Cold War Olympics, boycott, Misa, dozens of records, Greek medals. An event that speaks of peace when the troops of the host country are in Afghanistan. The event that brought innovation to the Olympic Games was called the “doping event”, but today it is a reference point, as it taught the leaders of the Olympic movement a lot.

The hard way to the opening ceremony

In December 1979, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan. On January 20, 1980, US President Jimmy Carter, in a letter to the International Olympic Committee, raised the issue of the safety of athletes and spectators and proposed not to hold the 22nd Games in Moscow, but IOC President Lord Killanin replied that something like that was impossible. The U.S. Olympic Committee decided to boycott the event, a decision supported by many countries in the Western world and, together with the United States, decided not to send athletes to the Moscow Olympics. Some countries such as Great Britain, Australia, Portugal, France, etc. did not participate with their flags, but allowed their athletes to participate, who paraded with the Olympic flag or the flag of the Olympic Committees, while those who won gold medals heard Olympic anthem. On the contrary, the USA, Canada, West Germany, China, Japan, etc. they were far away. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of 80 countries. Among them was Greece with 41 athletes and a woman, while Cyprus participated for the first time as an independent state.

The Soviet Union invested heavily in this event to showcase its achievements to a global audience. New stadiums, roads, training bases, hotels, and even an airport (Sheremetyevo-2) were built. The streets of Moscow were paved, trees were planted, flags were erected, the mascot of the Games Misha was painted on the walls.
Most of the sports were held in Moscow and some outside of Moscow, such as cycling (Minsk), football qualifiers (Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk) and sailing (Tallinn). The opening of the Games was announced by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, and cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin wished good luck from space live. “Through the windows we see the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Greece and Moscow, where the Olympic movement is concentrated today. Let people compete only in sports sections,” they said, among other things.

Migiakis, “Leningrad Express” and “Sokhumi Kangaroo”

The standard-bearer of the Greek mission was the sailor Ilias Hatsipavlis. On the Greek side, the protagonist was Stelios Mygiakis, who won the gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling (62 kg). The Solinga sailing team (Aristidis Rapanakis, Tasos Butouris and Tasos Gavrilis) and the freestyle wrestler Giorgos Chatioannidis won bronze medals.

“The Moscow Olympics were one of the best in history, and of course, I only compare them with those I have been to. At the opening ceremony, they also paid tribute to Greece and its Olympic history. There were guards everywhere. I remember when I was fighting for the semi-finals, I paid tribute to Galaktopoulos. By the time I finished the race the coach was gone and with him Galaktopoulos with my accreditation. Then, without accreditation, I could not enter the Olympic village. We were escorted everywhere, even from the locker room to the gym,” says Stelios Mygiakis “K”.

At the international level, the Soviet Vladimir Salnikov stood out. “Leningradsky Express” July 22, 1980 became the first swimmer to “overcome” the 15-minute barrier at a distance of 1500 m, finishing in 14΄58΄΄27. In total, the “king of the pool” collected three gold medals (1500, 400, 4×200). “Boxing master” Teofilo Stevenson completed his Olympic career in Moscow. The Cuban became the first boxer with three Olympic gold medals and, in fact, in the same weight category (+81 kg). With his amazing right hand, he left no room for his opponents and climbed to the first place of the podium.

The story was also written by Alexander Dityatin. The instrumentalist of the USSR became the first athlete to win eight medals in one Olympic event (3-4-1). He also became the first male gymnast to receive an “excellent ten” from the judges.

The career of the amazing triple jumper Viktor Saneev ended at the Luzhniki Stadium (then Lenin). “Kangaroo from Sukhumi” was already a three-time Olympic champion, but the leadership of the USSR wanted the “gold” to go to their chosen one Yak Udmaya from Estonia. According to official figures, Udmae jumped in 17.35 and Sanegev in 17.24. However, Australian athlete Ian Campbell claimed that the results were falsified and actually showed Udmaya Saneev during the awards ceremony and told him that he was a “gold” Olympic medalist. Saneev himself, in an interview he gave in 2001 to Kathimerini, avoided talking about this topic.

The event set 36 world records, 39 European and 74 Olympic records. Most medals were won by Soviet (195) and East German (126) athletes. No athlete tested positive for banned substances, but it was later revealed that there was use of testosterone and other substances that were not detected by tests at the time. The KGB officers also allegedly played their part in concealing information. The games were watched by 5,000,000 spectators.

Misha, the talisman that eclipsed everyone

Since 1972, every Olympic competition has had its own mascot. The Soviets chose the brown bear Misha. With a big smile on his face, with an Olympic torch in his hand and a belt with Olympic circles, he is still considered the most successful talisman today, a talisman that touched the hearts of millions of people. It was the first talisman to be printed on a postage stamp and is still featured on soft toys and souvenirs.

Misha was created by Russian illustrator Viktor Chizhikov. The Soviet government, as he later stated in an interview, did not recognize his copyright and rewarded him with a meager amount. Indeed, at the end of the Games, the rulers declared that “the creator of Misha was the Soviet people.”

At the closing ceremony (August 3, 1980), a large effigy of the talisman stood in the center of Luzhniki. The ceremony included a spectacle of dance and music. International Olympic Committee President Lord Killanin urged athletes to keep the peace and compete in Los Angeles before the Olympic idea collapses. When the brilliant event ended, a tear rolled down Misha’s face, and with the help of thousands of balloons, he “flew” into the sky, saying goodbye to the event, the athletes and 100,000 spectators who were at the stadium in such a spectacular way. . The opening and closing ceremonies were shown in Yuri Ozerov’s film “Oh, sport, you are the world” (1981). Ozerov headed the artistic committee of the Moscow Games and made a series of documentaries dedicated to the Games.

Organization in numbers

At the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow:
• 80 countries participated, 5,179 athletes (4,064 men, 1,115 women).
• Athletes
from fifteen countries marched with the Olympic flag.
• Set 36 world records, 39 European and 74 Olympic.
• 97 world records have been broken.
• The Greek team won one gold medal (Greco-Roman wrestling) and two bronze medals (freestyle wrestling, Soling sailing).
• No athlete tested positive for banned substances in 9,292 tests, but they were called “Chemistry Games”.
• The event saw the first recorded “blood doping” when Finn Kaarlo Maanike, he would later say, received a blood transfusion to increase his red blood cell count. Of course, at that time it was not forbidden.
• The event was attended by 5,000,000 spectators, 1,500,000 more than Montreal in 1976. Almost 4,000,000 tickets were purchased by citizens of the Soviet Union.
• There were 1,275 judges, referees, etc. from 78 countries.
• Total expenditures reported by the USSR Olympic Committee to the IOC were $1,350,000,000 and revenues were $231,000,000.

Editor: Evantis Chatsivasiliou