Sports, Politics, and the Olympics

Back in 1980, the US Boycotted the summer Olympics that were held in Moscow due to political conflicts. As a rebuttal, in 1984, the Soviet Union decided to boycott the 1984 Olympics that were held in Los Angeles. The Soviets decided to do this for the "safety" of their athletes because they believed there would be protests against their athletes. President Ronald states that the boycott was "a blatant political decision for which there was no real justification." In the later days, 13 other communist countries pulled out from the Olympics, saying that they were not participating. This was also because the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of Russia's intervention in Afghanistan in 1979. Due to this, the US swept the Olympics and won 83 gold medals. Also, China participated in these games for the first time since 1932. 

While I know that politics are hard to ignore, I do not think they should get in the way of other people's dreams. I have heard stories of athletes who made the olympics in these few years and were never able to go. This just destroyed their dreams that they had worked all their lives for. I do think that it is important to stand by your country in these times of needs and that it is hard to support countries that are not our allies. I do not think that "sport is pure and devoid of political interference." It is just proof that politics control everything in sports, especially the Olympics. There is always some conflict going around at the times of these games.

The political uses of sports that I identified would be sport used as a propaganda vehicle. This act was nothing more than just a rash statement that made America look poorly and put attention on the Soviets and other communist countries. It was so get media attention. 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-announce-boycott-of-1984-olympics