Editing Summer Olympic Games (section)

===End of the 20th century===
Following the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Japan, [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|boycotted]] the [[1980 Summer Olympics|1980 Games]] held in Moscow. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games – the smallest number since 1956. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.

According to British journalist [[Andrew Jennings]], a [[KGB]] colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the IOC to undermine [[doping test]]s and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with [these] tremendous efforts".<ref name=DG2011>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E6QIYvAQMDUC|title= Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the Politics of Doping|first= Thomas M.|last= Hunt|year= 2011|publisher= University of Texas Press|isbn= 978-0-292-72328-3|page= 66 }}</ref> On the topic of the [[1980 Summer Olympics]], an Australian study in 1989 said "There is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner, who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might as well have been called the Chemists' Games."<ref name= DG2011/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/the-1980-moscow-olympics-rank-as-the-cleanest-in-history-athletes-recall-how-the-u-s-s-r-cheated-the-system-/30741567.html|title=The 1980 Olympics Are The 'Cleanest' In History. Athletes Recall How Moscow Cheated The System.|last1=Aleksandrov|first1=Alexei|last2=Aleksandrov|first2=Grebeniuk|last3=Runets|first3=Volodymyr|publisher=|date=22 July 2020|website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|access-date=26 December 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225193733/https://www.rferl.org/a/the-1980-moscow-olympics-rank-as-the-cleanest-in-history-athletes-recall-how-the-u-s-s-r-cheated-the-system-/30741567.html}}</ref>

Documents obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in Los Angeles. Dated prior to the country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the programme, along with suggestions for further enhancements.<ref name=NYT160813>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html|title=The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics|last=Ruiz|first=Rebecca R.|date= 13 August 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=3 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-date=1 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901184700/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html}}</ref> The communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field, was prepared by Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture. Portugalov was also one of the main figures involved in the implementation of the Russian doping programme prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.<ref name=NYT160813/>

In 1984, the Soviet Union and [[Eastern Bloc|13 Soviet allies]] retaliated by [[1984 Summer Olympics boycott|boycotting]] the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in Los Angeles. [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], notably are the only two countries from the Eastern Bloc that did attend the 1984 Olympics. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. Although a boycott led by the Soviet Union depleted the field in certain sports, 140 National Olympic Committees took part, which was a record at the time.<ref name=Games1984/> The Games were also the first time mainland China (People's Republic) participated.

The [[1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Games]], in Seoul, was very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner [[Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter)|Ben Johnson]], failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.

The [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Barcelona Games]] featured the admittance of players from one of the North American top leagues, the [[NBA]], exemplified by but not limited to US basketball's "[[1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team|Dream Team]]". The 1992 games also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been [[Occupation of the Baltic states|annexed into the Soviet Union]] during World War II. At these games, gymnast [[Vitaly Scherbo]] set an inaugural medal record of five individual gold medals at a Summer Olympics, and equaled the inaugural record set by [[Eric Heiden]] at the [[1980 Winter Olympics]].

By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had become a commercial concern; there were widespread allegations of corruption potentially affecting the IOC's decision process.

At the Atlanta [[1996 Summer Olympics]], the highlight was [[200 meters]] runner [[Michael Johnson (sprinter)|Michael Johnson]] annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savoured [[Donovan Bailey]]'s recording gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by [[Parkinson's disease]], lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place in the basketball arena. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a [[Centennial Olympic Park bombing|bomb exploded]] during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, [[Eric Robert Rudolph]], was arrested.

[[File:2000 Sydney Women's long jump final.jpg|thumb|The [[2000 Summer Olympics]] in Sydney, Australia, were known as the "Games of the New Millennium".]]

The [[2000 Summer Olympics]], held in Sydney, Australia, showcased individual performances by locals favorites [[Ian Thorpe]] in the pool and [[Cathy Freeman]], an [[Indigenous Australian]] whose triumph in the [[400 meters]] united a packed stadium., Briton [[Steve Redgrave]] who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and [[Eric Moussambani|Eric "the Eel" Moussambani]], a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, received wide media coverage when he completed the 100 meter freestyle swim in by far the slowest time in Olympic history. He nevertheless won the heat as both his opponents had been disqualified for false starts. His female compatriot [[Paula Barila Bolopa]] also received media attention for her record-slow and struggling but courageous performance. The Sydney Games also saw the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent at the opening ceremonies, though they competed in all events as different teams. Controversy occurred in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics when the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All-Around Competition.