In early 1980, the movement toward either boycotting the games altogether or moving them out
of the Soviet Union gained momentum. Calls for boycotts of Olympic events were not uncommon;
just four years prior, most of the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa boycotted the Summer Games in
Montreal to protest the attendance of New Zealand after the latter sent its rugby team to play
against the team from apartheid South Africa. In 1956, several Western European governments
boycotted the games in Melbourne over the Soviet invasion of Hungary that year. Although the
Olympic ideal was to place sport above politics, in reality there were often political goals and
messages promoted through the games.
Document 6Source: “Track Star Jesse Owens Defiantly Bucks Hitler,” by Mike Morrison, posted on Infoplease
(www.infoplease.com )
Twenty-two-year-old American Jesse Owens didn’t care much for Hitler’s politics—or any
politics for that matter. He just wanted to show off his immense skills and represent his country to
the best of his abilities. Just over a year earlier, on May 25, 1935, Owens recorded one of the more
mind-boggling performances in track and field history. He broke three world records and tied
another at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Michigan—in just 45 minutes! Hitler
viewed African-Americans as inferior and chastised the United States for stooping to use these
“non-humans.” Despite the endless racial epithets and the constant presence of the red and black
swastika, Owens made Hitler eat his words with four gold medals.
Document 7Source: Jaime Fuller, writing in the Washington Post , February 5, 2014
The United States was trying to get the Olympics moved to a permanent location to avoid
“unwarranted and disruptive international politics.” (Then New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who won
a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics as part of the American basketball team, recommended
Greece.) But these people weren’t paying very close attention to the Olympic games if they thought
this was a recent phenomenon. Politics have been an essential part of the Olympics since
Thucydides was covering them.