What are some environmental impacts of the olympic?

A little modern history help- impact of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic boycotts...?

• I'm doing a history project about the Olympic boycotts that happened in the 80s primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union. I've had some trouble finding any sort of long term impacts of the boycotts. If anyone could help, I'd appreciate it, and sources would be very helpful. Thanks!

• Answer:

  I'm not surprised you're having trouble finding research material on this topic. I don't think there's many long-term effects to write about. Before you cover the 1980 & 1984 Olympic boycott, you should be aware there was one at the 1976 Montreal Games. South Africa's apartheid policy made it a pariah state, including in sports. The International Olympic Committee was barred from the Olympics starting in 1964. Further, anyone who competed against a South African threaten his own Olympic eligibility. So when New Zealand's rugby team played in South Africa in 1976 while retaining its Olympic team's eligibility, many African countries protested by boycotting the Montreal Games. South Africa reversed its apartheid policy in 1990 and returned to the Olympics in 1992. So Jimmy Carter did not invent the idea of an Olympic boycott. As you know, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in late 1979. The USA boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games in order to embarrass it while in the global spotlight. Many American allies also boycotted, and several European countries participated, but used the Olympic flag instead of their national flags. The Soviets finally retreated from Afghanistan in 1989, nine years and three Soviet premieres later The 1984 Soviet (and Soviet Bloc) boycott of the Los Angeles Games was a direct response to the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games. It was strictly tit-for-tat. It is not true the Olympics nearly ended after the 1980 boycott. According to Wikipedia, 81 countries competed in the 1980 Moscow Games with some 65 countries boycotting. In 1984, 140 countries competed and approximately 16 countries boycotted. Organizer Peter Ueberroth created tremendous excitement domestically for the Los Angeles Games, but it is incorrect to believe that was why so many countries participated. Incidentally in 1972 had 124 countries, 1976 had 92 countries with 31 boycotting, 1988 had 159, and 1992 had 169. The general upward climb is largely due to increasing numbers of sports and events (especially events for women) and increased global affluence allowed tiny countries to afford to send their athletes. In the end, it's safe to say Olympic boycotts are a feeble and futile tool to get countries to change behavior. It was the trendy thing to do then. Now we know it is ineffective and only hurts the offended countries' own athletes. As far as research materials, I recommend Foreign Policy and Sports Illustrated. In particular, check out the Vault in Sports Illustrated's website. I know they wrote extensively on those topics at the time.