Olympic Boycott Research Paper

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[pic] http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2005-04-13-brennan_x.htm# 25 years later, Olympic boycott gnaws at athletes They are in their 40s now, the age when people tend to start celebrating anniversaries, if only this were one to celebrate. Why would they want to remember this? Why note the anniversary of something they were prevented from doing, the anniversary of the worst moment of their athletic lives? Twenty-five years ago this week, the U.S. Olympic Committee's House of Delegates, facing withering pressure from the Carter White House, voted by more than 2 to 1 not to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. President Jimmy Carter ordered the boycott after Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan. Viewed through…show more content…
"Did it put any pressure on them? No, it was just a missed opportunity for many athletes. It just doesn't seem fair." Said Beardsley, 44, who went on to work on Wall Street, "If it was going to do some good, then we could sacrifice. But as time went on, as we realized what little impact it had, I became angry for what the boycott did to all these people, my friends and teammates, and people in all those other countries too." The Soviets and East Germans returned the favor in 1984, boycotting L.A. and lessening the competition at the 1984 Games. In a 1991 interview, Russian swimming legend Vladimir Salnikov said he still lamented not facing the Americans in Moscow in 1980, and again in L.A. in 1984. The matching boycotts robbed an entire generation of athletes on both sides of the Iron Curtain of their greatest competition on the world's grandest stage. But time does move on, and few if any remember the anniversary anymore. "You can sit around and 'if' all day," said world champion gymnast Kurt Thomas, who would have been a favorite at the 1980 Olympics, "but eventually, you have to learn to live with

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