1980 Moscow, Russia
The
Moscow Games were the first ones held in a socialist nation and it was
practically inevitable for the Cold war feeling not to be entangled in
the "Olympic process".
The Americans were looking out for a motive to boycott the Games and found it in the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Along with the Americans other countries followed such as, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Turkey and China. A total of 56 countries did not participate. British and Italian athletes joined the Olympics in Moscow following the order of their National Olympic Committees but not their governments.
The Games did not have the expected financial results but they had extremely impressive commencement and final ceremonies. The Soviets used Greece as the center theme of both ceremonies resulting in a fantastic spectacle.
36 new world records and 74 Olympic records were made as the stars of many athletes such as Sebastian Coe, Dailey Thompson and Alexander Ditiatin rose to stardom. The Cuban boxer Stevenson did not have a strong opposition so he was again the gold medallist. Stevenson, Sotomayor and Juantorena are Cuba’s most favorite athletes to this day.