To What Extent Were the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980 Affected by Cold War Tensions?

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.

The olympics were shaped due to social reasons. Document 1’s author, Pierre de Coubertin, who is the founder of the modern Olympics, is a reliable asset to pursuing ideal peace with many other countries. The reason why he wants peace is because he wants to have the “disappearance of war” to be “utopians” which shows that he believes that the olympics one of the best answers to his goal. Similarly, in document 6, the Soviet Union’s Olympic organizing Committee also want to take part with “peace, democracy, and social progress.” This shows how more and more countries, even those with bad ties with others,

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was one of the factors on the 1980 winter olympics. In the summer

During these Olympic Games the U.S. and the Soviet Union were engaged in the cold war. Tensions between the two countries were extremely high since the Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan. There were even talks to ban the Soviet Union from the games because of their invasion. President Jimmy Carter wanted

“Do you believe in miracles?” American Sportscaster, Al Michaels, asked America as the last seconds ticked away in the 1980 Soviet-American Olympic hockey game. The Soviet Union hockey team had dominated the hockey world consistently for the previous decade. This era of Soviet hockey superiority came to an end as the underdog American team routed the Soviets 4-3, moving to the next round of competition with a chance to win the gold medal in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. The game symbolized confrontation between the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) after decades locked in a proxy war. The Cold War, most notably defined by proliferating nuclear arms that shaped a new generation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

These two olympics were filled with more controversy than all others. The 1980 Olympic Games were held in Moscow, but back then it was a part of the Soviet Union and we were in the middle of the Cold War. Many people around the world were awestruck by the fact that the IOC had even given Moscow the opportunity to be the host city. Due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, 8 months prior to the Olympics, the United States of America and 64 other nations chose to boycott the 1980 Olympics and did not participate in them, leaving only 81 other countries to participate. Oddly enough the United States had gotten the bid to host the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union then returned the favor and boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles

There was the Cold War between powers in the Soviet Union and the United States. The environment was unstable and state of tension between them. The oil from the Iran was stopped, the Iran hostage crisis was occurred, the Soviet Union had attacked Afghanistan. The president Jimmy Carter was thinking to boycott the summer Olympic in Mosco, which was the coach’s concern that the Soviet Union may not be the Lake Placid Olympic. It was not only being hostile because of the game but also the political issues were included.

At the beginning of the movie, the director and producers show the turmoil that the United States is battling through. Some examples are the cold war, the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the oil depletion, the Soviets invading Afghanistan, the low moral of this country, and especially the declining of patriotism that all the Americans were facing. All of these emotional issues are displayed in the movie, angering much of the audience. This was done so the audience would start to be able to feel how much the game really mattered in the actual spectrum of things. Therefore, when the scenes of the Olympics were being played out, and the scene of the semifinal game against the soviets came on, the audience really began to get into it and support the Americans as if the games were actually being played live in front of them. This movie creates emotions that transcend time. It raises patriotism to a high level and the crowd begins to believe, watching as the young Americans are beating the soviets in their own game on the largest stage in the world. After the game when the Americans win the game, the audience in the movie theater acts as if they were truly in the crowd at Lake Placid rooting on their fellow countrymen. As Jamie Fitzpatrick puts it, “in the country's sporting

If athletes participated in the games under the olympic flag they would usually be shunned by the protesters from their own country. This was because they abandoned the cause that their country stood for. Also, because of how many countries didn’t participate in the Olympic games an alternative solution was created. The Liberty Bell Classic( also known as the Olympic Boycott Games) in Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell Classic began on July 16, just three days before the 1980 Summer Olympics opened. In some events, the times and records were even better than those in Moscow, such as Renaldo Nehemiah's (American) time of 13.31 in the 110m hurdles of gold medal winner Thomas Munkelt's (East German) time of 13.39. Overall the 1980 olympics have been very important for the future of the Olympic History. It has taught us to be careful about where to host our Olympics(although we could still learn from 1980...) and that the world needs to unify to help stop

The Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936 destroyed Hitler’s master race history. "There was very definitely a special feeling in winning the gold medal and being a black man," Woodruff said. "We destroyed [Hitler's] master race theory whenever we started winning those gold medals,” said runner John Woodruff (7). John Woodruff was a black man who won a gold medal. Another African American Jesse Owens won four track and field gold medals. These two people defied the Aryan ideal that Hitler believed that Aryan dominated the world. Another important impact the Olympic brought happened in 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. In that Olympics, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon refused to participate because of a dispute over the Suez Canal; Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands boycotted the Games in protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary; China boycotted the Games because a flag of Taiwan was raised in the Olympic Village. The original purpose of the Olympics was to make the countries collaborate, however, it also brought negative impacts. Another example is that Olympics in Mexico city in 1968. Americans politicised the Games by letting two African Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, represent the United States. Tommie Smith and John Carlos placed first and third in the track and field. During their medal ceremony, they raised a clenched fist above their

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas” (Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda* 98). This rule shows just what the Germans were hoping for, a peaceful, passive, war-free environment in which countries can get together and compete. Although we all know that quite the antithesis was upon the 1972 Olympics in Munich between September the fifth and September the sixth. The Munich Massacre, one of the worst massacres of all time, was driven by the vengefulness of the Palestinian group known as Black September, towards the people of Israel, or more relevantly, towards their Olympic team (Rosenberg). Since this confrontation between Palestine and

The Olympics came at a difficult time for Soviet–U.S. relations, as they were deep in the Cold War. Only months before the games began, the USSR had invaded Afghanistan, and there was speculation that the Soviet Union might not be allowed to compete in these Olympics.The Soviet Union did compete in the Lake Placid games, but the United States and 65 other nations boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow later that year.

The Nazi’s got the largest benefit out of the Olympics in 1936 . Nazi Germany used the 1936 Olympic Games for propaganda purpose (ushmm.org) . The United States consider boycotting the olympic games, since participating in the festivity might be considered as support for the Nazi German regime and its anti-semitic politics. The Nazis promoted an image for a new, strong, and united Germany (ushmm.org). However, others argued that the olympics games should not be a reflection of political

Following team USA’s success in what was famously known as The Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid , the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was held in Moscow, Russia 5 months after the miraculous event turned out to be one of the most controversial and historic Olympics event ever. A few months before the event in Moscow, a plethora of political and militarily actions occurred, involving nations’ foreign diplomacies, relations and ties and all due from the events of the Cold War. On July 19th 1980, Moscow became the first capital in the East Bloc to host the Olympic Games, thus making the host country, Soviet Union the first country in Eastern Europe to host this prestigious sporting event in the world. Two of the countries who were considered the head

The Olympic Games are a set of friendly competitions that bring countries from all around the world together, but many social, political, and economic problems in the past and present including racial and sexual discrimination and apartheid have prevented the Olympic Games from fulfilling their promise to bring countries together.