The 80s Were Terrible: #7

Another day, another reason why the 80s blew. Oftentimes I wish I were younger just so I could say that I had no connection to the 80s at all, then I realize that I would have missed out on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is today's ok thing about the 80s. Of course, these cool things combined don't even counteract a single Wham! song, so the decade loses as a whole. Today's issue with the 80s is a matter of national pride.





The Seventh Worst Thing About The 1980s: Olympic Boycotts

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the summer Olympics due to the USSR's decision to invade Afghanistan in 1979. Was this in the spirit of the games as a two-week period where politics don't matter? Hell no, but Jimmy Carter was a badass and would take no gruff. That invasion greatly contributed to the terrorism coming of of the mideast currently, so he was probably right in his decision. Some of the less badass nations like France and the UK didn't fully back the boycott (they did send smaller delegations than usual... but that defeats the purpose of a boycott), but many nations did. In retaliation, the USSR and its associates (you know the rundown) boycotted the 1984 Games held in Los Angeles, CA. While the US's boycott was principled and awesome, the USSR boycott was whiny and spiteful. At least that's what Uncle Sam tells me. I'm sure Americans just ignored the '80 Olympics, and since we were ridiculously dominant without the #2 world power present at the '84 games, I'm sure we didn't care again.

The biggest loss here? National pride. This stuff went down in the midst of the Cold War, and a little athletic beatdown would have accelerated the Soviet Union's deterioration. I'm going to say these events (the boycotts) cost the nation 2-3 years of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars, although the LA Olympics were the first (only?)* to ever run a profit...

(NO OLYMPICS IN NEW YORK CITY)




* - in no way was this "fact" verified, well the part about being the first was, but not the only