Winter Olympics-1984. Boycott of the 1984 Olympics

The birthplace of the modern Olympic Games is the Ancient Greece. In an original and rich state, these competitions were part of a religious cult. Since then, more than two thousand years have passed, but the tradition of holding the Olympic Games has not faded every four years. Each time, the number of countries wishing to participate in these competitions is growing.

Venue of the competition

In 2014, the Winter Olympic Games were held in the Russian city of Sochi. Eighty-eight countries took part in this event. This is almost twice as much as it was in Sarajevo, where the Winter Olympics of 1984 was held. At that time, this city was the capital of the socialist country of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo was hardly a modern metropolis. It was rather a huge village with narrow streets, the houses in which rested comfortably on the hills and hills. Until then, the capital of Yugoslavia was famous only for the single event: it was here that the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was killed. This event was a turning point in the tense relations of the West, and as a result - the First World War began.

The first Winter Olympics in the territory of a socialist country

Then, until the end of the 70s of the 20th century, this city did not show itself. In 1978, the International Olympic Committee at a regular session decided that the 1984 Winter Olympics would be held in Sarajevo. In order to implement the opening and closing ceremonies of the games, as well as for some competitions in the city, the biggest sports stadium "Asim Verhatovich-Khase" was reconstructed. It is noteworthy that the 1984 Winter Olympics was the first event of this scale held on the territory of a socialist country.

Start of games

The opening ceremony of the competitions was held on a frosty February day of the eighth day. Some people think otherwise. In the opinion of a small mass of people, the start of the competition in a separate sport was the day when the Winter Olympics 1984 actually started. Hockey was the first game of the fourteenth game. It happened on the 7th of February. On that day, the USSR team successfully passed to the next stage, defeating Poland brilliantly. The team of the Soviet Union became the champion of that year. In second place was the national team of Czechoslovakia.

Ten sports disciplines offered the attention of spectators and sportsmen the Winter Olympics-1984: figure skating, hockey, ski jumping, tobogganing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, bobsled, speed skating and downhill skiing. Thirty-nine sets of medals were played.

Medal set-off

It is noteworthy that it was at these competitions that many new names were opened. Especially distinguished athletes, alpine skiers. The enthusiasm and joy of the hospitable Yugoslavia residents was unlimited when their compatriot - twenty-two Yuri Franco - took a silver medal in a giant slalom competition. As Oslobodzhene later noted, this victory was a worthy award for years of hard work and preparation for the "white" games.

On February 19, the Winter Olympics-1984 was officially closed. The medal offset of the competition is as follows. By the number of valuable prizes the first step of the pedestal is occupied by the USSR. A total of 25 awards were won by the team's athletes. However, in terms of the number of gold medals, the largest socialist country lost to the GDR. The German Democratic Republic won three "yellow" awards more. The 1984 Winter Olympics gave the USA only eight prizes. Norway received 9 medals, and Finland - 13. It is noteworthy that this time the team of Austria was absolutely unsuccessful. As a rule, this country has always achieved excellent results in winter sports. But not at this time. Austrian athletes took only one bronze medal.

Boycott from the countries of the socialist camp

In 1980, the Olympics were held in Moscow. 1984 gave the world (except for "white" games) as well as summer games. They were held in the United States of America - in Los Angeles. It is noteworthy, but these competitions were boycotted by the socialist countries. The reason lies in the aggravated relations between NATO and the countries of the socialist bloc. It should be noted that initially in 1980 the republics with a democratic system boycotted the Olympics in Moscow. Thus, the absence of USSR and other national teams in the summer games of 1984 was the reciprocal move to America.

Of course, in order to boycott such an event, good reasons are needed. Formally, the socialist cell of the countries refused to participate in the 1984 competitions because of the refusal of the leadership of the organizing committee of the games to provide the athletes with security guarantees.

It should also be noted that the boycott of the 1984 Olympics is a kind of step against the "Carter Doctrine". That, in turn, implies assistance to anti-Soviet insurgents in Afghanistan.

Aeroflot does not fly, Georgia does not go ...

As early as the fall of 1983, the Soviet government sent a sports delegation to the United States to determine the condition of the sports facilities and the future location of the guests. Having identified a huge number of shortcomings, the leading link in the countries of the socialist camp expressed concern about this. The greatest excitement was caused by the refusal of the US government to moor the ship "Georgia" off the coast of the city. It was planned that a Soviet delegation would live on board the ship. The second negative point was the ban on the landing of Soviet aircraft by Aeroflot.

A few months later, the Politburo issued a decree that contained items describing the inexpediency of being present at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in the United States, the USSR national team. The document also contained measures aimed at suppressing discontent among the people and creating a favorable image of the Soviet Union (compared to the countries of the democratic bloc). Neighboring socialist countries were also invited to take part in the boycott. Instead of the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Friendship Drama-84 competition was held in Moscow. If we compare the effectiveness of two events, the Soviet analogue gave the world several times more world records than the games in the US.

After the boycott of the 1984 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee issued a decree on sanctions against states that decided to continue to interfere with this kind of competition.