Painful memories of the 1980 Moscow Olympics

Thirty years ago this week, the 1980 Moscow Olympics were taking place without a U.S. team after President Carter, trying to force the Soviet Union to end its invasion of Afghanistan, decided to boycott the Games, a move that led more than 60 other countries not to send teams.

The decision remains a fresh wound to many of the U.S. athletes it affected.

One such athlete is Anita DeFrantz, whose outspoken opposition to the boycott catalyzed her election as an International Olympic Committee member in 1986. She has expressed her feelings in the form of a letter to her fellow 1980 Olympians.

To read DeFrantz's letter, check out the Globetrotting blog.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Anita DeFrantz in 2006. Credit: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times