IS IT PROPAGANDA?®

IS IT PROPAGANDA?®

The Boycott That Backfired

Moscow 1980 and the Politics of Sport

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IS IT PROPAGANDA?®
Jul 25, 2026
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A Soviet-era retrospective on the 1980 Moscow Olympics boycott, Jimmy Carter's ultimatum, the Afghanistan invasion, and the Games that went on anyway.

Opening of the 1980 Olympics. Photo by Sergey Metelitsa / TASS.

Dear readers and subscribers,

In the Soviet Union, the Olympic Games were treated as a shrine and an outlet. They did not forget that “the firs…

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