1980 Moscow Olympic Games
Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the launch of a new ferry via a conference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Andrei Gorshkov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Column: Russian sports ban unlikely to stop Putin's war

By Paul Newberry Mar. 04, 2022 05:03 PM EST

FILE - Staff members rehearse a victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China on Jan. 3, 2022. The Beijing Winter Olympics are fraught with potential hazards for major sponsors, who are trying to remain quiet about China's human rights record while protecting at least $1 billion they've paid to the IOC. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
IOC major sponsors mostly muted in runup to Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 11, 2022 12:11 AM EST

Players from the United States pose after winning the gold medal in women's volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
US women beat Brazil to win 1st Olympic volleyball gold

By Josh Dubow Aug. 07, 2021 09:53 PM EDT

United States players celebrate winning the women's volleyball semifinal match between Serbia and United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
US women seek to complete quest for 1st volleyball gold

By Josh Dubow Aug. 06, 2021 09:26 PM EDT

India's Nilakanta Sharma (18) and Sumit (17) celebrate as Germany's Lukas Windfeder, right, reacts after India won their men's field hockey bronze medal match 5-4 at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/John Locher)
India ends 41-year drought with Olympic field hockey medal

Aug. 05, 2021 02:12 AM EDT

United States' Foluke Akinradewo, left, and United States' Jordan Larson try to block during the women's volleyball preliminary round pool B match between United States and Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
US women's volleyball team forms strong bond with '80 squad

By Josh Dubow Aug. 04, 2021 10:12 PM EDT

India's Dilpreet Singh (2) knocks the ball out of the air against Japan during a men's field hockey match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/John Locher)
India men near return to field hockey glory with Olympic run

By Cliff Brunt Jul. 30, 2021 10:22 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2020, file photo, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland listens during a briefing with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Los Angeles 2028 organizers in Beverly Hills, Calif. A boycott of next year's Beijing Olympics will not solve any geopolitical issues with China and will only serve to place athletes training for the games under a “cloud of uncertainty,” according to a letter, Hirshland, the head of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, wrote to Congress on Thursday, May 13, 2021. Her letter specifically addressed those who believe a boycott of the Winter Games next February would serve as an effective diplomatic tool to protest China's alleged abuses toward Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hong Kong residents. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
USOPC to Congress: Beijing Olympic boycott not the solution

By Eddie Pells May. 13, 2021 03:01 PM EDT

FILE - Lenin Stadium, the main stadium for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic Games and a Lenin statue are shown in this July, 1980 file photo. Just to hear chatter in the nation’s capital about a possible boycott of the Winter Olympics in China had to be enough to alarm athletes already deep in preparation for the games. The United States and 65 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics. (AP Photo/File)
Column: Olympic boycott chatter shouldn't go any further

By Tim Dahlberg Apr. 13, 2021 03:17 PM EDT

A protester from the Uyghur community living in Turkey holds up an anti-China placard during a protest against the visit of China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Turkey, in Istanbul, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Hundreds protested against the Chinese official visit and what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uyghurs in the far-western Xinjiang province. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
EXPLAINER: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and some options

By Stephen Wade Apr. 07, 2021 02:11 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, exile Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a prop as they hold a street protest against the holding of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in Dharmsala, India. Some kind of boycott is almost sure to affect next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s driven by the widely reported internment of several million Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China, which has been termed a genocide by numerous governments and human rights groups. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
EXPLAINER: What drives possible boycott of Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Mar. 15, 2021 02:33 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2004, file photo, Japan's Mizuki Noguchi takes the final lap inside the Panathinaiko Stadium as she wins the gold medal in the women's marathon in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Olympics return to antiquity at the 2004 Athens Games

By Chris Lehourites Aug. 15, 2020 09:37 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 11, 1994, file photo, Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas announces his retirement from basketball at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich. Thomas' Olympic hopes were denied, not once but twice. Thomas was famously left off the U.S. Olympic team — the first Dream Team — that won a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with ease. But he could have been an Olympian 12 years earlier, had the Americans not boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games. (AP Photo/Richard Sheinwald, File)
Isiah Thomas' Olympic hopes were denied, not once but twice

By Tim Reynolds Aug. 12, 2020 05:25 PM EDT

FILE - In this July 19, 1980, file photo, an unidentified youth displays the flag of the United States during opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, The United State did not attend the Olympics in Moscow but rather led a boycott in protest of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/File)
AP WAS THERE: 1980 Olympics

Aug. 09, 2020 01:25 PM EDT

FILE - In this July 19, 1980, file photo, an unidentified youth displays the flag of the United States during opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, The United State did not attend the Olympics in Moscow but rather led a boycott in protest of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/File)
Cold War rivalries split the Olympics in Moscow in 1980

By James Ellingworth Aug. 09, 2020 12:22 PM EDT

FILE - In this in this April 15, 2008 file photo, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth takes questions during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit in Chicago. Ueberroth vision laid the foundation for what the Olympic Games have become today. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
BOYCOTT GAMES: Could another Olympic reset be on tap?

By Eddie Pells Aug. 05, 2020 01:00 PM EDT

In this image provided by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), United States wrestler Lee Kemp, top, competes in the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics crushed Kemp's dreams, along with all the predictions that he would win a gold medal. (Walter Meives/USOPC via AP)
BOYCOTT GAMES: Wrestler finds peace despite road not taken

By Eddie Pells Aug. 04, 2020 01:02 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 11, 1980, file photo, Anita DeFrantz, of Princeton, N.J., a member of the Olympic rowing team and the Olympic Advisory Council, talks to members of the media at a news conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. At her right is Peter Schnugg a member of the U.S. water polo team from Orinda, Calf. They discussed the athlete's view concerning a possible Olympic boycott. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)
BOYCOTT GAMES: Former US water polo star looks back on 1980

By Jay Cohen Aug. 03, 2020 01:52 PM EDT

Benn Fields holds a high jump crossbar which he called "The Benn" at his home, Friday, July 31, 2020, in Salisbury Mills, N.Y. Fields will forever be known as a U.S. Olympian, he will also always wonder about what might have been had the U.S. government not spearheaded a boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
BOYCOTT GAMES: Fields harbors no anger despite missing '80

By Eddie Pells Aug. 02, 2020 09:02 AM EDT

FILE - In this June 21, 1980, file photo, Edwin Moses, gold medal winner in 1976 in Montreal, coasts to an easy victory in the 400 intermediate hurdles as the 1980 Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore,. While the fact that Moses was denied a chance at a medal in 1980 is only a footnote to his career, he has spent the last several months organizing reunions for the 1980 team. (AP Photo/File)
BOYCOTT GAMES: 1980 U.S. team finds overdue recognition

By Eddie Pells Aug. 01, 2020 12:11 PM EDT