Thirty-six years ago, on May 8, 1984, the Soviet Union announced its plans to back out of participating in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games that were to be held in Los Angeles that year.
Following suit, East Germany and Bulgaria announced on May 9 that they would not be sending teams to the Olympics in Los Angeles, and similar announcements were expected from other Soviet satellite countries.
The Soviet National Olympic Committee statement claimed that Soviet participation was impossible because of “the gross flouting” of Olympic ideals by the United States. In particular, the statement cited plans by groups to stage anti-Soviet demonstrations during the Games and the American refusal to ban such protests.