Games of the XXII Olympiad
Emblem of the 1980 Summer Olympics
LocationMoscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (present-day Russian Federation)
Nations80
Athletes5,256 (4,137 men, 1,119 women)
Events203 in 21 sports (27 disciplines)
Opening19 July 1980
Closing3 August 1980
Opened by
Cauldron
StadiumGrand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium
Summer
Winter
1980 Summer Paralympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics (Russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, romanizedLetnije Olimpijskije igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (Russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, romanizedIgry XXII Olimpiady) and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (Russian: Москва 1980), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia.[2][3] The games were the first to be staged in an Eastern Bloc country, as well as the first Olympic Games and only Summer Olympics[b] to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in a self-proclaimed communist country until the 2008 Summer Olympics held in China. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin before he was succeeded by Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Spaniard, shortly afterwards.[4]

Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games, the smallest number since 1956. Led by the United States, 66 countries boycotted the games entirely, because of the Soviet–Afghan War. Several alternative events were held outside of the Soviet Union. Some athletes from some of the boycotting countries (not included in the list of 66 countries that boycotted the games entirely) participated in the games under the Olympic Flag.[5] The Soviet Union later boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals, with the USSR and East Germany winning 127 out of 203 available golds.

Host city selection

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A Soviet stamp sheet showing the logo of the games and its mascot Misha holding the 1980 Olympic torch. The map shows the torch relay route from Olympia, Greece, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, to Moscow, Russian SFSR. It also depicts the number of gold, silver and bronze medals (80, 69, 46) won by the Soviet athletes at the Games.

The only two cities to bid for the 1980 Summer Olympics were Moscow and Los Angeles. The choice between them was made at the 75th IOC Session in Vienna, Austria on 23 October 1974. Los Angeles would eventually host the 1984 Summer Olympics.[6][7][8]

1980 Summer Olympics bidding result
City Country Votes
Moscow  Soviet Union 39
Los Angeles  United States 20
Abstentions 2

Participation overview and boycott

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Participating nations
Countries boycotting the 1980 Games are shaded blue
Olympic Village in February 2004

Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Olympics, the smallest number since 1956. Of the eighty participating nations,[9] seven National Olympic Committees made their first appearance at these Games: Angola, Botswana, Cyprus, Jordan, Laos, Mozambique and Seychelles.[10] None of these nations won a medal.

29 countries boycotted the previous 1976 Summer Olympics in protest against the IOC for not expelling New Zealand, which had sanctioned a rugby tour of apartheid South Africa. The 1980 Summer Olympics were disrupted by another, even larger boycott led by the United States in protest of the 1979 Soviet–Afghan War. The Soviet invasion spurred President Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum on 20 January 1980, which stated that the U.S. would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month.[11] In total, 65 National Olympic Committees invited to the Games decided to not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics. Outside of the group of 29 NOCs who followed the USA's decision, another group cited economic reasons for not participating.[11][12] Iran, under Ayatollah Khomeini, who was hostile to both superpowers, decided to boycott the event when the Islamic Conference condemned the invasion.[13] As a consequence of the Sino-Soviet split in 1961, the People's Republic of China chose to also boycott the Games and in the same way that Chinese Taipei boycotted the games in protest of the signing of the Nagoya declaration the previous year in which the island was banned from calling itself the Republic of China during the Olympic Games.

Many of the boycotting nations participated instead in the Liberty Bell Classic, also known as the "Olympic Boycott Games", in Philadelphia. However, the nations that did compete had won 71 percent of all medals, and similarly 71 percent of the gold medals, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. This was in part due to state-run doping programs that had been developed in the Eastern Bloc countries.[14][15] As a form of protest against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, fifteen countries marched in the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Flag instead of their national flags, and the Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn were used at medal ceremonies when athletes from these countries won medals. Competitors from New Zealand,[16] Portugal, and Spain competed under the flags of their respective National Olympic Committees. Some of these teams that marched under flags other than their national flags were depleted by boycotts by individual athletes, while some athletes did not participate in the march.[citation needed]

The boycott impacted the competitiveness of swimming, track and field, boxing, basketball, diving, field hockey and equestrian sports. Whilst competitors from 36 countries became Olympic medalists, the great majority of the medals were taken by the Soviet Union and East Germany in what was the most skewed medal tally since 1904.[17]

Events, records and drug tests overview

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There were 203 events – more than at any previous Olympics. 36 world records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records were set at the games. In total, this was more records than were set at Montreal. New Olympic records were set 241 times over the course of the competitions and world records were beaten 97 times.

Though no athletes were caught doping at the 1980 Summer Olympics, it has been revealed that athletes had begun using testosterone and other drugs for which tests had not been yet developed. According to British journalist Andrew Jennings, a KGB colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to undermine doping tests and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with [these] tremendous efforts".[18] A 1989 report by a committee of the Australian Senate claimed that "there is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner...who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might well have been called the Chemists' Games".[19]

A member of the IOC Medical Commission, Manfred Donike, privately ran additional tests with a new technique for identifying abnormal levels of testosterone by measuring its ratio to epitestosterone in urine. Twenty percent of the specimens he tested, including those from sixteen gold medalists would have resulted in disciplinary proceedings had the tests been official.[19] The results of Donike's unofficial tests later convinced the IOC to add his new technique to their testing protocols.[20] The first documented case of "blood doping" occurred at the 1980 Summer Olympics as a runner was transfused with two pints of blood before winning medals in the 5000 m and 10,000 m.[21]

Media and broadcasting

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Major broadcasters of the 1980 Games were USSR State TV and Radio (1,370 accreditation cards), Eurovision (31 countries, 818 cards) and Intervision (11 countries, 342 cards).[22] TV Asahi with 68 cards provided coverage for Japan, while OTI, representing Latin America, received 59 cards, and the Seven Network provided coverage for Australia (48 cards).[22] NBC, which had intended to be another major broadcaster, canceled its coverage in response to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Games, and became a minor broadcaster with 56 accreditation cards,[22] although they did air highlights and recaps of the Games on a regular basis. ABC aired scenes of the opening ceremony during its Nightline program, and promised highlights each night, but later announced that they could not air any highlights as NBC still had exclusive broadcast rights in the US. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) almost canceled their plans for coverage after Canada took part in the boycott, and was represented by nine cards.[22] The television center used 20 television channels, compared to 16 for the Montreal Games, 12 for the Munich Games, and seven for the Mexico City Games. This was also the first time North Korea was watching, as KCTV (Korea Central Television) broadcast it as their first satellite program.

Spectators and commemoration

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150-rubles platinum coin (reverse)

The Games attracted five million spectators, an increase of 1.5 million from the Montreal Games. There were 1,245 referees from 78 countries.[citation needed] A series of commemorative coins was released in the USSR in 1977–1980 to commemorate the event. It consisted of five platinum coins, six gold coins, 28 silver coins and six copper-nickel coins.[23]

Budget

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According to the Official Report, submitted to the IOC by the NOC of the USSR, total expenditures for the preparations for and staging of the 1980 Games were US$1,350,000,000,[24] total revenues being US$231,000,000.[24] To obtain additional funds for the competition, the Organizing Committee organized Olympic lotteries. The proceeds from the lotteries covered 25% of the cost of holding the competition.[25]

Cost

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The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics at US$6.3 billion in 2015 dollars.[26] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Moscow 1980 compares with costs of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016 (projected), US$40–44 billion for Beijing 2008 and US$51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion.

Opening ceremony

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Highlights of the different events

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Archery

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Athletics

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Marathon in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The athlete 563 in the foreground is Koh Chun-son from North Korea

Basketball

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Boxing

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Canoeing

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All events in canoeing and rowing took place at the Moscow Canoeing and Rowing Basin in Krylatskoye

Cycling

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Olympic Velodrome in Krylatskoye

Diving

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Equestrian

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Fencing

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Football

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Pins released by the USSR for the football event of the Olympics (with a British 50 pence coin for size comparison)

Gymnastics

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Handball

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The USSR men's handball team celebrating their victory over Yugoslavia

Field hockey

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Judo

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Modern Pentathlon

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Rowing

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Sailing

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Shooting

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Swimming

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Rica Reinisch with her gold medal in 200 m swimming.

Volleyball

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Water polo

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Weightlifting

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Wrestling

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Closing ceremony

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Misha, the mascot, formed in a mosaic as a tear runs down his face during the closing ceremony
Misha carried by balloons into the sky, commemorated by a 2000 postage stamp issued by Russia

Because of the U.S. boycott, changes were made to the traditional elements of the closing ceremony that represent the handover to the host city of the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Among them, the flag of the city of Los Angeles instead of the United States flag was raised, and the Olympic Anthem instead of the national anthem of the United States was played. There was also no "Antwerp Ceremony", where the ceremonial Olympic flag was transferred from the Mayor of Moscow to the Mayor of Los Angeles; instead the flag was kept by the Moscow city authorities until 1984. Furthermore, there was no next host city presentation.

Both the opening and closing ceremonies were shown in Yuri Ozerov's 1981 film Oh, Sport – You Are The World! (Russian: О спорт, ты – мир!).

Venues

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1 New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. 2 Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Sports

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The 1980 Summer Olympic programme featured 203 events in the following 21 sports:

Calendar

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All times are in Moscow Time (UTC+3)
 ●  Opening ceremony     Event competitions  ●  Event finals  ●  Closing ceremony
Date July August
19th
Sat
20th
Sun
21st
Mon
22nd
Tue
23rd
Wed
24th
Thu
25th
Fri
26th
Sat
27th
Sun
28th
Mon
29th
Tue
30th
Wed
31st
Thu
1st
Fri
2nd
Sat
3rd
Sun
Archery
Athletics








Basketball
Boxing

Canoeing

Cycling
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Field hockey
Football (soccer)
Gymnastics

Handball
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Rowing

Sailing
Shooting
Swimming





Volleyball
Water polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling





Total gold medals 5 7 10 12 19 15 22 22 10 16 14 11 19 20 1
Ceremonies
Date 19th
Sat
20th
Sun
21st
Mon
22nd
Tue
23rd
Wed
24th
Thu
25th
Fri
26th
Sat
27th
Sun
28th
Mon
29th
Tue
30th
Wed
31st
Thu
1st
Fri
2nd
Sat
3rd
Sun
July August

Medal count

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This is a list of all nations that won medals at the 1980 Games.

A "bronze" medal – actually tombac – from the 1980 Summer Olympics

  *   Host nation (Host nation (Soviet Union))

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union (URS)*806946195
2 East Germany (GDR)473742126
3 Bulgaria (BUL)8161741
4 Cuba (CUB)87520
5 Italy (ITA)83415
6 Hungary (HUN)7101532
7 Romania (ROU)661325
8 France (FRA)65314
9 Great Britain (GBR)57921
10 Poland (POL)3141532
11 Sweden (SWE)33612
12 Finland (FIN)3148
13 Czechoslovakia (TCH)23914
14 Yugoslavia (YUG)2349
15 Australia (AUS)2259
16 Denmark (DEN)2125
17 Brazil (BRA)2024
 Ethiopia (ETH)2024
19 Switzerland (SUI)2002
20 Spain (ESP)1326
21 Austria (AUT)1214
22 Greece (GRE)1023
23 Belgium (BEL)1001
 India (IND)1001
 Zimbabwe (ZIM)1001
26 North Korea (PRK)0325
27 Mongolia (MGL)0224
28 Tanzania (TAN)0202
29 Mexico (MEX)0134
30 Netherlands (NED)0123
31 Ireland (IRL)0112
32 Uganda (UGA)0101
 Venezuela (VEN)0101
34 Jamaica (JAM)0033
35 Guyana (GUY)0011
 Lebanon (LIB)0011
Totals (36 entries)204204223631

List of participating countries and regions

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In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Moscow. Nations in italics competed under the Olympic flag (or, in the cases of New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, under the flags of their respective National Olympic Committees):

Number of athletes sent per nation. The rest of countries have boycotted the games.
Participating National Olympic Committees

^ Note:  Liberia with seven athletes, withdrew after marching in the Opening Ceremony and took part in the boycott.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ IOC records state Brezhnev opened the Moscow Games as "President", a title used at that time by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, or de jure head of state. (The office of President of the Soviet Union was not created until 1990, a year before the nation broke up.) Though Brezhnev was also de facto ruler as General Secretary of the Communist Party, that title is not reflected in IOC records.
  2. ^ Since 1980, the 1984 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Olympics were also held in Slavic-speaking nations of Yugoslavia and Russia.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Factsheet – Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "1980 Moskva Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Moscow 1980". Olympic.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  4. ^ Goldstein, Richard (26 April 1999). "Lord Killanin, Olympic Leader, Dies at 84". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Cousineau, Phil (2003). The Olympic Odyssey: Rekindling the True Spirit of the Great Games. Quest Books. p. 162. ISBN 0835608336.
  6. ^ Miller, Geoffrey (24 October 1974). "Lake Placid given unanimous approval". Schenectady Gazette. (New York). Associated Press. p. 33.
  7. ^ D'Agati, Philip A. (2013). The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games : a Soviet-American surrogate war (First ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-36025-0. OCLC 851972614.
  8. ^ "Face-saving mood give LA Games 'conditionally'". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire reports. 18 May 1978. p. 1C.
  9. ^ Brian Murphy. "Sting remains from boycotted 1980 Games". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  10. ^ "40 Years of Summer Olympic Cities". cnbc.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  11. ^ a b "The Olympic Boycott, 1980". state.gov. U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 4 February 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  12. ^ "Partial Boycott – New IOC President". Keesing's Record of World Events. 26: 30599. December 1980.
  13. ^ Freedman, Robert O.; Moscow and the Middle East: Soviet Policy since the Invasion of Afghanistan, p. 78 ISBN 0-521-35976-7
  14. ^ Aleksandrov, Aleksei; Grebeniuk, Ivan; Runets, Volodymyr (22 July 2020). "The 1980 Olympics Are the 'Cleanest' in History. Athletes Recall How Moscow Cheated the System". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
  15. ^ "The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics". The New York Times. 13 August 2016.
  16. ^ "New Zealand Olympic Committee". Olympic.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  17. ^ Moscow 1980 Olympic Games. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition: http://www.library.ebonline.com/eb/article-9098213
  18. ^ Aleksandrov, Alexei; Aleksandrov, Grebeniuk; Runets, Volodymyr (22 July 2020). "The 1980 Olympics Are The 'Cleanest' In History. Athletes Recall How Moscow Cheated The System". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  19. ^ a b Thomas Mitchell Hunt (2007). Drug Games: The International Politics of Doping and the Olympic Movement, 1960—2007. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-0-549-16219-3.
  20. ^ Wilson, Wayne (Ph.D.); Derse, Ed (2001). Doping in Élite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement. Human Kinetics. pp. 77–. ISBN 978-0-7360-0329-2. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  21. ^ Sytkowski, Arthur J. (May 2006). Erythropoietin: Blood, Brain and Beyond. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 187–. ISBN 978-3-527-60543-9. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  22. ^ a b c d 1980 Summer Olympics Official Report from the Organizing Committee Archived 22 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine, vol. 2, p. 379
  23. ^ Sullivan, Colleen (4 March 1979). "INVESTING". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Official Report of the XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 1981. Retrieved 13 February 2014.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ "Карьера Армена Саркисяна – основателя крупнейшего распространителя гослотерей "Столото"". Abireg (in Russian). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  26. ^ Flyvbjerg, Bent; Stewart, Allison; Budzier, Alexander (2016). The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Oxford: Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford). pp. 9–13. SSRN 2804554.
  27. ^ Siukonen, Markku; et al. (1980). Urheilutieto 5 (in Finnish). Oy Scandia Kirjat Ab. pp. 363–364. ISBN 951-9466-20-7.
  28. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Athletics at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games Men's Triple Jump Qualifying Round". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  29. ^ "The forgotten story of Ian Campbell". The Guardian. 7 August 2013.
  30. ^ "Kozakiewicz Sets World Pole Vault Record". Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida. 31 July 1980.
  31. ^ Barukh Ḥazan (1982). Olympic Sports and Propaganda Games: Moscow 1980. Transaction Publishers. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4128-2995-3.
  32. ^ Jesse Reed. "Top 10 Scandals in Summer Olympic History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  33. ^ "Norman May on australianscreen online". Retrieved 3 March 2011.
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Further reading

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Boycott

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Summer Olympics Preceded byMontreal XXII OlympiadMoscow 1980 Succeeded byLos Angeles