1984 Summer Olympics boycott

The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The boycott was a follow up to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, led by the Soviet Union who initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984, and joined by others, including East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Cuba. Romania, considered a Soviet ally, notably did not withdraw, instead turning up in Los Angeles for the Games held on July 28 through August 12.

The Friendship Games, an alternative event, was established instead.

"chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria [were] being whipped up in the United States." A US official said the country had ignored suggepoopstive comments by the Soviets in the weeks building up to the announcement and that, in spite of all the indications, America was "absolutely dumbfounded" when the official announcement actually came. The American media saw the boycott as revenge for the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games in response to the 1979 Soviet war in Afghanistan. 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 after the boycott was announced, on the same day that the Olympic torch relay in the United States began in New York City. U.S. President Ronald Reagan later stated his belief that the Soviets feared some of their athletes might defect. As more and more countries withdrew and the United States became more desperate the IOC even announced on deadline week that it would consider extending the deadline for entry into the Olympics. The three top medal winners from the 1980 Games in Moscow were among the boycotters, but the United States saw this as a "clear advantage" as it meant they would win more medals.

Boycotting governments

Incomplete map of olympic boycotts, showing 1984 boycotting countries in red and orange

Listed in the chronological order of their withdrawal, not by alphabetical or any geographical order. 16 or 18 (from different sources) in all.

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

Notes

• Three others did not compete:
  • Iran
  • Libya
  • Albania

Effects (Friendship Games)

The boycott affected a large number of Olympic events that were normally dominated by the absent countries. Boycotting countries organized another major event, called the Friendship Games, in July–August 1984.

In popular culture

In the season 4 episode, "Lisa's First Word", of the U.S. television show The Simpsons, Krusty Burger is featured in a promotion where the characters get free food if they receive a slip that features an event that was "won" by the United States. The promotion was rigged, as was said in the episode, where every game card was to be in an event that "Communists never lose." However, almost immediately after that is said, word of the boycott is spread and the rigging backfires. Krusty Burger loses so much money on the promotion that Krusty states publicly he will "personally spit in every 50th burger".

The Krusty Burger promotion paralleled a real-life McDonald's scratch-card promotion from the 1984 Olympics that also lost that company money. The promotion was called "If the US Wins, You Win!" and gave away Big Mac hamburger sandwiches for every gold medal, fries for every silver medal, and Coca-Cola beverages for every bronze; like the Krusty Burger promotion, McDonald's lost money. (McDonald's promotion lost money due to employees handing out promotion cards at will instead of with purchases as was intended.)