Olympic Games Boycotts

Atualizado: 30 de abr. de 2021

On March 21, 1980, the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, announced that the U.S. would boycott the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Moscow that summer. The announcement came after the Soviet Union failed to comply with Sir Carter’s February 20, 1980, deadline to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

To give you a little bit more context… the Soviet military invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to reinforce the country’s communist regime against Islamic rebel forces. In a statement made after the invasion, President Carter rebuked the Soviet Union, specifically Leonid Brezhnev, and decried the invasion as a deliberate effort by a powerful atheistic government to subjugate an independent Islamic people that he called a stepping stone to Soviet control over Afghanistan’s oil supplies”. Tricky, right?!

Mr. Brezhnev dismissed Sir Carter’s statements as bellicose and wicked. Now you ask (or at least I asked), who’s this guy? To what I answer, inspired by my humble research, that’s Mr. General Secretary of the governing Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and as you can imagine by the quite long title he portrays, he was the one in charge at the time. Interesting fact: his 18-year term as general secretary was second only to Joseph Stalin's in duration… actually, did you know that Stalin went photoshopping before it got fashionable?! It has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, I know, but I couldn’t resist sharing this with you! Apparently, as a child, he suffered from smallpox, which left scars on his face. He was self-conscious about these scars and would request that alterations be made during the processing of all his photos. It was also reported that he would have portrait artists shot for creating unflattering images of him!

Going back to the main subject, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan threatened to revive the Cold War, which, during the late 1970s, had appeared to undergo a temporary thaw. And, in addition to the boycott, Sir Carter increased pressure on the Soviets to abandon the war in Afghanistan by issuing a trade embargo on two U.S. goods that the country desperately needed: grain and information technology. He also restricted Soviet fishing in American-controlled ocean waters. Mr. President even called on the U.N. to provide military equipment, food, and other assistance to help Afghanistan’s neighbors (especially Iran and Pakistan) fend off further Soviet encroachment.

But they weren't the only ones… Canada, West Germany, and Japan also joined the U.S. in boycotting the games! On the other hand, Sir Carter failed to convince Great Britain, France, Greece, and Australia to also observe the boycott. When an international coalition suggested that the boycotting nations send athletes to compete under a neutral Olympic banner, Mr. President threatened to revoke the passport of any U.S. athlete who attempted to do so, can you believe it?! His decision affected not only athletes but the profits of corporate advertisers and broadcasting powerhouses like NBC.

Now, the reaction to Sir Carter’s decision was mixed! Many Americans pitied the athletes who had worked so hard toward their goal of competing in the Olympics and who might not qualify to compete in the next games in 1984. At the same time, the boycott symbolized the commitment many Americans felt to fighting the oppressive, anti-democratic Soviet regime. This was certainly a very intricate dilemma, but in one way or another, Mr. President had to make a decision which could never have been positive for both sides... so, I guess it’s life!

Moving on, and to no surprise, in retaliation for Sir Carter’s actions, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles! Hah! Do you know what this reminds me of? My childhood… and I’m pretty sure that this happened to you at least once in your life too: when a kid steals your favorite pencil and to get revenge on him you steal his too! Childish? Yes, but it is understandable at that age! But really, wasn’t this already expected?! Who decided to have the next Olympic Games held in America knowing what was going on with the Soviet Union? Seriously, couldn’t the people in charge at least have decided to hold the games on neutral grounds? As a great friend of mine would say, “I rest my case”!

Now, to justify their boycott, the Soviet Union claimed that its athletes would not be safe from protests and possible physical attacks and, therefore, would not compete in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. But, again, despite the Soviet statement, it was obvious that the boycott was a response to the decision of the United States to boycott the games that were previously held in Moscow.

Pouring gasoline into the fire, just months before the 1984 Olympic Games were to begin in Los Angeles, the Soviet government issued a statement claiming, “It is known from the very first days of preparations for the present Olympics that the American administration has sought to set course at using the Games for its political aims. Chauvinistic sentiments and anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in this country.” Russian officials went on to claim that protests against the Soviet athletes were likely to break out in Los Angeles and that they doubted whether American officials would try to contain such outbursts. The administration of President Ronald Reagan (yeah, the actor-president!) responded to these charges by declaring that the Soviet boycott was “a blatantly political decision for which there was no real justification”. So, basically, “nice offenses to one side and then even “nicer” offenses to the other side… and this, my dear children, is politics! Voilà!

And to finish, similar to what happened with the U.S. boycott, in the days following the Soviet announcement, 13 other communist nations issued similar statements and refused to attend the games. The Soviets, who had been stung by the U.S. refusal to attend the 1980 games in Moscow because of the Russian intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, were turning the tables by boycotting the 1984 games in America. The diplomatic impact of the action was quite small, though. The impact on the games themselves, however, was immense! Without competition from the Soviet Union, East Germany, and other communist nations, the United States swept to an Olympic record of 83 gold medals. A lot, but in the conditions in which the games were held, I’m not sure if it was such a victory, right?

In general, since the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the international sports competition has only been canceled three times: once during World War I, when the Olympics were supposed to be hosted by the German Empire, which had built an impressive 30,000-seat stadium in Berlin just for the event (look at that!). But with the outbreak of war in 1914, and the eventual involvement of so many nations who sent athletes to the Olympics, the 1916 games were scrapped. Germany was literally disinvited!

The games were also canceled twice during World War II, more specifically, the 1940 Summer and Winter Olympics were both scheduled to be held in Japan, the first non-Western country to host the games, but Japan forfeited its rights in 1937 when it went to war with China. The 1940 games were initially rebooked for Helsinki, Finland in the summer and the German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the winter, but finally canceled in 1939 with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. London was supposed to host the 1944 Summer Olympics, but those were summarily canceled due to the ongoing war. Same for the 1944 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. London eventually hosted the 1948 games but banned German and Japanese athletes from participation.

It’s a bit sad to realize how a supposedly peaceful and international event, which main goal should be to promote equality and human rights, didn’t have that in consideration when deciding to restrain those athletes from competing in the games that should have nothing to do with politics or war. It’s a shame, though...

More than the games being canceled, recently the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak postponed the Summer Olympic Games for a year, and the Olympics also weathered politically charged boycotts and two separate terrorist attacks without being canceled or postponed during peacetime. Like what happened in Mexico City, for example. Ten days before the 1968 Summer Games were set to open, government forces opened fire on crowds of unarmed student protestors, killing hundreds if not thousands in what became known as the Tlatelolco Massacre. A lot of critics were aimed at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for doing nothing about it, especially since the main theme of the Mexico City games was peace with icons of the dove of peace all over the city when all that was displayed was terror.

Likewise, the IOC was initially hesitant to ban Apartheid-era South Africa from the 1960 Olympics but eventually bowed to the pressure of African nations, who said they would boycott the games if whites-only South African teams were allowed to play. South Africa was eventually barred from the Olympics from 1960 until 1992, after the fall of Apartheid.

As for the terrorist attacks, the first one occurred in 1972, at the Olympic Village in Munich, Germany, as an armed band of Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli compound killing two Israeli athletes and holding another nine hostages. In the ensuing standoff, all nine remaining Israeli athletes were murdered. Instead of calling off the Munich games, Olympic officials continued the competition after a two-day suspension.

As for the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, they were also allowed to go on after a homemade bomb exploded during a free concert in Centennial Olympic Park. Two people died in the early-morning blast and more than a hundred were injured, but only a few hours later, the president of Atlanta’s Olympic organizing committee said, "The spirit of the Olympic movement mandates that we continue".