1. 1980 Moscow Olympics: A World divided
By: Elise Stevens Wilson

2. Background to the Games
The Cold War
The United States and the Soviet Union had been antagonistic since 1948.
The USSR was communist country while the US was a democracy with a capitalist economy.
The two countries were sworn enemies who constantly threatened each other, yet no bombs were dropped or armies confronted on a battlefield.
That’s why it’s called a cold war.

3. Both sides constructed many weapons, but didn’t use them – the Arms Race

4. The Cold War affected all aspects of people’s lives.

5. The Invasion of Afghanistan
In 1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan to support a Marxist (communist) government, not the US-backed government.

6. The U.S. responds
The US condemned the Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan.
President Carter established an embargo and threatened to boycott the upcoming 1980 Olympics that were being held in Moscow.

7. Moscow Olympics
The 1980 Summer Games were the first Olympics held by a communist country.
Many western countries like the US and Great Britain believed that the USSR violated people rights and therefore should not be granted the privilege of hosting the Olympics.

8. Sporting events as a battleground
Sporting events, and the Olympics in particular, became a fierce competition between the USSR and the United States over who could win more medals, and therefore, could garner more glory as a nation.

9. Politics in Previous Olympics
The Moscow Olympics were not the first to be politicized. (Left: 1936, Right: 1968)

10. Sources
Dr. Strangelove Poster
Red Square
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cold War map
Fallout Shelter
Afghanistan map
Carter image
Moscow Olympics poster content/uploads/1980/03/moscow.jpg
1936 Olympics poster
Mexico Olympic medal stand power-mexico-city-olympics-1968.jpg
Olympic medal
1980 Olympic medal ceremony Lake Placid GoldMedalCeremony-flagsH2O.JPG