00:00Do you know why over 60 countries, including the US, boycotted the 1980 Winter Olympics?
00:05The 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York, and at the time, the Soviet
00:10Union had just invaded Afghanistan.
00:12So the US organized a boycott of the games and protests.
00:14But the boycott was not universally supported.
00:17In fact, many athletes were furious because they trained for years to compete in the Olympics
00:21and now their dreams were being crushed by political tensions.
00:24And it gets even more complicated.
00:25The US wanted to punish the Soviets, but also put pressure on China, who at the time
00:30were our allies.
00:31So they asked Taiwan to join the boycott, which they refused, to make matters worse.
00:35The Chinese were furious because they had just hosted the 1978 Asian Games and spent a fortune
00:40to build new sports venues.
00:42In the end, only 14 nations participated in the 1980 Winter Olympics, the fewest number
00:47of participating countries in Olympic history.
00:49Do you think the boycott was justified?
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