11. Olympic Boycotts
Let us start with numerous Olympic Game boycotts that have occurred over the years – mostly for political reasons. Cold War has kept many people on edge for years, and tensions were felt across the entire globe. Needless to say, Cold War has managed to find its way to the Olympic Games too. Most (in)famous Olympic tournament boycotts have happened in the early eighties. The United States have decided to boycott the 1980 games in Moscow due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This lead to boycott support from countries like Japan, West Germany, China, and Canada among others. Of course, the USSR and their Eastern Bloc allies would get their chance to return the favor during the following summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in 1984. These, however, weren’t neither the first nor the only Olympic Games boycotts. First official boycott happened in Melbourne, in 1956. Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, among others, decided to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon, on the other hand, decided to skip Australia because of French and British invasion of the Suez. China too decided to boycott the games because Taiwan was allowed to participate. In the following years, we had a couple more China-Taiwan episodes with different outcomes, South Africa, and Rhodesia being banned for segregation, and the list goes on. It’s sad when politics ruin an event which is supposed to celebrate sports spirit. Should I remind you that all wars in Hellenic world used to be suspended during the ancient Olympics?
