Olympic Blames

It was the Cold War Era and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did what they did best- spied and reported back to the US Government on all and anything involving the USSR. 

In early December 1979 a dossier was presented specifically on the preparations by the Soviets ahead of the Olympic Games in the Summer of the following year. It begrudgingly acknowledged that Moscow had made considerable efforts to win the bid and that it would represent a major showcase event. 

There was speculation by the analysts that the facilities and infrastructure would struggle to be completed in time for the Opening Ceremony. Almost all had been built for the Olympics under a project purported to have cost $9 billion (roughly $26 billion today). 

The wide ranging scope of the report also gave comment and opinion on how the massive costs would be financed, the dependence on non-Eastern Bloc countries for technology and specialisms, the organisational framework and also how the Soviets would act and be perceived as hosts to the global influx of Athletes, tourists and media. 

It was to be Moscow’s moment to shine. 

The date of the report was significant as within a couple of weeks of its Confidential circulation the military forces of the USSR invaded Afghanistan and all of the preparation and investment was as quickly undone by geo-politics: 

65 countries, led by the United States, boycotted the Games in protest of the invasion of another sovereign nation. In partial support of the American-led boycott the UK government allowed its athletes to choose whether to compete but only a few athletes chose to stay away. There was a token GB boycott of the opening ceremony, the Olympic flag was raised for the British medal winners and the Olympic anthem played for the five gold medallists.

Cynics said that it was a calculated participation by Great Britain with many key competitors and medal contenders being absent leaving the field, track, hall and pool open for a serious attempt at winning medals. 

Despite the boycott, the Games generally were deemed a success. 

The Soviet economy did later falter and the communist superpower collapsed just 11 years after being in the world spotlight. How much the financial burden of hosting the Games contributed to the eventual demise of the USSR was touched upon by the CIA as a matter of speculation.

There was a great cartoon in the satirical Punch Magazine in the UK showing two chubby, unshaven and beer drinking Russian athletes, kitted out on the stadium track with the caption "To be frank, we didn't think anybody would turn up".

I remember watching the BBC TV coverage of the Moscow Olympics at the age of 16. I was quite sporty myself, a bit of a sprinter and keen on the 800 metres but the event that really caught my attention was the Javelin competition.

Because of the depleted attendance from the boycott the 18 competitors took part in one qualifying group. This was staged on July 26th 1980, with the automatic qualifying mark set at 80.00 metres (262.47 ft).

In rainy conditions several favourites had difficulties getting through. All three Soviet throwers and Hungary's defending champion Nemeth reached the automatic qualifying mark (80.00 m) in the first round, but the other Hungarian, Paragi, who had broken the world record earlier in 1980, only got a good throw in the third and final qualification round and East Germany's Detlef Michel, who was one of those expected to do so and would win the World Championship in 1983, failed to qualify. 

In fact only 10 participants attained the qualifying standard and so two Detlef Fuhrmann and Stefan Stoykov although not reaching the mark were drafted in to make up the required twelve finalists^.. The final took place on the following day.

Best expectations in the final were Paragi, three Soviets and East Germany's Wolfgang Hanisch, a three-time medalist at European Championships. Hanisch was an early leader after throwing 86.72 m in the first round, closely followed by two of the Soviets, Heino Puuste and Makarov, and Finland's Antero Puranen. 

Paragi had problems with his technique and failed to get a good throw, and the third Soviet thrower, Dainis Kūla, had no valid mark after two rounds.

In the third round Paragi got his best throw, 79.52 m, but it wasn't enough to move him to the top eight that would qualify for rounds four to six.

Dainis Kūla's third throw immediately became controversial as it landed almost completely flat (rather than point first), and a flat throw should have been ruled illegal. It was at this point that it appeared that the Soviet Officials were showing bias towards their own countrymen as no sanction for a foul throw was taken. Had that ruling been made, Kūla would have been out of the last three rounds. It was also claimed the throw's distance had been exaggerated at 88.88m with the actual distance being around 87 m.

Flat or ambiguously flat throws were not uncommon with the old javelin designs then used, nor were "generous" judgments by officials. Kūla's case, however, gained much notoriety as it not only secured him Olympic gold, but was seen as being a wider pattern of Soviet officials favouring their own athletes throughout the 1980 Games.

In round four Kūla improved further to 91.20 m, the eventual winning distance. Makarov got his best throws in rounds five and six and took silver ahead of Hanisch

I found the competition fascinating but sadly my abiding memory is about the further and most enduring controversy surrounding Soviet officials who reputedly opened the stadium's outer gates when Soviet athletes were throwing, letting more wind in to aid the throws.

In Finland (which had three athletes in the final), the gate issue spurred much discussion and lived on in public memory for a long time. In a bit of a sarcastic protest Kūla was greeted with shouts of "open the gates!" when he competed in the 1983 World Championships in the Finnish capital, Helsinki and when the 2013 World Championships were held in Moscow the gate controversy again became a talking point.

At the time there were arguments that the Javelin competition should have been voided by the IAAF and either held again at some future date, or removed from the Olympic records

However, no official complaints or protests were filed, and the original results were allowed to stand. 

I did see a bit of a footnote that scientists did actually carry out an experiment to see if a howling tail wind would be a benefit to a javelin's trajectory and range.

They concluded that it was in fact more of a hindrance for the aerodynamics of a steel javelin and so the whole controversy may just have been a bit of anti-Soviet propaganda by the interfering West. 

No doubt there is a CIA Report all about it somewhere in the archives.