Sport and Politics: The Olympic Games. Part 5

[David Flin]

@Pete U continues his look here at the intersection of sport at politics throughout the Modern Olympics.

 

[Charles EP M.]

"appointed by Bourassa himself" WOW

 

[Pete U]

"appointed by Bourassa himself" WOW

As I research the various Games, I am continually surprised about the little nuggets that turn up.

 

[Bonniecanuck]

Unsurprisingly, Eastern Bloc countries dominated, with the USSR winning 126 of the 242 Gold medals. Of the non-Olympic boycotting nations, only West Germany, Italy, and Japan won solitary Golds.

Even back then the Second World War jokes must have abounded.

Also one hilarious repercussion of the Eastern Bloc boycott of the LA Olympics was that McDonald's lost a lot of money on a promotion where they gave away free food if an American athlete mounted the podium, with free Big Macs for each gold medal. Because of the sheer number of Americans winning gold medals as a result of no Eastern Bloc competition, so many people were redeeming Big Macs that thousands of stores ran out.