The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved nineteen countries: fifteen from the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, which initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984; and four non‑aligned countries which boycotted on their own initiatives. The boycotting countries organized alternative sporting events which functioned as a replacement for the Olympics in everything but name, called the Friendship Games, which were held in various Eastern Bloc countries from July to September of 1984. Although the boycott affected Olympic events that were normally dominated by the absent countries, 140 nations still took part in the Los Angeles Games, which was a record at the time.
Since the announcement by U.S. President Carter of the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, there was fear from United States officials that a reciprocal boycott could occur during the 1984 Games, scheduled for Los Angeles. The Soviets for their part gave sparsely few indications that this would happen, and indeed, from formalized talks which occurred over the course of three years, indicators seemed to point towards Soviet participation. Only in the last year before the Games began did a sense of non-participation come about.
