January 20 In History: The US-Soviet Cold War At The Olympic Games That Tarnished The Face Of The US

Jimmy Carter (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - In the early 1980s the cold war between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union rolled into the sports sector. Exactly today January 20 41 years ago President Jimmy Carter urged that the 1980 Summer Olympics be moved from Moscow, Russia. However, the US boycott attempt ended in vain.

Carter argued that moving the Olympic games area had to be done because the Soviet Union failed to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He gave one month for the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops. If not, the US threatens to remove the Olympic title from the country.

"It is very important for the world to realize how serious the threat of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is," Carter said. He argued the USSR's aggressive actions would endanger athletes and spectators who traveled to Moscow for the match.

Quoting History, Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Carter stated that if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to move the Olympics, US athletes would boycott the games. IOC president Lord Killanin immediately denied Carter's remarks, saying that it was impossible to move the match from Moscow.

After the IOC rejected Carter's request, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) then opted to boycott the games in Moscow, a decision Carter announced on March 21, 1980. The boycott crushed the hopes of many US athletes, especially after Carter backed his call with legislation.

Carter vows to revoke the passports of US athletes who are desperate to attend the games. Meanwhile, Killanin called the US boycott a violation of the Olympic charter. He said Moscow had been appointed since the mid-1970s as part of a binding contract - a contract that could only be broken if the USSR violated their own responsibilities.

Carter has since publicly defended his decision, but it was the athletes who had nothing to show for years of intense training for Olympic glory the most. Rower Anita DeFrantz, who led a failed lawsuit against USOC in 1980, later called the boycott a "useless exercise and an embarrassing piece of US history."

Smear your own face

Despite his tough stance, Carter knew he could end up in shame if other countries didn't support the boycott he was promoting. Underscoring the uncertainty of his destination, he then sent Muhammad Ali as ambassador to rally support across Africa. In Africa, the popular Muhammad Ali received a very cold reception.

The US was one of 60 countries that ended up boycotting the Moscow Olympics. Countries that do not officially dispatch teams, however, take no action against athletes who choose to leave anyway. Among US allies, Great Britain, Sweden, France and Italy continue to send teams to the Olympics.

The USSR dominated the other 80 participating countries, winning 195 medals, of which 80 gold medals, at the 1980 Olympics.Four years later, the USSR took revenge by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, saying they were worried about the safety of their athletes given the environment. anti-Communist that exists in the US.

Instead, Communist-led China decided to attend the games for the first time in 32 years. So that the total number of participating countries reached a record high, namely 140 countries.

Carter's boycott did not help him politically, as Ronald Reagan could still remove him from the White House by year's end. Carter's stance also had little impact on policy, with the USSR taking revenge with a boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union also maintained a military presence in Afghanistan until 1989.