Shaposhnikova (two gold, four total) and Yelena
Davydova (two gold, three total) among the most
decorated female athletes.
Soviet and East German women nearly completely
rewrote the track-and-field record book. Nine rec-
ords were set in Moscow, four by Soviet women and
the other five by the East Germans. East German
women also set eleven Olympic records in swim-
ming. Rumors that East Germany had used steroids
and other performance-enhancing drugs to shape
its Olympic champions were proven true after the
collapse of the Soviet empire in the early 1990’s.
Meanwhile, Cuban boxer Teófilo Stevenson became
the first man to win three straight gold medals in the
heavyweight division, leaving many members of the
world’s media (especially in the United States) to
wonder what kind of professional Stevenson might
be if he were allowed to leave Cuba.
British runners Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe en-
gaged in their own kind of Cold War competition
during the Moscow Olympics. Despite sharing a
homeland, the men were not friendly, and they had
not raced in the same event in two years. Coe was the
world’s best at the 800 meters, and Ovett was the un-
disputed king at 1,500 meters. Entering the Olym-
pics, Ovett had not lost a race at that distance in al-
most three years. In the 800 meters final, Ovett
trailed for most of the race but used a late charge to
overtake Coe and win the gold medal. Coe took
home the silver. Six days later, Ovett, who held the
world record in the 1,500 meters, was expected to
win his second gold. However, Coe chased him down
and finished first. Ovett faded and ended up third.
American athletes were not the only ones denied
a chance at success in Moscow. So, too, was the Na-
tional Broadcasting Company (NBC), the network
that had paid more than $72 million for the rights to
broadcast the Olympics in the United States. Be-
cause of economic sanctions imposed by President
Jimmy Carter on the Soviet Union because of its mili-
tary invasion of Afghanistan, NBC was not able to
meet the terms of its contract and abandoned plans
to cover the Games on a daily basis. Estimates state
that the network lost somewhere between $15 mil-
lion and $40 million because of the boycott.
Impact The symbolic power of sports might never
have been more evident than during the 1980 Olym-
pic year. At Lake Placid, a group of young men, “col-
lege kids” as they were affectionately called in the
United States, took down the mighty Soviet hockey
team and every other one they faced to win a gold
medal. In doing so, they provided a symbolic dem-
onstration of the vitality of the U.S. political and so-
cial system. Then, in Moscow, the Soviet government
was able to make the same argument about its politi-
cal and social system because of the record-setting
efforts of Soviet athletes. The idea that the Olympics
were just games and celebrations of sport appeared a
hollow argument. Only the most idealistic of IOC
members could make the case that their organiza-
tion had successfully kept politics from interfering
with sports.Further Reading
Guttmann, Allen.The Olympics: A Histor y of the Mod-
ern Games. 2d ed. Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 2002. An easy-to-read, detailed account of
the positive and negative events that have af-
fected the growth of the Olympic Games.
Hazan, Baruch. Olympic Sports and Propaganda
Games: Moscow 1980. New Brunswick, N.J.: Trans-
action Books, 1982. A well-researched book that
examines multiple facets of the 1980 Summer
Games.
Novikov, I. T., ed.Games of the XXII Olympiad, Moscow,
1980: Official Report of the Organizing Committee of
the Games of the XXII Olympiad, Moscow, 1980. Mos-
cow: Fitzkultura i Sport, 1981. This official report
glosses over deficiencies associated with the 1980
Summer Games. However, it is a strong primary
source document for anyone studying the Olym-
pics.
Riordan, James.Soviet Sports Background to the Olym-
pics. London: Washington News Books, 1980.
Riordan is a prominent researcher and has writ-
ten substantially about the Soviet Union and its
sports programs. This book examines why the So-
viet Union placed such importance on succeed-
ing at the Olympics.
Anthony MorettiSee also Goodwill Games of 1986; Hockey; Mira-
cle on Ice; Olympic boycotts; Olympic Games of
1984; Olympic Games of 1988; Soviet Union and
North America; Sports.The Eighties in America Olympic Games of 1980 727