Word: boycotts
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...meters was an intricately plotted race starring two of the world's best-known distance runners: Yifter, who missed the 1976 Games because of the African boycott, and Lasse Viren, 31, of Finland, winner of both the 5,000 and 10,000 in 1972 and 1976. Yifter, as it turned out, had a better supporting cast...
...finished first in the 200-meter dash. Disgusted by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he agonized for months over whether to go to Moscow-and continued to agonize once he arrived. Said'he: "The pressure of being the favorite with no Americans here, and the bitterness of the boycott ... cracked my nerves." On the track he had to worry about Wells, 28, a Scotsman. "I knew from the semifinals of the 100 that he was two meters faster at 100, so I must catch him gradually," said Mennea. That he did, in the relatively slow time of 20.19, nearly...
...second week of competition began, some 380 U.S. Olympians traveled to Washington to enjoy a five-day, $950,000 tribute sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Some of the athletes had contemplated staying away to protest the boycott, but in the end more than 90% of those who were free showed up. Dressed in their best cowboy outfits (the official U.S. Olympic uniform: denim pants and skirts, plaid shirts, rawhide boots and white western hats), the athletes received gold-plated congressional medals on the west terrace of the Capitol. There, President Carter told them: "It is no exaggeration...
...President's speech was received as coolly as his boycott. But none of the athletes disrupted the proceedings with demonstrations, as rumor suggested they might. Almost to a person, they seemed genuinely touched by the Olympic Committee's efforts to recognize them - and to lift their spirits. Renaldo Nehemiah, 21, the splendid sprinter from Scotch Plains, N.J., spoke for most everyone when he said: "With the people's appreciation, it's not a total loss...
...finishers all came in faster than Soviet Sergei Fesenko did in winning the gold medal. In both the 200 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, two Americans finished under the Moscow times. The performances were remark able considering that many of the swimmers eased up on their training when the boycott was announced. Jesse Vassallo, 18, of Mission Viejo, Calif, quit altogether for six weeks but managed to outclock his Moscow counterpart in the 400 individual medley...