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CNN 20: USSR Boycotts '84 Olympics, May 8, 1984

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN," the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics.

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MAYOR TOM BRADLEY, LOS ANGELES: It comes as a great surprise, and I am shocked because the United States government, the city of Los Angeles, the L.A. Olympic organizing committee, have all given assurances, repeatedly to the Soviets.

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FRED HICKMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Soviets said that there were some perceived threats against their athletes coming here to the United States, They boycotted, the East Germans followed suit, and the Bulgarians, and a few of the other Eastenr Bloc naitons.

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PETER UEBERROTH, CHAIRMAN, L.A. OLYMPIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: It appears that we're paying the price for 1980.

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HICKMAN: During those days, the tenor was, you know, the two big superpowers going at one another, along with the East Germans. It just didn't feel like a worldwide competition, either of those years in the summer games. Because nobody felt as though they going up against the best. It changed the whole Olympic picture as far as I am concerned. Without having that world competition, and without it not being free and clear of politics. Politics has no place in athletics. This is about the athlete.

The difference between Olympic sports, many of them, and regular sports is that, you know, you have one time in four years to go out and do what you can do, and show everybody that you're the best and compete against the best in the world. There were a lot of athletes who denied that access and denied that opportunity for political reasons. So that was a major, major change in the face of world athletic competition, at least on the summer Olympics.

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