(1980) Carter announces Moscow Olympics boycott Protesting the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, US President Jimmy Carter declares that the US won’t be participating in the upcoming Moscow Summer Olympics. In the end, 65 nations won’t participate in the games, but some will do so for economic, rather than political reasons. The USSR will respond in kind, snubbing the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, and other countries would later boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Countries that boycotted the 1980 Games are shaded blue wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics_boycott4.8.d17