# 1980 Olympics boycott
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 9, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430 "2008-08-09T19:34:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/1 "2008-08-09T19:34:31Z")
According to Wikipedia, “the 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan spurred United States President Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops had not withdrawn from the country by 12:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on 20 February 1980; the official announcement confirming the boycott was made on 21 March.” I’m curious about the nature and extent of this boycott. Specifically:
[ol]
[li]What gives the President the right or ability to boycott the Olympics, and how was this decision actually enforced? What prevented dissenting athletes from attending anyway? It’s not like Carter could have revoked their passports, or could he have? Was Carter’s boycott subsequently backed by legislation from Congress which imposed penalties on athletes who refused to abide by the boycott?[/li][li]To whom exactly did this boycott apply? Only to athletes? How about journalists covering the games? How about visitors who simply wanted to travel to Moscow to watch the games in person?[/li][li]Were the 1980 Olympics televised in America, or was that boycotted as well? Was there any news coverage at all? What was the level of interest from the public?[/li][/ol]
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### Author:  [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/2 "2008-08-09T19:38:06Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut]
[li]To whom exactly did this boycott apply? Only to athletes? How about journalists covering the games? How about visitors who simply wanted to travel to Moscow to watch the games in person?[/li][li]Were the 1980 Olympics televised in America, or was that boycotted as well? Was there any news coverage at all? What was the level of interest from the public?[/li][/list]
[/QUOTE]
Journalists certainly covered it, and tourists could (AFAIK) visit Moscow under the normal rules (pursuant to which travel was not too easy (official government tourist hotels only, visas, etc.), but I think that red tape was mostly from the Russian side).
Yes, there was news coverage. The level of interest was significantly less than it would have been with U.S. athletes participating.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/3 "2008-08-09T19:39:22Z")
I’m positive I can answer #3.
They were not telecast on any American broadcast or cable network. Sports Illustrated had very limited coverage of the games. Sebastian Coe was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Local newspapers also had very limited coverage of the actual events. There was, of course, endless debate about the boycott.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/4 "2008-08-09T19:45:44Z")
[QUOTE=Huerta88]
Journalists certainly covered it, and tourists could (AFAIK) visit Moscow under the normal rules (pursuant to which travel was not too easy (official government tourist hotels only, visas, etc.), but I think that red tape was mostly from the Russian side).
[/QUOTE]
The “normal rules” are, I assure you, very much still in effect. I’m travelling to St. Petersburg later this month and the amount of bureaucracy required to obtain a simple tourist visa is unbelievable.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/5 "2008-08-09T19:52:59Z")
And the Soviets responded by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in LA, prompting some commentator to award Russia a gold in the “long distance grudge carry” to complement whatever humorous assignment he attached to the US 1980 action.
A few humorists also revived the old Woodrow Wilson slogan twisted a bit to fit Carter - “He kept us out of the Olympics”.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/6 "2008-08-09T20:01:00Z")
As for #1, Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any US athlete that attended the games that year. That is completely within the power of the Executive Branch. Didn’t matter, as the USOC had voted to boycott the games.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/7 "2008-08-09T20:50:47Z")
As far as the boycott was concerned, 62 countries that were invited did not show up, though some of these simply couldn’t afford to send a team. Other than the US, China was the only major nation that didn’t show up, and that may have had nothing to do with the boycott (it may have been because Taiwan was there).
Several nations didn’t participate in the opening ceremony or had various other minor protests, but still were there competing.
Ultimately, it was a bad idea, and hurt the US athletes.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/8 "2008-08-09T22:48:34Z")
My father visited the remote siberian location of [Bratsk](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D02EED6163BF93BA15754C0A967948260) nearly a year after the '80 Olympics, and he came home with many souvenirs that were clearly leftovers from the year before.
People there were really happy to see him, and my father has some great stories. And nearly everything for sale that wasn’t to eat had a stamp on it with the red star and Olympic rings.
I’m looking at a matrushka right now with that stupid stamp on the the bottom of the biggest doll, in fact
The only really cool thing he brought back was this HUGE chunk of aluminum, minted as a coin. One ounce of that stuff is just crazy big.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/9 "2008-08-10T00:09:03Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
As for #1, Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any US athlete that attended the games that year. That is completely within the power of the Executive Branch. Didn’t matter, as the USOC had voted to boycott the games.
[/QUOTE]
What effect would that have had on the athlete? He/she would be denied re-entry to the US?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/10 "2008-08-10T00:18:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Ultimately, it was a bad idea, and hurt the US athletes.
But the delayed effect of the moral censure caused the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union fifteen years later.
Well, it could be true.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/11 "2008-08-10T00:26:32Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain]
What effect would that have had on the athlete? He/she would be denied re-entry to the US?
[/QUOTE]
Or refused entry into the USSR, or both.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/12 "2008-08-10T00:28:51Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
Or refused entry into the USSR, or both.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I think the old CCCP would have welcomed a U.S. defector with open arms. But the revocation of a passport could really deny a U.S. citizen re-entry to the U.S.?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/13 "2008-08-10T00:38:26Z")
In a heartbeat.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/14 "2008-08-10T00:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
In a heartbeat.
[/QUOTE]
Permanently? As in that 1980 athlete would still be in the Moscow airport or somewhere else in Russia waiting to be reunited with his family?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/15 "2008-08-10T01:01:57Z")
I’m sure some diplomatic solution would be found. But not without a lot of hassle and expense for the scofflaw. If the government really wanted to be nasty, of course, they could make it stick permanently. Or at least until the next Presidential election.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/16 "2008-08-10T01:22:55Z")
I saw the speech. Carter mentioned that as chairman (or honorary chairman) of the USOC, he decided on the boycott. It drove the USOC nuts. But with all the authority of the presidency behind him, the USOC agreed.
Then no athlete could show up in Moscow and claim to be representing the USOC. No such person would have official sanction. People not on an official team cannot just show up and compete.
Drove the Soviets nuts too. One of the best things Carter did.
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### Author:  [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/17 "2008-08-10T04:12:22Z")
One of the best–yeah right, ruining US athlete’s chances of olympic medals. Big man, fighting with the lives of others
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1980-olympics-boycott/459430/18 "2008-08-10T04:51:25Z")
Go away, boy. Adults are talking here.