Mosca 1980

The invasion of Afghanistan by the Red Army, which took place in December 1979, was the opportunity for the Carter administration to call for the USA's friends and allies to boycott the Olympics. The decision was not shared by many Western countries at the World's greatest sporting event. Absent, together with the United States, were Canada, West Germany, Japan, China, Norway and Kenya. In the end there were about 65 nations that refused to go to Moscow. Italian participation was a very difficult decision passionately supported by CONI, despite the government's recommendation not to: the Italian team, missing athletes who at that time had a military status, marched into Lenin stadium under the emblem of CONI, without the tricolour and the standard bearer.