That Almost Apology for the 1980 Olympic Boycott Helps. A Little.

Scott, 64, who did not see the letter initially, said 1980 cost him a chance to learn how to handle Olympic competition, something he struggled with at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, where he finished 10th.

“I had my chances,” he said from his Texas home last week. “The guys I feel bad for are the ones who didn’t, the athletes for whom 1980 was their year.”

Don Paige had the world’s top time in the 800 meters in 1980. In 1984, he finished fifth at the U.S. Olympic trials, missing the team by two spots.

Fields, the high jumper, spent four years after his 1976 graduation from Seton Hall preparing for the 1980 Games. He was inches off the world record and thought he had a good chance to break it in Moscow and win a gold medal. He hoped to spin that fame into marketing opportunities.

Instead, he became one of more than 450 members of the American team to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed by Congress, at a ceremony held when the athletes should have been in Moscow preparing to compete. Because of financial restraints and the large number of medals needed, they were given gold-plated bronze medals.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/sports/olympics/1980-boycott.html