The Summer Olympic Games, held in 1980, were held in the capital of the USSR from July 19 to August 3. These 22nd games became unique, as they were first played in Eastern Europe, and even in a socialist country. In addition, a number of countries boycotted them.
Moscow has already nominated itself to host the 21st Summer Olympics, but the Canadian city of Montreal won. And when considering the application for the next Olympic Games, Moscow won against Los Angeles with a 39:20 vote ratio. This was largely the merit of the chairman of the USSR Sports Committee S. P. Pavlov, who has done a tremendous organizational and preparatory work.
To hold the Olympics in Moscow and some other cities of the USSR, where the competitions were to take place (Kiev, Leningrad, Tallinn, Minsk, Mytishchi), 78 sports facilities were built and reconstructed. The strictest security measures were taken, so that not a single athlete or tourist was injured during the Olympics. The cute bear cub Misha became the symbol of the games.
Alas, politics intervened in the preparation and conduct of this great sporting event. In December 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. Many countries, especially members of the NATO military-political bloc opposing the Warsaw Pact organization, saw this as an excellent reason to unleash a propaganda war. As a result, 65 countries of the world, including the strongest in summer sports, the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, South Korea, announced a boycott of the Olympics. Many countries sent to Moscow far from the strongest squads of their national teams, moreover, they are not performing under their national flags, but under the flag of the International Olympic Committee. Some athletes came to the USSR with the permission of their Olympic committees on an individual basis. Under these conditions, the USSR national team won an unprecedented number of gold medals - 80.
No matter how hard Soviet propaganda tried to downplay the scale and significance of the boycott, the moral damage suffered by the USSR was great. Although the Olympics were universally recognized and held at a very high level. That is why the USSR and many of its Warsaw Pact allies resorted to a retaliatory boycott of the next Olympics in Los Angeles.
