They never got a chance to compete, but 461 Olympic athletes from the 1980 U.S. team were awarded gold medals Monday.
Not Olympic medals, but Congressional Gold Medals that were awarded to the athletes during the Carter administration but never officially recorded in the Congressional Record.
The U.S. Mint produced the medals, but financial constraints forced them to be gold-plated bronze medals instead of solid gold. Because of that difference, the Olympians never were officially documented as having received Congressional Gold Medals.
“This is long-overdue recognition for a group of Olympians who unfairly were denied the opportunity and honor of representing our country at the 1980 Games,” U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said.
The United States boycotted the 1980 Olympics to protest the Soviet Union’s military operation in Afghanistan. The Congressional Record from that year shows Congress intended to award the Congressional Gold Medals to the Olympians to record the sacrifice they made — having trained for Games in which they never would compete.
