Not least because of Sergei Pavlov, the ambitious chairman of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the USSR Council of Ministers. He wanted the Soviet Union to become the first socialist country to host the Games. Although few believed in the success of this idea, already in 1969, Moscow was nominated as a candidate for hosting the 1976 Olympics.
And then, the unexpected happened: in the first round, the Soviet capital beat its competitors - Montreal and Los Angeles. And, although the Soviet Union still lost to Canada in the next stage of voting, a start had been made. In 1973, Moscow was again nominated as the host of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Vitaly Sozinov / TASS
The Committee for Physical Culture and Sport organized a large-scale tour of the USSR for sports observers from 15 countries, during which they were introduced not only to the sights, but also to the sports infrastructure and even organized interviews with the most famous Soviet athletes. “I must state without any reservations that the Russians have much better sports facilities and equipment than the other Olympic candidate, Los Angeles,” wrote a ‘Daily Telegraph’correspondent.
In the Fall of 1974, it became known in Vienna that, for the first time in history, an Eastern European country would host the Olympics and Moscow would be the venue of the 1980 Summer Games. Athletes from 80 countries came to the Soviet Union, although more than 60 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany and China boycotted the Olympics.
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