‘Don’t waste the moment’: Florida Olympic champion supports US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics – WESH 2 Orlando

One Florida Olympic champion says she's glad the upcoming games will not be a repeat of the boycott she experienced four decades ago.What athletes are really going for in the Olympic movement is not tons of money. It's immortality, Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar said. Being able to do something that nobody has ever done before. It is having a place in history! Hogshead-Makar had that shot at history in 1980. The world's top-ranked female swimmer preparing to go for gold in Moscow.The entire Olympic team was energized by the "Miracle on Ice" at the Winter Games when the U.S. ice hockey team defeated the dominant Soviets. But the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan two months earlier changed everything."The United States Olympic Committee voted to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, Jane Pauley said on national television. "I have notified the International Olympic Committee that with the Soviet invading forces in Afghanistan, neither the American people nor I will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow."You had people saying which was really tough for me being really excited about being an American that was representing our country in international competition that they were no longer proud to be an American, Hogshead-Makar said.Eight hundred athletes were grounded and Nancy's Olympic dreams faded. Moscow hosted the least-attended games in modern times and boycotted the 1984 games in Los Angeles.But Hogshead-Makar says the only ones who suffered were the athletes.What we all learned was that the United States and other countries you know boycotting the Olympics, did nothing, Hogshead-Makar said. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and it didn't get them out, did not save a single life, did not do anything.Hogshead-Makar finally reigned supreme in Los Angeles four years later, winning three golds and a silver, making her the most decorated athlete of those games.Fast forward to President Joe Biden's announcement this week of a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing games in opposition to human rights atrocities in China. Nancy supports the decision not to keep athletes at home and says athletes will now have a global stage to speak against China's treatment of its people.Yeah, I would want to go to those Olympics and use those Olympics as a platform to be able to highlight those abuses, Hogshead-Makar said. Dont waste the moment! Use it! To have a magnifying glass come on to all of the problems, she added. Nancy fully blames the International Olympic Committee for allowing the games to be played in Beijing and wants more U.S. pressure on the IOC to select host countries that respect human life, diversity and dignity.

One Florida Olympic champion says she's glad the upcoming games will not be a repeat of the boycott she experienced four decades ago.

What athletes are really going for in the Olympic movement is not tons of money. It's immortality, Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar said. Being able to do something that nobody has ever done before. It is having a place in history!

Hogshead-Makar had that shot at history in 1980. The world's top-ranked female swimmer preparing to go for gold in Moscow.

The entire Olympic team was energized by the "Miracle on Ice" at the Winter Games when the U.S. ice hockey team defeated the dominant Soviets.

But the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan two months earlier changed everything.

"The United States Olympic Committee voted to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, Jane Pauley said on national television. "I have notified the International Olympic Committee that with the Soviet invading forces in Afghanistan, neither the American people nor I will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow."

You had people saying which was really tough for me being really excited about being an American that was representing our country in international competition that they were no longer proud to be an American, Hogshead-Makar said.

Eight hundred athletes were grounded and Nancy's Olympic dreams faded.

Moscow hosted the least-attended games in modern times and boycotted the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

But Hogshead-Makar says the only ones who suffered were the athletes.

What we all learned was that the United States and other countries you know boycotting the Olympics, did nothing, Hogshead-Makar said. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and it didn't get them out, did not save a single life, did not do anything.

Hogshead-Makar finally reigned supreme in Los Angeles four years later, winning three golds and a silver, making her the most decorated athlete of those games.

Fast forward to President Joe Biden's announcement this week of a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing games in opposition to human rights atrocities in China.

Nancy supports the decision not to keep athletes at home and says athletes will now have a global stage to speak against China's treatment of its people.

Yeah, I would want to go to those Olympics and use those Olympics as a platform to be able to highlight those abuses, Hogshead-Makar said. Dont waste the moment! Use it!

To have a magnifying glass come on to all of the problems, she added.

Nancy fully blames the International Olympic Committee for allowing the games to be played in Beijing and wants more U.S. pressure on the IOC to select host countries that respect human life, diversity and dignity.

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'Don't waste the moment': Florida Olympic champion supports US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics - WESH 2 Orlando