1984 Summer Olympics boycott

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1984 Summer Olympics
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The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved nineteen countries: fifteen from the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, which initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984, and four other countries which boycotted on their own initiatives. The boycotting countries organized another major event, called the Friendship Games, in July and August 1984. Although the boycott affected Olympic events that were normally dominated by the absent countries, 140 nations still took part in the Games, which was a record at the time.^[1][2]

Since the announcement by President Carter of the United States boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980,^[3] there was fear from United States officials that a reciprocal boycott could occur during the 1984 Games, scheduled for Los Angeles. The Soviets for their part gave sparsely few indications that this would happen, and indeed, from formalized talks which occurred over the course of three years, indicators seemed to point towards Soviet attendance. Only in the last few months before the Games began did a sense of non-participation come about through Soviet statements and actions.^[4]

In December 1983, a meeting of officials representing the 1984 L.A. Games and 14 members of the Soviet National Olympic Committee (NOC) took place in Los Angeles, resulting in the signing of a protocol agreement concerning Soviet expectations for participation.^{[5]: 172, 179} At that time, the chairman of the Soviet NOC, Marat Gramov, communicated his view of the upcoming Summer Games as being positive, and that he "saw no reason why the Soviet Union should not participate."^[6]: 18 One month later in January 1984, a second Soviet delegation visited Los Angeles to meet with the International Olympic Committee Executive Commission. This meeting was also viewed positively, with no mention of boycotts being made at that time.^[5]: 172 A final, positively-viewed meeting was held during the IOC's 87th Session on February 5, 1984, in Sarajevo, three days before the start of the Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games. During that meeting, Soviet IOC member Konstantin Andrianov offered congratulations to the organizing committee of the upcoming Los Angeles Games, saying they were doing "a great job."^{[7]: 98–99} Four days later on February 9, 1984, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, died.

On March 2, 1984, the Soviet's proposed-Olympic attaché, Oleg Yermishkin, was denied an entry visa from the United States State Department, which identified him as an operational officer of the KGB.^[8] On April 9, the Soviet National Olympic Committee released their first statement voicing criticisms concerning the preparations of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Soviets asked for an additional meeting of the IOC Executive Commission in order to ascertain that the United States would "obey the principles of the Olympic Charter."^[9]

The meeting requested by the Soviet Union was held on April 24, 1984 at the IOC main office in Lausanne. Peter Ueberroth attended as representative of the L.A. 1984 Games, with Marat Gramov representing the Soviets. At the press conference Gramov revealed for the first time that the "Soviet NOC had received declarations and letters from various nationalistic and terrorist groups and organizations with threats."^[6]: 19

On April 29, 1984, Gramov sent a letter to the Communist Party Central Committee in which he described the risk of anti-Soviet organizations using violence during the Games, therefore potentially encouraging participating Soviet athletes to come to their side. The document also included a statement that "participation in the Games would be difficult if the hostile activities were not ceased," and that the absence of the Soviet Union and other developing countries would "bring the first 'commercial Olympics' to economic catastrophe," and concluded that "if the [safety] conditions were not fulfilled, we will resign from participating."^[10] This was despite the fact that the Reagan Administration had agreed to meet all of the demands of the Soviet Union in turn for the Soviet Bloc's attendance, marking an exception to Reagan's generally "hawkish" Cold War foreign policy.^[11]

The Soviet Union announced its intentions to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics on May 8, 1984,^[12] claiming "security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States."^[12]United States Administration officials were quoted as saying that the American Embassy in Moscow as well as American intelligence agencies abroad misread signals for weeks that the Soviets might withdraw from the Games, despite the State Department saying they were "absolutely dumbfounded" when the official announcement arrived.^[13]

After the announcement, six more Soviet Eastern Bloc satellites joined the boycott, including Bulgaria,^[14] East Germany (on May 10),^[15] Mongolia and Vietnam (both May 11),^[16] Laos, and Czechoslovakia (both May 13). Meanwhile, China formally confirmed that it would be present at the Games in Los Angeles.^[17]

Afghanistan announced its withdrawal on May 13, 1984, becoming the eighth country to join the boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[18] Hungary and Poland became the ninth and tenth Communist countries to join the boycott. Hungary claimed the lives of its athletes would be put in danger if they were to spend time in Los Angeles, while Poland said the United States was engaging in a "campaign aimed at disturbing the Games".^[19]

On May 23, Cuba became the eleventh country to announce its participation in the boycott.^[20] The loss of Cuban athletes was expected to be especially critical in boxing and baseball competitions, prompting Ueberroth to make overtures in the media requesting meetings with Cuban Olympic officials.^[21] Ueberroth's eventual trip to Cuba was unsuccessful in persuading Cuban President Castro to rescind his boycott decision.^[22]

South Yemen was the twelfth country to join the boycott on May 27, stating that the organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics "ignore the provisions of the Olympic Charter, refuse to guarantee the safety of sportsmen, and first of all of those [sic] from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries."^[23] North Korea was the thirteenth nation to boycott the 1984 Olympics.^[24]

Ethiopia announced on June 1 that it would join the Soviet-led boycott. The Soviet News Agency Tass, which announced the boycott on behalf of the Ethiopian National Olympic Committee (NOC), stated that the step was taken "because the United States uses the games for purely political purposes against socialist and progressive states." Ethiopia's NOC added to the Tass statement that their boycott was also "a resolute protest in connection with the British government's refusal to cancel England's rugby union tour of South Africa."^[25] Angola, which had been the very last country out of 142 nations to officially accept their invitation to participate in the Summer Olympics, reversed course on June 27, announcing that they were pulling out because "the United States authorities are turning the Games into an arena of confrontation." In response, Ueberroth stated that the Soviets were "still trying every possible thing" to pressure more countries into joining their boycott.^[26]

Despite Upper Volta not having participated in an Olympics since 1972, that country's NOC announced on July 13, 1984, their withdrawal from the Games. Similar to Ethiopia, Upper Volta – which changed its official name to Burkina Faso during the Games – stated their reason as being due to England's rugby union tour of South Africa. However, this was their only reason given, and thus, Upper Volta's boycott was largely seen as being distinct from those of the Eastern Bloc nations.^[27]

Iran had decided in 1983 to boycott the Games because of "United States interference in the Middle East, its support for the regime occupying Jerusalem, and the crimes being committed by the U.S.A. in Latin America, especially in El Salvador".^[28] Iran and Albania were the only countries to boycott both the 1980 Moscow and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In addition, Albania did not attend any games from 1976 to 1988, and was the only country that boycotted the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics, although there was no official explanation for its absence at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Politically, Albania allied with China after the Sino-Soviet split, remaining antagonistic towards the Soviet Union; however, it also opposed China's rapprochement with the United States in the late 1970s, resulting in the Sino-Albanian split. A similar antagonism towards both superpowers had existed in Iran since 1979. This resulted in Iran and Albania boycotting both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics independently without endorsing the boycott on the opposing side.^{[citation needed]}

Libya withdrew its entire sports delegation of six athletes two days before the start of the Games, apparently in retaliation for the American government's refusal to allow three of that country's journalists to cover the Games. Without elaboration, the official Libyan news agency only stated "The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya decided to withdraw from the Olympics games in Los Angeles." A State Department spokesman said the journalists were denied visas under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act for "security reasons". In response, LA Games organizer Ueberroth stated "It is not for me to speculate whether they are journalists, it is the government's decision. As a private corporation we respond to government action."^[29] Libya and Ethiopia were the only nations not to attend both the 1976 Montreal and 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Listed in the chronological order of their withdrawal, not by alphabetical or any geographical order.

•  Soviet Union
•  Bulgaria
•  East Germany
•  Mongolia
•  Vietnam
•  Laos
•  Czechoslovakia
•  Afghanistan
•  Hungary
•  Poland
•  Cuba
•  South Yemen
•  Ethiopia
•  North Korea
•  Angola

Four other countries also boycotted the Games. Three cited political reasons, while the fourth gave no explanation whatsoever. None were part of the Soviet-led boycott:

(Listed in chronological order of their withdrawal)

•  Albania
•  Iran
• / Upper Volta/Burkina Faso
• Libya

Libya withdrew its entire delegation without explanation only two days before the start of the Games. Western journalists surmised that their withdrawal was in response to three of their citizens, identified by Libya as journalists, being denied entry to the United States for "security reasons".^[29]

Sixteen communist and socialist-leaning countries (ten from Africa) did not join the Soviet-led boycott and instead, sent teams to the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[30]

•  Algeria
•  Benin
•  Burma
•  China
•  Congo
•  Guinea
•  Guinea-Bissau
• Madagascar
•  Mali
•  Mozambique
•  Nicaragua
•  Romania
•  Seychelles
•  Somalia
•  Syria
•  Yugoslavia

China was somewhat hostile towards the Soviet Union at the time, but had been experiencing a cordial relationship with the United States. In 1980, China had sent a team to the Winter Olympics in the United States, while boycotting the Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.

Athletes from the one European Eastern Bloc country that did attend the 1984 Games in Los Angeles—Romania—received a standing ovation at the Opening Ceremonies upon making their Coliseum entrance. Romania ended up finishing third in overall medal count at the Games.^[31][32] Its leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, had a record of publicly demonstrating opposition to certain Soviet policies if those stances benefitted his standing amongst the Romanian populace.^[33] In a written correspondence with Ceaușescu following the Games' conclusion, President Reagan offered his personal thanks to Romania for their attendance, saying he "sincerely appreciated Romania’s important contribution to the Los Angeles Olympics and the Olympic movement."^[34] In 1985, the IOC awarded Ceaușescu and the president of the Romanian National Olympic Committee, Haralambie Alexa, with Olympic Orders, Gold and Silver respectively.^[35]

Although Somalia had been considered part of the Eastern Bloc for some time,^[36] by 1978 it had strained relations with the Soviet Union after the latter's support for Ethiopia in the Ethio-Somali War.^[37]

Yugoslavia was a non-aligned country that acted independently of the Soviet Union and shared friendly relations with both the Soviet Union and the United States.^[38] One of the reasons for the country not boycotting the Games may have been that it had just hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics.^[39]

The Soviets cited two main reasons for their boycott, firstly, their security concerns over the safety of their athletes,^[40] and secondly, the supposed 'commercialization' of the Games which, in their opinion, went against the principles of the Olympic movement.^[14][a] The majority of Western media viewed the boycott as more of a retaliatory move by the Soviets in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Games.^[43][44][45] Whichever the reason, a timeline of when the Soviets ostensibly began a push to boycott the Olympics suggests their decision‑making inflection point being precipitated by a change in leadership. Leonid Brezhnev, who was general secretary during the Moscow Olympics, was the leader most affected and publicly embarrassed by the American‑led boycott. Brezhnev died in 1982, and was replaced by Yuri Andropov. During this time of Andropov's leadership, both in the Soviet Union and in other communist countries, preparations by their individual Olympic coordinating committees continued to progress with all-apparent intention of attending the 1984 Games.^{[7]: 99–100} However, with Andropov's death in February 1984, the role of general secretary was taken over by Konstantin Chernenko, who had been a close ally of Brezhnev's, and thus more amenable to feelings of antipathy towards the Americans for the 1980 boycott.^[46] After Chernenko's succession as leader, a vast change in the Soviet attitude towards the Games could be seen, suggesting that the Soviet decision to boycott was uncertain till at least three months before the Olympics began, and was influenced by the change in leadership from Andropov to Chernenko.^[7]: 101

The Bethesda based Advanced International Studies Institute, which was associated with the University of Miami, stated on May 13, 1984, that the Soviet decision to boycott was probably made by Chernenko sometime in April 1984. According to the Institute, that was the month when a concerted Soviet press campaign began, designed to lay the groundwork for their boycott announcement, showing that American streets were "jungles" and that Soviet athletes and spectators would be "the prey of the beasts that the U.S. government allows to run loose in those streets."^[47] One example among many, according to the Institute, was the Soviet newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya, which in April 1984, began publishing seamier representations of the Games' host city:

"Los Angeles was nicknamed murder city long ago. ... The bloody statistics are mainly the work of juvenile gangs. ... These degenerate young people who smoke marijuana and hide a knife down their right trouser leg have two-thirds of all street crimes on their conscience. The outrageous crime rate, for which the city is known, would cast a bloody glow over the Olympic flame."^[47]

— Sovetskaya Rossiya, April 15, 1984

Soon after the boycott was announced, officials at the U.S. State Department linked the KGB to a series of hate leaflets purporting to be from the Ku Klux Klan which were sent to the Olympic organizing committees in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Malaysia and China, all countries which failed to join the Soviet boycott. State Department spokesman Alan Romberg said the leaflets "bear all the hallmarks of a disinformation campaign" and noted the thrust of the messages in the leaflets "dovetails neatly with the Soviet justification for their withdrawal" from the Summer Games. The threatening leaflets reportedly used stilted syntax, suggesting they were written by non-native speakers of English.^[48]

Among those subscribing to the "revenge hypothesis" was Peter Ueberroth, the chief organizer of the 1984 L.A. Games, who expressed his views in a press conference on May 11, 1984,^[49] where he stated that the Soviet Union "withdrew from the Olympics to give America a taste of its own medicine".^[50] Ueberroth later added that the Soviet-led boycott might have been avoided if organizers of the Summer Games had communicated with Konstantin Chernenko when he took over his country's leadership, saying "In retrospect, we can be criticized for not recognizing that change in leadership, from an Andropov to Chernenko," and that the organizing committee "should have tried to redouble our efforts to make certain there were no problems that could have opened the door to the Soviet-led boycott by 14 nations," adding that "we have tried in every possible way to not have 1980 happen again in 1984, but it did happen."^[51]

On May 1, 1984, Sergei Kozlov, a visiting Soviet mathematician who had been in the United States for three months, had what was described as a "nervous breakdown" at Dulles International Airport just before he was scheduled to board a flight to London. Kozlov had told others that he was the victim of a gas attack and was possibly being followed by the KGB, and had changed his mind about returning to Europe. Kozlov eventually spoke with officials from the State Department, who mistook his complaints as a genuine request for asylum. A short time later, the New York University professor who helped sponsor Kozlov's visit to the United States provided State Department officials with more context, describing Kozlov's overall behavior during his stay as "very disturbing", along with other accounts of Kozlov's "ramblings about various things, including pressure from the KGB and his phone being bugged."^[52] After this more complete description was obtained, the State Department released Kozlov, who eventually returned to the Soviet Union, but not before the incident garnered national attention as a possible defection, leading the Soviets to make public diplomatic protests of the State Department's handling of the event.^[53]

A telegram from Warren Zimmerman at the American Embassy in Moscow sent to the State Department in Washington theorized that the incident at Dulles Airport had ramifications for the Soviet leadership, by hastening the date of their boycott announcement of a decision which had, essentially, already been made:

"The Kozlov incident coincided with the final stage of Moscow’s consideration of whether or not to attend the Olympics—a decision which would have had to be made [no later than] June 2.^[b] The impact may well have been to demonstrate that even a carefully selected, mature individual with a family in the USSR [i.e., Kozlov] could not be relied upon not to become a media event. The potential for similar embarrassment of turning loose an entire team of young, world-class athletes amid the temptations of Los Angeles may thus have taken on an immediacy for Soviet policymakers it did not have before Kozlov’s refusal to embark. In the context of the generally tough line on the U.S. currently prevailing in leadership circles here, it would have taken a strong, confident voice to have argued against a boycott. As we have seen too often of late, there is no evidence such a voice exists in the current leadership."^[55]

— Warren Zimmerman, May 9, 1984

When each of the Soviets' East European satellite countries announced their intention to join the boycott, they individually released press statements which largely mirrored that of the Soviets' stated reasons. As for what other incentives they may have had, a memorandum prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency suggests that at least some of those countries chose to follow along with an unpopular decision in order to foster "bloc loyalty" at a time when there were other, more-important issues warranting a break with the Soviets that they could undertake:

"Other East European states, although unhappy with the Soviet decision, probably view participation in the boycott as a useful way to demonstrate bloc loyalty on an issue of less direct significance to them at a time when they have been resisting Soviet initiatives in more important areas. They also realize that heeding the boycott does not seriously affect their vital interests vis‑à‑vis the West. The Hungarians, for example, told United States Embassy officials after the Soviets rejected Budapest’s proposal to send a small team to the games that, in the end, this was not the issue on which to make a stand."^[56]

— CIA memorandum, June 26, 1984

A document obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated prior to the country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed existing steroids operations of the program, along with suggestions for further enhancements.^[57] Bryan Fogel, director of the film Icarus, said in a 2017 podcast that stricter doping controls might have been the main reason for the Soviet boycott.^[58]

The Soviets organized the Friendship Games, a full-scale multi-sport event, for boycotting countries.^[59] The Games were contested in 22 Olympic disciplines (all except association football and synchronized swimming), and in non-Olympic table tennis, tennis, and sambo wrestling. The Soviet Union dominated the medal table, winning 126 gold and 282 total medals.

In 2014, the Czech Olympic Committee issued a formal apology to those athletes who were denied access to competition at the L.A. Games due to Czechoslovakia's decision to boycott, saying "Today we can, unclouded by feelings of bad will, assess what went on in our country during the second half of the 20th century, without emotion, but with fairness in mind," adding that "we must find the courage to say out loud what was right, what was wrong and what was downright deceitful."^[60]

• 1980 Summer Olympics boycott
• 1986 Asian Games
• List of Olympic Games boycotts

• Full text of Soviet announcement withdrawing from the Games of the XXIII Olympiad May 9, 1984