Home > 1980 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XXII Olympiad were held in 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union. It was the first the Olympics were held in a socialist country. Moscow won out over Los Angeles for the right to host the games, though L.A. was to host the next Olympics.

1 American-led boycott

On March 21, 1980, following the 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. president Jimmy CarterJames Earl Carter, Jr. born October 1, 1924) was the 39th ( 1977 1981) President of the United States. He had previously served one term as Governor of Georgia. Carter's administration marked the decline of U. power overseas and an economic recession. announced a boycott of the Moscow Olympics. The United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in were joined in the boycott by some 50 other countries - including JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population, West GermanyWest Germany was the informal but almost universally used name for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 until 1990, during which years the Federal Republic did not yet include the eastern part of Germany. Since the German reunification of 1990, the F and CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe - and many individual athletes from participating nations. Absence of a further 15 nations leads to only 80 nations competing, the lowest number since the 1956 gamesThe Games of the XVI Olympiad were held in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, although the equestrian events could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. Therefore, these events were held in Stockholm ( Sweden) marking the first, and so far on. Notably, Great Britain, France and Greece did not boycott the games, but Great Britain and France sent a much smaller delegation of athletes than they normally did. Because of this Italy was the principal nation representing western Europe. The boycott severely affected many events, and even in events where the top athletes were present, the fields were small.

Another victim of the boycott was NBC, which had paid $87 million for the U.S. broadcast rights to the games, almost four times the amount paid four years earlier. It had to cut back on the planned 150 hours of coverage.[1]