Today marks the end of the 2012 Summer Olympics. With the closing ceremonies, fans and patriots across the world will celebrate their respective country’s representatives as the most athletic and adept competitors. Nations and athletes everywhere will cite the day as the one before their 4-year training regimen begins in an eager attempt to, one day, have a golden amulet – not silver, not bronze – hung from their necks in Rio de Janeiro.
But not everyone gets to cash in on all of the blood, sweat, and tears. Some people spend endless hours and countless days training for their event, only for their country to end up on the sidelines. Whether for political, philosophical, or profitable reasons, some countries decide to boycott the esteemed games, or are coldly banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Here is a list of boycotts and bans of the Summer Olympic Games.
Bans
1920- Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, and Turkey were not invited to the Olympics because they were the successor states to the Central Powers during World War I.
1924- Germany is still excluded because of their spearheading WWI.
1948- Again Germany is barred from the games but this time along with Japan because of their status as Axis Powers during World War I. Both countries are prohibited until 1956.
1964- Indonesia and North Korea come under pressure to withdraw from the Games because some athletes participated in the New Emerging Forces Games in Jakarta in 1963, rendering them unqualified. South Africa is suspended from the Games until the ‘92 Games in Barcelona because of their practice of Apartheid.
1972- Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is banned because a majority of African nations threatened to boycott if Rhodesia wasn’t barred. Rhodesia was controlled by a white minority government and was classified by many as an unrecognized state.
Boycotts
1936- Spain boycotts the ‘36 Games in Berlin because of their discontent with the rising Nazi Party. Hitler planned to use the Games as a showcase for Aryan superiority, and although the Germans won the medal count, Hitler was shown up by the likes of gold medalist Jesse Owens.
1956- In response to the Suez Crisis, boycotts are exercised by Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon. The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution. The People’s Republic of China boycotts to protest the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) competing under the name “Formosa”
1976- Tanzania leads 22 African nations in a boycott because the New Zealand rugby team toured then-apartheid-ruled South Africa. The People’s Republic of China continues their boycott in hopes of being recognized by the IOC as the sole representative of China.
1980- During the height of the Cold War, the United States led a boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In all, 63 countries failed to participate; some following the lead of the USA, others thought by many were unable to bear the financial burden of the Games and hid behind a boycott to avoid embarrassment.
1984- USSR boycotts the games in L.A. in response to the USA’s boycott of the Moscow games four years previous. 14 Eastern bloc allies follow suit.
1988- North Korea boycotts the games in sworn enemy South Korea’s capital of Seoul. They were supported in the boycott by allies Cuba, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Albania, Madagascar, and Seychelles.
