On This Date in Sports March 21, 1980: Boycott

In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com

One month after the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow before a group of Olympic Athletes. The USA boycott would be joined by several other nations, including Canada, West Germany, and Japan. The boycott by the United States was in response to the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan in December of 1979.

Politics invaded the world of sports in much the way the Soviets invaded Afghanistan on December 20, 1979. A Soviet dissident first proposed the idea of an Olympic boycott in January. The idea of a boycott quickly gained widespread support, with President Jimmy Carter giving Moscow an ultimatum to withdraw from Afghanistan by February 20th. Joe Clark, the Prime Minister of Canada, joined Carter’s call for a boycott, which had unanimous support in Congress.

Despite initial fears the Soviets may respond and pull out of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the games went on as scheduled. After the Winter Olympics ended, the United States continued to pressure the USSR and the International Olympic Committee, hoping the games themselves could be moved out of Moscow.

When a month passed since the initial deadline, the President felt he had no choice but to pull the United States out of the Summer Olympics. While several nations, including Canada, Japan, South Korea, and West Germany, joined the U.S.-led boycott, Carter could not convince Great Britain, France, and Australia to participate in the boycott from participating in the games.

In the months leading up to the games, IOC President Lord Killanin tried to salvage to Moscow Games, as he met with both Jimmy Carter and Leonard Brezhnev, the Soviet General Secretary. However, the meetings proved to be unsuccessful. Killian proposed to allow athletes from boycotting nations to participate in the Olympics under a neutral flag. In response, President Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any U.S. Athlete that went to Moscow and participated in the games.

The Olympic Games took place between July 19th and August 3rd, with just 80 nations participating, the smallest participation since 1956. Four years later, with the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the Soviet Union and 13 Eastern Bloc nations boycotted in response to the United States boycotting the 1984 games.