a boycott of Moscow after the invasion; the Ayatollah meanwhile accused Moscow of arming the Baluchis against his regime.

Athletes and sportspeople competing without national flags or anthems

Lord Killanin permitted NOC-qualified athletes to compete at the Games without their national flags or anthems but this did not allow other individuals lacking NOC sanction to participate in the Games as this was perceived by the IOC as a potential weakening of their authority. Four competitors from New Zealand competed independently and marched under their NOC flag because the government officially supported the boycott. The athletes of 16 countries did not fly their national flags. Instead Olympic flags were raised and the Olympic Anthem replaced their national anthems at the medal ceremonies. There was one awards ceremony where three Olympic flags were raised, that being the men's individual pursuit in cycling.
Other modifications were made in the Games activities, such as when the Boycott prevented Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau from attending the Moscow Games. Sandra Henderson and Stéphane Préfontaine, the final torchbearers at the previous games, were sent in his stead to participate in the Antwerp Ceremony at the opening ceremony, and at the closing ceremony, the Los Angeles city flag was raised to symbolize the next host of the Olympic Games. The Antwerp flag was received by an IOC member from the USA instead of the mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley; there was no handover to Los Angeles ceremony at the closing.

Olympic coverage cancellation

planned to spend at least $175 million for its Olympic coverage, given inflation and additional production costs after winning the bidding war on January 24, 1980, one day after NBC withdrew because of the "unsettled world situation". CBS was reportedly still in the bidding at the end of the negotiations. Earlier that week, NBC had asked the International Olympic Committee to postpone the negotiations for two months because of turmoil, but the IOC declined. When that happened, two NBC officials flew to Yugoslavia and requested a postponement from the Yugoslavian government for negotiations for the U.S. television rights to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. When the Yugoslavs rejected the appeal, NBC withdrew, leaving the bidding to ABC and CBS. NBC reached an agreement with the Soviet government to pay the Soviets $87 million for the Moscow telecast, but said it will abide by whatever action the United States takes toward a boycott of the Soviet Games. As the U.S. government boycotted the event, the deal was cancelled.

Non-participating countries

Sixty-five countries that were invited to the 1980 Olympics, plus Qatar, did not participate for various reasons, including support for the boycott and economic reasons. Taiwan refused to participate as a result of the 1979 Nagoya Resolution, in which the People's Republic of China agreed to participate in IOC activities if Taiwan was referred to as "Chinese Taipei". However, China boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games as well.
The sixteen nations that follow participated in the Games under some adjustment to full conventional participation in the Games activities.

Nations that did not participate in the Opening Ceremony

Seven countries participated in the Games without taking part in the Opening Ceremony:
Two nations sent one representative each who entered the Olympic stadium during the Opening Ceremony under the Olympic flag; for each country this was a token gesture, as their governments allowed athletes to take part in the Games if they chose to do so. Ireland also competed under the Olympic flag, rather than its own.
At least 5 national teams participated at the Games under the Olympic flag rather than their respective National or NOC flags, as doing the latter would have denoted that their participation was officially sanctioned by their respective nations.
Events were staged separately in several sports, including the Liberty Bell Classic for track and field and the USGF International Invitational for gymnastics. U.S.–Cuban 12-bout card at the Charlotte Coliseum on February 10, 1980, became the only meeting of Cuban and American boxers and important event in boxing, "one of the prime matches of the year," according to U.S. boxing Coach Tom Johnson.