Editing 1980 Winter Olympics (section)

=== International political context ===
The Lake Placid Games took place in the shadow of the [[Cold War]] with a number of other complex international events occurring in the lead up to the games. In November 1979, [[Iranian hostage crisis|Sixty-two Americans were taken hostage]] at the United States Embassy in [[Tehran]] by Iranian militants, a situation that would not resolve until after the Games.<ref name = "Wilson p. 376">{{harvsp|Wilson|2004|p=376}}</ref> In December 1979, the Soviet Union began the [[Soviet–Afghan War|invasion of Afghanistan]], which led to United States President [[Jimmy Carter]] calling for the international boycott of the [[1980 Summer Olympics|1980 Summer Games]] in Moscow.<ref name = "Wilson p. 376"/> The [[Western Bloc|Western]] governments first considered the idea of boycotting the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics in response to the [[Soviet–Afghan War|situation in Afghanistan]] at the 20 December 1979 meeting of NATO representatives. The idea was not completely new to the world: in the mid-1970s, proposals for an Olympic boycott circulated widely among human rights activists and groups as a sanction for [[Human rights in the Soviet Union|Soviet violations of human rights]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tulli |first1=Umberto |title=Bringing Human Rights In: The Campaign Against the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and the Origins of the Nexus Between Human Rights and the Olympic Games |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |date=November 2016 |volume=33 |issue=16 |pages=2026–2045|s2cid=149105604|doi=10.1080/09523367.2017.1315104}}</ref> At that time, very few member governments expressed interest in the proposal. However, this idea gained popularity in early January 1980 when Soviet nuclear scientist and dissident [[Andrei Sakharov]] called for a boycott. On 14 January 1980, the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter Administration]] joined Sakharov's appeal and set a deadline by which the Soviet Union must pull out of Afghanistan or face the consequences, including an international [[boycott]] of the games. On 26 January 1980, [[List of Prime Ministers of Canada|Canadian Prime Minister]] [[Joe Clark]] announced that Canada, like the US, would boycott the Olympic Games if Soviet forces did not leave Afghanistan by 20 February 1980.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historicacanada.ca/on_this_day/canada-boycotts-olympics|title=Historica Canada|website=www.historicacanada.ca|access-date=February 7, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220124143/https://www.historicacanada.ca/on_this_day/canada-boycotts-olympics|url-status=dead}}</ref> Carter also proposed moving the Olympics to [[Greece]] on a permanent basis to eliminate the issue of politicisation of the Games' hosting, but the [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC) rejected this idea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Treadaway |first=Dan |date=August 5, 1996 |title=Carter stresses role of Olympics in promoting global harmony |url=https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1996/August/ERaug.5/8_5_96carter.html |journal=Emory Report |volume=48| issue = 37}}</ref> Ultimately, 66 nations would [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics]], but this did not impact the Lake Placid Games.

Another ongoing international situation was the conflict between [[People's Republic of China]] and [[Taiwan]]. Taiwan competed under the name of "Republic of China" and with its national flag until the 1976 Winter Games. In October 1979, the International Olympic Committee recognized the Olympic Committee of the People's Republic of China after threats from China to withdraw from the Games, and forced Taiwan to take the name "Chinese Taipei" and to adopt a new flag for the 1980 Games.<ref name = "Wilson p. 376"/> The decision was appealed to Swiss court, and was upheld on January 15, 1980.<ref name = "Wilson p. 376"/> The Taiwanese delegation refused to comply with the IOC's decision and arrived at the Olympic Village with the same flag and the same name as before. After being refused entry, the Taiwan team canceled their participation in the Games.<ref name = "Wilson p. 376"/> The People's Republic of China, which threatened to withdraw if Taiwan participated under the name of "Republic of China", took part in its first Olympic Games since 1952 and the first Winter Games in its history.<ref name="Wilson p. 376"/><ref name = sr>{{cite web | url = https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1980/ | title = 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games | work = sports-reference.com | access-date = September 20, 2014 | archive-date = April 17, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200417042617/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1980/ | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name = "Radio Canada">{{cite web | url = http://ici.radio-canada.ca/allosaltlake/olympiques/historique/1980.asp | title = Lake Placid 1980 | publisher = [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|Radio Canada]] | access-date= September 23, 2014}}</ref>