THE+COLD+War+and+Sports

**1980 Summer Olympic Boycott**

The 1980 Summer Olympics were hosted by the Soviet Union and the United States President Jimmy Carter led a boycott to not participate in them because of the Soviet advancement into Afghanistan. Many other countries boycotted these olympics as well such as Canada, West Germany, and Argentina. Some other countries such as France supported the boycott, but they gave their athletes the opportunity to compete, but under the olympic flag, not their home country flag. Only a few more than 80 nations participated in the events, while 64 nations did not participate at all. Also, a t the closing ceremony,  the Los Angeles city flag was raise instead of the United States flag to symbolize the next host of the Olympic Games. This was a large sign that the United States and the Soviet Union were very hostile towards each other.


 * 1980 Winter Olympics "Miracle On Ice"**

The 1980 Winter Olympics occurred in Lake Placid, New York. One of the most epic hockey games of history occurred here and it was the United States against the Soviet Union. At the time, the Soviet Union was considered the greatest hockey team in the world and consisted of a group of guys who had been playing together for about 15 years. Their challenge was to play the United States in the semi-finals. This game obviously occurred at the height of the Cold War right after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and the Americans were very displeased about that so that also added a whole new level of intensity to the game. On top of all that, the Americans boycotted the Summer Olympic games so the two countries had not competed against each other for quite some time so the hype that this game received was enormous. When all was said and done, the underdog Americans emerged victorious and ended the most political hockey game known to date.


 * 1984 Summer Olympic Boycott

The 1984 Summer Olympics took place in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. The Soviet Union, in retaliation to the United States boycott, led a boycott of their own. This boycott involved 14 other countries who were allies of the Soviet Union. Some of these countries included East Germany, Cuba and Poland. The significance of this boycott is that it heightened the already high tension between the Soviets and Americans.

Back in the Day**

If you were to live during the Cold War you would have felt extremely competitive towards the Soviets. We competed when it came to nuclear weapons and power but there was never a way to determine who the winner was. That is why sports was such a huge deal when the two countries competed because it gave one country superiority over the other. media type="youtube" key="aRALJyv86eY" height="344" width="425" This video shows how important this win was for the U.S.A, from the sports aspect and how the people were extremely happy to defeat the Soviets.