Australia's 1980 Moscow Olympians ‘labeled as traitors'. Now they're finally being recognised

The Guardian

2 days ago

Australian Olympians who were called traitors and faced death threats will be recognised by the prime minister, 45 years after they defied the government and competed in the controversial 1980 Moscow Games.
The team of 96 men and 25 women went to the Soviet Union-hosted Games in the face of the Australian government's support for a US-led boycott over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
Australia won two gold medals, two silver and five bronze at the Games but the athletes did not receive the welcoming reception typically granted to Olympians upon their return.
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Lobbying from team members and the Australian Olympic Committee has now secured Anthony Albanese's agreement to acknowledge athlete's participation and subsequent treatment in a parliamentary address.
Peter Hadfield, a decathlete at the Moscow Games, said the team felt abandoned by the Australian public after the government, led by Malcolm Fraser, called for athletes to avoid attending.
'Young athletes, people in their teens and early 20s, were either directly receiving death threats or being labeled as traitors,' he said.
'There's a fair bit of emotional hurt every time the Games comes around – it's a reminder every four years about that lack of recognition.'
The athletes' experience was a far cry from that of the 2024 Olympians returning from Paris, who received a heroes' welcome from crowds of fans when they landed in Sydney.
The 1980 team will receive the first formal acknowledgment of their participation and pain when prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and opposition leader, Sussan Ley, address parliament on 30 July.
Nearly 40 of the Olympians are expected to attend with their families, though some have died and others declined invitations due to the ongoing anguish, Hadfield said.
'We were hoping that recognition would help to heal some of those mental scars, and I'm sure it will, but there are some that still couldn't bring themselves,' he said.
'There was a young swimmer in the team who just said, 'I'm just not completely over the whole situation, so sorry, I won't be able to attend'. This is 45 years later. That's how strongly it's been felt.'
Australia was among 80 nations to participate in the Moscow Games, alongside Great Britain, Ireland, France and New Zealand, while US president Jimmy Carter's call for a boycott saw 59 countries withdraw.
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Public pressure saw Australia's hockey and equestrian team withdraw and other athletes step down, while the final team barely had the Olympic governing body's support, after five of its 11 board members voted against attending.
The Olympians felt betrayed by the Fraser government singling them out as a diplomatic weapon despite Australia's continued trade and cultural ties with the Soviet government, Hadfield said.
'We were the only people being asked to make a sacrifice to show Australia's revulsion across the Soviet Union's invasion … Their hypocrisy hurt a lot.'
'We basically had to sneak out of the country, like thieves in the night: we were told don't wear uniform, we went out in small groups, there was no media event, there was no applause.'
The federal government recognition, announced on the 45th anniversary of the 1980 Olympics' opening ceremony, is the result of a year of lobbying from athletes and the AOC.
Hadfield said he and fellow athletes Michelle Ford and Max Metzker worked to gain the AOC's support for recognition, after the 1980 team's 2024 reunion before the Paris Olympics.
Mark Arbib, a former Labor sports minister who was appointed chief executive of the AOC in April, helped secure government support for recognition.