Politics often interferes with the Olympic Movement. Acts of public protest during the holding or preparation of the next Olympic Games always attract the attention of the world community. A striking example of this was the boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, which was supported by almost all countries of the socialist camp.
The only exceptions were Romania, Yugoslavia and the PRC. In addition to the socialist states, the Olympics were boycotted by Iran and Libya. The official reason for this protest was the refusal of the organizers of the Games to provide security guarantees to participants from the Warsaw Pact countries. But many took this step as a response to the boycott by American athletes of the Moscow 1980 Olympics. In addition, the Soviet party and sports leadership alarmed that our delegation was not allowed to fly by Aeroflot charters and refused to accept the Georgia motor ship, which was planned to be used as a floating Olympic base for the USSR national team.
On May 8, 1984, the Soviet Union officially announced to TASS about a boycott of the upcoming Olympics. IOC President Antonio Samaranch actively tried to convince the Soviet leadership to change the decision, but could not achieve success. Instead of the Olympic Games, it was decided to hold the international competition "Friendship-84" in Moscow. They were mainly attended by athletes from countries that refused the American Olympics. In total, athletes from more than 50 countries competed in these goodwill games, and many world records were set.
Because of this political protest, the entire world sports movement has lost out. The Los Angeles Olympics, like the previous one in Moscow, were held with an incomplete team. There were no favorites in many sports - 125 world champions did not come to America. As a result, a low number of world records were registered at these Games - only 11. As expected, the Americans won the team competition at the 84 Olympics. Without waiting for worthy rivals, the American team collected 174 medals, 83 of which were gold.
From that moment on, additional articles were added to the charter of the International Olympic Committee on serious sanctions against a country that will act with a boycott, up to and including its complete exclusion from the IOC.
