Possible Sochi boycott steams local 1980 Olympian

The 2014 Winter Olympics, along with Russian vodka, are facing calls for boycott due to the country’s treatment of gay people. But U.S. Olympic athletes who had their dreams of competing taken away in 1980 during the boycott of the Soviet Union say don’t even think about it.

Jan Harville was at the top of her game in 1980 as she prepared to row for the U.S. in Moscow. The Seattle native and University of Washington rower had spent years dedicating her life and her finances to fuel her Olympic dream, only to have politics get in the way because the U.S. didn’t like the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

“That opportunity got taken away from me and my teammates,” she said. “We didn’t get to race against the best in the world, and I still feel that was unfair and was uncalled for. It really made a lot of difference in Afghanistan, didn’t it?”

Of the nearly 500 U.S. Olympic team members in 1980, about half never made another Olympic team. Those Moscow games were their only shot.

Harville made the Olympic team in 1984, but after the boycott and being used as a political pawn, her heart just wasn’t in it. She finished fourth in her event. To hear that a boycott is even being considered by some again for political reasons, Harville said, it just doesn’t make sense.

“We’re really messing with a lot of athletes and a lot of people and a lot of money that’s being put into things by those individuals, not to mention their hopes and their dreams and their efforts,” she said. “I think that’s a huge mistake.”

Harville is no fan of Russia’s politics or its treatment of gay people, but she said an Olympic boycott is not the answer. “I just hope that they don’t mess this up.”

Harville went on to a Hall of Fame coaching career at the University of Washington, leading Husky teams to titles and national teams to medals around the world, but she is still bitter about that lost opportunity in Moscow.

“We were pretty much pissed off,” she said. “We just wanted to race.”

There are hundreds of skiers and skaters and other Olympic hopefuls training today for their shot in Sochi that are hoping they won’t have to live a lifetime of “what if’s,” like Harville has, if they’re forced to miss their shot for political reasons.

Their voices are being heard. Washington Congressman Adam Smith originally called for a boycott but told KIRO Radio’s Morning News that after hearing stories like Harville’s and others he’s pulling back on the boycott idea. He said he’s most concerned with keeping gay U.S. athletes safe when they compete in the games in Russia.