Fansided

Six athlete protests that changed history

By Dave Stevenson

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games, engage in a victory stand protest against unfair treatment of blacks in the United States. With heads lowered and black-gloved fists raised in the black power salute, they refuse to recognize the American flag and national anthem. Australian Peter Norman is the silver medalist.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games, engage in a victory stand protest against unfair treatment of blacks in the United States. With heads lowered and black-gloved fists raised in the black power salute, they refuse to recognize the American flag and national anthem. Australian Peter Norman is the silver medalist. /
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A worker manouevers is vehicle past an entrance to the Los Angeles Coliseum, which played host to the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles, California on August 31, 2015. The Los Angeles city Council members vote September 1,on the city's bid for the 2024 Olympics in a move seen as an important step toward securing nomination as a candidate by the US Olympic Committee. AFP PHOTO /FREDERIC J.BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
Mandatory Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images /

1980 Summer Olympics

The United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was a precursor for a decade defined by boycotts. The Olympics serve as potentially the biggest stage for an athlete to make a statement. An entire nation made a statement when the United States refused to participate in the 1980 Olympics.

65 other countries, including West Germany, China, and Japan, joined America in their boycott of the Games. Different events were scheduled so that the nations boycotting could still participate in a friendly competition.

While there were other factors that led to the USSR and several of its allies boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics was likely the largest one. This further increased the tensions between the United States and the USSR. Though the United States men’s hockey team beat the Soviets in Lake Placid, any goodwill that might have done was negated by the 1984 boycott.

Tensions between the United States and the USSR remained until the Soviet Union folded in 1991. To this day, America and Russia don’t have the best relationship. It all started back in 1980, when 66 countries boycotted the Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.

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