1980-2004
The 1980 Moscow Olympics were disrupted by another ever larger boycott, this one led by US president Jimmy Carter. Part of a package of actions to protest the December 1979 Soviet invasion on Afghanistan. With his eyes on the upcoming presidential election, Carter tried to gain the support of other nations. Great Britain and Australia, supported the boycott, but allowed the athletes to choose whether or not they wanted to go to Moscow. No freedom was allowed to the US athlete, Carter threatened to evoke the passports of any athlete who tried to travel to the USSR. Sixty-five nations turned down their invitation to the Olympics because to the US led boycott. But the Olympics proceeded with the exceedingly low number of 80 nations. After the 1972 terrorist attack and the financial disaster of 1976 , only Los Angeles bid for the right to host the 1984 Olympics. The Los Angeles Games took off and became a model for Olympic Games to come with a profit of $223 million. With the Olympics being held in the US only four years later after the US-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics, non-surprisingly the Soviet Union organized a revenge boycott, in which only fourteen nations stayed away and 140 nations took part. The 1988 Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea, a nation that turned democratic only to welcome the the world to the Southern Games. North Korea, Cuba Ethiopia, and Nicaragua boycotted these games. Still records were set with 159 nations participating. In the years following the 1988 Olympics, the world went through a massive political chance. Apartheid was repealed in South Africa, allowing that nation to return the the Olympics for the first time since 1960. The Berlin Wall fell and East and West Germany were reunited. Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union and the USSR was split into 15 different countries. Many observers assumed that the 1996 Centennial Games would be awarded to Athens, host of the 1896 Olympics. However the IOC voted in favor of Atlanta, Georgia US. The Opening Ceremony was highlighted by an innovation in the Parade of Nations: instead of marching through a tunnel the athletes entered from the top of the stadium and descended onto the field so that 10,310 athletes from 197 nations was honored as a hero. As soon as these Games began, it was clear that there were major organizational problems. The transport system was over crowded and chaotic and the computerized results system was primitive and failed repeatedly. On July 27, a bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring eleven. The Sydney 2000 Olympics were the largest yet, with 10,649 athletes taking part in 300 events. At Sydney the IOC finally cracked down against doping. A gymnasts from Romania was stripped of her gold medal in the all around competition because her team doctor gave her pill containing a prohibited substance. In 2004 the Olympic Games were returned to Greece, the home of the Ancient Olympics and the first modern Olympics. The Main Olympic stadium was the ancient stadium in Olympia.