1980 Summer Olympics

Whether it’s Michael Jordan shooting the game winning shot, Jim Kelly leading the buffalo bills to the super bowl, or the braves winning the world series of 1995, americans have always had a fascination with sports. Some people say that sports in the 1990’s was the best decade ever. Sports have provided many things for fans that watch them. Sports have allowed communities to grow stronger and provide great athletes to look up to. Sports in the 90’s has created unbreakable bonds between men women and children as they watch and participate in them.

The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de

Boycotting has been used throughout history as an instrument for foreign policy. “For any Olympics to be a true Olympics, all the world’s nations should be represented,” said Anderson. “Not … those … on one side or the other of political barbed wire.” As a result of boycott, the essence of the games—competition—diminished. At the 1980 Olympics where the United States decided to stay home, the Soviet Union swept 195 medals—the largest won in history—followed by the United States in 1984 with 174 medals, when, by no surprise, the Soviets decided to miss. Ironically, the spirit of the Olympics turned cold alongside the Cold War. “[The domination as a result of boycott] diminished any accomplishments in working hard,” said Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic gold-medal winner. The Olympic Games quickly turned into a game for politicians, not the athletes. James Montague, the 2009 Best New Writer, wrote in CNN that Carter’s idea of a “good, non-military way of protesting the invasion” was not effective, with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan lasting another eight years. The 1976 boycott was not effective either; the South African apartheid regime survived another eighteen years. Boycotting did more damage at home than it did away: it proved horrible for the Olympic movement and for athletes like Don Paige, a renowned track runner, who was left to watch the race he knew he could win.

The day is December 20, 1998; President Bill Clinton has just been assassinated in the White House Rose Garden by an unknown assailant. Further details at this point have not been revealed yet. This is a day of true tragedy for the whole of the United States of America. Those would be the words spoken shortly after the single shot rang from the barrel of the rifle into Clinton’s heart. This is the story of how four people put the U.S. in utter turmoil.

The 1972 Olympics basketball finals in Munich remains one of the most controversial Olympic games in history. Controversies of this match took both a sporting and political angle at the time because the two finalists, team USA and team USSR, came from a background of political competitions by virtue of them being the two most powerful nations on earth. The controversy happened in three “final three seconds.” Whatever happened to the medals remain equally controversial.

We many different types of Olympics; like for example, swimming, hockey, track & field, etc. The Olympics have been going on for a very long time; it started on April 6, 1896. According to Document G, it says, “Soviet weight lifter Vasily Alekseyev and gymnast Olga Korbut were both gold medal winners in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.” They were both Soviets and were international superstars in their events. On the other hand, “ Cold War tensions led the United States to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympic in Moscow and the Soviet Union to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.” Basically, the Soviets brought the Summer Olympics to us in 1984 ad that’s how everything started in LA. According to the Summer Olympics Medal Count, “The USSR won the most medals than the US.” In my opinion, I think the USSR won because they were the ones that had more athletic people. This should be in the Soviet textbooks, so we all know how the Olympics

The Soviets displayed great athleticism throughout the Olympics. According to document G the Soviets bested the U.S., 6 out of the 8 years between 1952-1968. The Soviets showed their physical dominance by winning 115 gold medals in the olympics. They held people like Vassalli Alex Oyosi the world strongest man (Doc G). The Soviets also held excellent ballet dancers (Doc 4). The Soviets achievements in the Olympics is something to commemorate.

The 1980 Moscow Olympics became known for the controversy and political statements that occurred at the Games. The split between the Communist countries and the rest of the world became evident in the lead up to the event. The world split into two groups, those that would support the Soviet Games and those who would not. In total, 60 different non-communist countries boycotted the Games following the United States boycott. The United States withdrew on the basis that the Soviet Union’s presence in Afghanistan. The Soviets doubted that reason and claimed that the real reason the United States withdrew as due to their status as a communist nation, the first to host the Games. In response to the boycott, the USSR launched a counter campaign

Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, believed that the Olympics were the true free trade of the future (Doc 1).” In 1892, at a time when Europe was showing rising political tensions, he may have thought this would be a good idea to help calm these tensions (Doc 1). Countries chosen to host the event benefit from the exposure. Japan, for example, greatly appreciated their being chosen for the Olympics. They felt it helped them recover after their defeat in the World War. This sense of appreciation for being chosen shows that the Olympic intentions were definitely good willed and did not just expose nations political tensions (Doc 5).

Prior to 1952 only amateur athletes were allowed in the Olympic Games, both winter and summer. Then the Soviet Union and its 14 Communist allies entered the games. They trained 8 hours a day, 365 days a year. They won most of the gold, silver and bronze during the 1970s and 1980s. None of these athletes were amateur, and yet they were

During the Cold War era, the USSR sports movement entered the international competition bringing communist party politics and Soviet society to the front

In the image "Going to the Olympics,1984" by Frank Romero shows how theres five cars and on the very top of the cars theres 5 hearts. In between each car theres palm trees. In the sky theres a horse,a stamp,an iron,a blimp,and two men wrestling. Theres 2 red cars, 1 blue car, a yellow, and a green cars. They look like chicano cars heading to the olympics. The possible meaning for the details there is and how colorful it is, is to show how they come from different places.

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

The influence of every nation has a lasting impression on the Olympics. The Ancient Olympics received its influence on the games through the gods, the modern Olympics receives its influence from the nations competing. Every year the Olympics changes it location, and every year a few nations seem to have a problem with that location. In 1980 the U.S., Japan, and Germany all boycotted the games in Moscow due to a Russian attack on Afghanistan. This changed the outlook of the 1980 games as three major nations decided not to attend (Hight).

Ultimately, the campaign managed to reel in 60 other nations in boycotting the games in Moscow. Back at home, while most supported the move to boycott the games, some felt that it was a gross injustice to the athletes that had trained vigorously for the games. The athletes themselves, though not vocal at the time, greatly suffered