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The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott of the Moscow Olympics was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union and other countries would later support the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott. ==Background== The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan spurred Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum on January 20, 1980 that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month. After an April 24 meeting, United States Olympic Committee (USOC) President Robert Kane told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the USOC would be willing to send a team to Moscow if there were a “spectacular change in the international situation”.〔American Embassy Memorandum to Secretary of State, (“Olympics: Lausanne IOC EXCOM Meeting,” ) April 23, 1980, US Department of State, FOIA〕 Lord Killanin, then president of the IOC, arranged to meet and discuss with Jimmy Carter and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, before the May 24 deadline, the boycott in an attempt to save the Games. Lord Killanin insisted that the Games should continue as scheduled, and Carter reaffirmed the US position to boycott unless the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan.〔Secretary of State Memorandum to All Diplomatic and Consular Posts Immediate, “Olympics: Mid-May Update,” May 16, 1980, US Department of State, FOIA〕 Several interventions at the late April 1980 Bilderberg meeting in Aachen included discussion of the implications of the boycott. There was a heavy contention voiced that the perception to the world of the boycott would be viewed as merely a sentimental protest rather than a strategic act. An African representative at the Bilderberg meeting believed that regardless whether there was additional support outside the US a boycott would be an effective symbolic protest dramatically visible to those within the Soviet Union.〔(Bilderberg meeting report Aachen ), 1980. Retrieved June 16, 2009. (Archived ) June 19, 2009.〕 The Carter administration brought immense pressure on the NATO countries to support the boycott although that support was not universal. The International Olympics Federations protested that the pressures by the US and other supporting countries for the boycott was an inappropriate means to achieve a political end, and the victims of this action would be the athletes.〔American Embassy Memorandum to Secretary of State and White House, (“Olympics: IOC Message to Mr. Cutler,” ) April 27, 1980, US Department of State, FOIA〕 German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said that the allies "should simply do as they are told".〔Sarantakes, Nicholas Evan (2010). ''Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War''. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1139788566. p. 121.〕 Boxer Muhammad Ali was dispatched by the administration to Tanzania, Nigeria, and Senegal to convince its leaders to join the boycott, although it was widely said in the US domestic press that the reactions to Ali’s public comments in Tanzania supported that the diplomatic mission was a failure.〔Sarantakes. ''Dropping the Torch'', pp. 115–118.〕 The United States was ultimately joined fully in the boycott by some countries – including Japan, West Germany (Schmidt was able to convince its National Olympic Committee (NOC) to support the boycott by a narrow margin), China, the Philippines, Argentina and Canada. Some of these countries competed at the Olympic Boycott Games in Philadelphia. The governments of United Kingdom, France and Australia supported the boycott but left any final decision for their athletes to participate in the Games to their respective NOCs and the decision of their individual athletes. The United Kingdom and France sent a much smaller athletic delegation than what was originally possible. The British associations that governed equestrian, hockey, and yachting boycotted completely. Despite the national boycotts, the United Kingdom sent the largest team of 170 athletes among West European countries.〔(1980 Summer Olympics Official Report from the Organizing Committee ), vol. 2, p. 190.〕 Iran, although a firm enemy of the United States under Ayatollah Khomeini’s new theocracy, similarly boycotted the Moscow Games, since Khomeini joined the United Nations’ and Islamic Conferences’ condemnations of the invasion of Afghanistan.〔Golan, Galia; ''Soviet Policies in the Middle East: From World War Two to Gorbachev''; p. 193 ISBN 9780521358590〕 The Islamic Conference – independently of the United States – urged a boycott of Moscow upon the invasion,〔Freedman, Robert O.; ''Moscow and the Middle East: Soviet Policy since the Invasion of Afghanistan'', p. 78 ISBN 0-521-35976-7〕 while the Ayatollah had also dubiously accused Moscow of arming the Baluchis against his regime.〔 Spain, Italy, Sweden, Iceland and Finland were other principal nations representing western Europe at the Games,〔 but those Italian athletes serving in its military corps could not attend the Games because of the national government’s official support of the boycott. Many events were affected by the loss of participants and some US-born athletes but citizens of other countries, such as Italy and Australia, did compete in Moscow. Many teams were avoided by Soviet television at the Games during the opening and closing ceremonies because their national governments officially supported the boycott. Their national colors could not be flown or anthems not played (Australia, Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Spain, and Switzerland). Lord Killanin permitted NOC-qualified athletes to compete at the Games without their national flags or anthems (which allowed NOCs to send athletes in a non-national context) but this did not allow other individuals lacking NOC sanction to participate in the Games as this was perceived by the IOC as a potential weakening of their authority.〔 Four athletes from New Zealand competed independently and marched under their NOC flag because the government officially supported the boycott.〔(1980 Moscow ). olympic.org.nz〕 The athletes of 16 countries did not fly their national flags. Instead NOC flags were raised and the Olympic Anthem replaced their national anthems at medal ceremonies. There was one awards ceremony where three NOC flags were raised. Other modifications were made in the Games activities, such as when the Boycott prevented Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau from attending the Moscow Games. Sandra Henderson and Stéphane Préfontaine, the final torchbearers at the previous games, were sent in his stead to participate in the Antwerp Ceremony at the opening ceremony, and at the closing ceremony, the Los Angeles city flag (rather than the United States flag) was raised to symbolize the next host of the Olympic Games. The Antwerp flag was received by an IOC member from the USA instead of the then-current Los Angeles mayor, Tom Bradley; there was no handover to Los Angeles ceremony at the closing. The Moscow Games does have the distinction that with only eighty participating countries there were more world records set than at the fuller contingent attending in Montreal, 1976. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1980 Summer Olympics boycott」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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