May 21, 1984
Four years earlier, the U.S. had led 36 nations in boycotting the Moscow Olympics, protesting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a year earlier. As the final plans were drawn up for Los Angeles’ hosting of the games in 1984, TIME explained:
“The Kremlin’s leaders are widely believed to have been itching to pay Washington back in the same coin.”
Moscow’s official statement claimed that Soviet athletes were under strong threats in a “hostile environment,” and a threat of physical violence led to them keeping their athletes a continent away. The boycott was a shock to Washington, but the Reagan administration was decidedly less stunned than the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, who feared the disappearance of the powerhouse Soviet athletes would “greatly diminish the luster of many events,” TIME wrote. “The winners in Los Angeles will be unable to boast that their feats were achieved against the toughest competition the world has to offer.”