Jimmy Carter thought Americans boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics would get the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
Americans athletes who wanted to participate in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics not long after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, 1979. On January 20th, 1980, Carter demanded that the International Olympic Committee move the event out of Moscow or cancel the Games entirely. “The Carter Doctrine” said that the Soviets’ attempt to gain control of Afghanistan, and possibly the region, was regarded as a threat to U.S. interests. Jimmy Carter was prepared to meet the threat with “military force.” He then gave the Soviets a deadline of February 20th, 1980, to get out of Afghanistan or else. The Soviets ignored Carter. On March 21st, Carter announced that the U.S. would boycott the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Moscow that summer. The problem with Carter’s wishes was simple. The American president cannot stop the United States Olympic Committee from competing in the Olympics. But Carter and his administration applied pressure on the USOC and the group capitulated.
The United States team which consisted of more than 160 athletes, coaches and support staff could not compete in the Moscow Games. To further emphasize that he was meaning business and that American athletes could not compete Carter threatened to revoke the passport of an athlete who disobeyed his order. Carter did get other countries, about 60 or so, including Canada, West Germany and Japan, to follow his lead but was unable to persuade Britain, France, Greece, Sweden and Australia to go along with his policy. It was the largest boycott in Olympics history. Carter’s initiative was a failure. The Games went on. The Soviets left Afghanistan in 1988.
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Jimmy Carter
