With a thorough exploration of the political climate of the time and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, this book describes the repercussions of Jimmy Carter's American boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Despite missing the games they had trained relentlessly to compete in, many U.S. athletes went on to achieve remarkable successes in sports and overcame the bitter disappointment of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity dashed by geopolitics.

This book relays the factual details of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boycott. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a Soviet athlete, a U.S. athlete, and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.