Another view of 1980 Olympic Games boycott

International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz, a rowing bronze medalist in 1976, recounted her memories, and her lawsuit, against the United States Olympic Committee, over the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games.

In an open letter to Olympic supporters in the wake of the 40th anniversary of the Moscow Games, she drew a parallel with the postponement of the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

DeFrantz was also a lawyer and after the USOC voted to boycott the Summer Olympics in 1980 she realised the only chance for athletes was to sue.

"Forty years ago, I looked at April 12 as my date with destiny," she said in an open 

"As an IOC member and Olympian, I know how difficult this postponement is for the host city and certainly for the athletes training to compete in those Games.

"No one knows how adding a year to the quadrennial effort will affect athletes. I know that athletes will find some way to train. Although some may lose their chance to be known as Olympians," she said.

April 12, 1980, had changed her path in life.

"It was crushing for me to know that only 30 percent of the assembled delegates voted to support the athletes' right to compete. The others I called medical miracles because they could walk without a spine," she said.

'The others I called medical miracles because they could walk without a spine.'

"They knew that every athlete had found their own way to an Olympic sport and that we had to finance all our training. Not a penny of federal, state or local taxpayer funds supported the US athletes training with the goal of becoming a member of the 1980 US Olympic team."

DeFrantz's legal action proved unsuccessful, losing at both the district level and on appeal.

"During one of the administration's briefings held at the State Department, I asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David C. Jones, USAF, if our staying at home would save a least one life? His response was, 'No'."

The IOC had supported the 1980 Moscow Games as it had each host city. But documents from the Carter Presidential Library reveal the Carter Administration's wish was to destroy the IOC, she said.

"Much has changed in 40 years. Today, of the 15 members of the IOC Executive Board there are eight Olympians, four women and four men. Two of us [herself and president Thomas Bach] suffered through the political machinations of 1980 and we have firsthand knowledge of how that affected the rest of an athlete's life.

"I admire today's athletes and hope they will stay safe and healthy. Unlike 40 years ago, it is abundantly clear that through his postponement, countless lives will be saved," she said.