How Thatcher tried to stop Olympic hero Coe from winning gold in Moscow

[Fiona]

Papers reveal minister's secret plea to top athlete to back boycott

Sebastian Coe and his family came under concerted pressure from Margaret Thatcher's government to support her boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, according to newly released documents seen by the Guardian.

Lord Coe and Lord Moynihan, former members of Conservative governments and now the two most powerful men in British Olympic sport, defied Mrs Thatcher's campaign to stop British athletes competing in the Moscow games as a protest against what she called the "brutal" Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In January 1980, the US president, Jimmy Carter, proposed that the Moscow games should be moved, postponed or cancelled. The International Olympic Committee rejected this call, but the US tried to recruit other countries to join a boycott of the games. Amid mounting political controversy, 81 countries took part, while 62 stayed away. In what was seen as retaliation, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show how Douglas Hurd, then a junior Foreign Office minister and now Lord Hurd, held a secret meeting with Coe's father and manager, Peter, to urge his son to join the boycott. Mr Hurd's note of the meeting in April 1980 records that Coe senior spoke with "some bitterness ... he was naturally concerned about the degree of sacrifice which we are asking of athletes like his son ... Mr Coe said that he hoped that when it was all over the government would make an effort to repair the damage to sport in this country".

Mr Hurd replied that "sport had itself lost support in parliament by the British Olympic Association's decision to go to Moscow ... It was certainly in everyone's interest that fences should be mended when this affair was all over". He lamented: "I do not think that I had any success in altering his views ..."

Now chairman of the 2012 Olympic committee, Lord Coe told the Guardian: "I remember very clearly when my dad was asked to go and see Douglas Hurd. In the nicest possible way they were essentially saying to my father, 'Can you not keep your troublesome son quiet?'"

Lord Coe added: "My gut instinct was that there was an intellectual dishonesty about what we were trying to achieve. History proved us right of course, because four years later when we went to LA for the 1984 Olympics the Russians were still in Afghanistan, and the boycott had no impact."

He said the "clinching moment which hardened my resolve to go" was hearing Sir Denis Follows, chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), "a classic northern Tory, being described in the Commons as basically a dangerous communist". He argued that his decision to compete in 1980 played a crucial role in enabling him to campaign successfully for London to host the 2012 Olympics.

"In hindsight it was a good decision to go for all sorts of reasons. I don't think I would have been able to stand up in Singapore in front of the International Olympic Committee and say what I said with credibility if I had boycotted in 1980. I was able to say that Britain had sent a team to every winter and summer games. Had I not gone in 1980 it would certainly have been seized upon and exploited by rival cities." Lord Coe feels that he was not penalised by the Tory party for standing up to Mrs Thatcher, as she later appointed him to be vice-chairman of the Sports Council, and in the 1990s he became an MP, a ministerial aide and a government whip.

The Soviet invasion in December 1979 infuriated Mrs Thatcher, who argued: "It would be wrong for those people and countries which deplore aggression to cooperate in giving the Soviet Union the success it is seeking." But most British athletes ignored her and went to compete in Moscow. The then sports minister, Hector Monro, wrote privately to Mr Hurd to say that most athletes "believe they are being singled out by the politicians as a means of attacking the Soviet Union whilst those same politicians permit the business of trade and commerce to continue as usual". Another vocal opponent of the boycott was Colin Moynihan, former Olympic rowing cox and now chairman of the BOA. Lord Moynihan, who was later appointed sports minister by Mrs Thatcher, met Mr Hurd as part of a delegation in 1980. According to the minutes, Moynihan said most oarsmen disagreed with the decision of their sporting body, the Amateur Rowing Association, to boycott the games, a stance later reversed.

In a postmortem, the Foreign Office concluded that it was "a pity most British athletes failed to follow government advice and boycott games". It suggested that some were "attracted by the prospects of glory in the absence of US or West German competition, but ... [Steve] Ovett, Coe, [Alan] Wells and [Daley] Thompson would probably have won medals anyway".

Britain came seventh in the medals table with 21, including five golds. In memorable contests, Coe won the 1500 metres, while his rival Ovett took the 800 metres. The other golds were Alan Wells (100 metres), Daley Thompson (decathlon), and Duncan Goodhew (100 metres breaststroke). Colin Moynihan coxed Britain's rowing eight to a silver medal.

guardian.co.uk