Olympics

U.S.- Soviet Relations The superpowers’ different lifestyles caused suspicion of each others’ motives and actions. This caused friction because the two sides did not understand each other.

They believed that their way of life was better, and tended to despise the way of life of the other side. They wanted to prove that their way of life was superior – this again caused them to do things which caused confrontation.

The Miracle on Ice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7HCm8yGNk

The Miracle on Ice Winter Olympics 1980. The United States national team, made up of amateur and collegiate players and led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet Union national team, which had won the gold medal in six of the seven previous Olympic games.

The U.S-Soviet game was not the gold metal game. The U.S. needed to defeat Finland to gain enough points for the gold metal. Needing to win to secure the gold medal, Team USA came back from a 2–1 third period deficit to defeat Finland 4–2.

Nadia Comăneci Romanian gymnast, winner of three gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastics event. She also won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

1980 Olympic Boycott The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan spurred President Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum on January 20, 1980, that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month.

Iran, although a firm enemy of the United States under Ayatollah Khomeini’s new theocracy, similarly boycotted the Moscow Games, since Khomeini joined the United Nations’ and Islamic Conferences’ condemnations of the invasion of Afghanistan.

1984 Soviet Summer Olympic Boycott The USSR announced its intentions to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics on May 8, 1984, citing security concerns and stating that “chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States.”

1984 Soviet Summer Olympic Boycott President Reagan agreed to meet all of the demands of the Soviet Union in turn for the Soviet Bloc's attendance at the 1984 Olympics, marking a stark contrast in Reagan’s “hawkish” views on Cold War foreign policy.