The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

ghanistan guaranteed that his administration would
not allow the U.S. Olympic team to participate in
the Summer Games, and that he would encourage
America’s allies to take the same action with their
Olympians.

Support and Criticism at Home and Abroad Con-
gress and the American public were among many
groups that supported Carter’s efforts, especially
during the winter of 1980. On January 24, the House
of Representatives voted 386 to 12 to support the
president’s call for either transferring the Games
out of Moscow, canceling them, or initiating a boy-
cott. Four days later, the Senate Committee on For-
eign Relations unanimously passed a similar resolu-
tion. On January 29, the full Senate voted 88 to 4 in

favor of the resolution. A national news mag-

azine added that 56 percent of Americans

polled favored a boycott, and 68 percent said

that the U.S. government should try to have

the Games moved from Moscow.

Neither the Soviet Union nor the Interna-

tional Olympic Committee (IOC) believed

that Carter had the right to push for a boy-

cott. Olympic officials repeatedly argued that

Carter was violating one of the most impor-

tant tenets of the Olympic movement: The

separation of politics and sports. IOC presi-

dent Lord Killanin said that neither he nor

the IOC was condoning what the Soviets had

done, “but if we started to make political judg-

ments, it would be the end of the Games.”

The United States had until May 24 to

officially accept its invitation. However, on

March 21, Carter announced that the U.S.

team definitely would not attend the Sum-

mer Olympics. He said, “I can’t say at this

moment what other nations will not go to

the Summer Olympics in Moscow. Ours will

not go. I say that not with any equivocation.

The decision has been made.”

By early April, Carter’s efforts were failing.

Western European Olympic athletes refused

to follow any calls their governments made

to support the boycott, U.S. athletes were

divided about its merits, the IOC said the

Games would not be moved to another loca-

tion, and the U.S. Olympic Committee was

refusing to help the president impress upon

other nations the need for the boycott. How-

ever, a majority of its members sided with the presi-

dent. In a 1,604-to-797 vote, they affirmed that the

U.S. Olympic team would not compete in Moscow.

Fifty-two countries joined with the United States

and did not send their Olympic teams to the Soviet

Union. However, many Western countries—Italy,

Spain, Australia, and France among them—refused

to join the boycott.

“Nyet” to Los Angeles The Soviet Union returned

the boycott favor four years later when it refused to

send its Olympic team to the 1984 Los Angeles

Games. The announcement came on May 8 and

blamed the White House for creating an unsafe envi-

ronment in California for Soviet athletes. The term

“boycott” was not used.

The Eighties in America Olympic boycotts
723

Albania

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Belize

Bermuda

Bolivia

Canada

Cayman Islands

Chile

China (People’s Republic

of China)

Egypt

El Salvador

Fiji

Gambia

Ghana

Haiti

Honduras

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Iran

Israel

Japan

Kenya

Liechtenstein

Malawi

Malaysia

Mauritania

Mauritius

Monaco

Morocco

Norway

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Philippines

Taiwan (Republic of

China)

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Somalia

South Korea

Sudan

Swaziland

Thailand

Tunisia

Turkey

United States

Uruguay

Virgin Islands

West Germany

Zaire

Countries Boycotting the 1980

Moscow Olympics