Forty-one years ago today, on May 8, 1984 (April 8, 1984 lunar calendar), the Soviet Union announced a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics. On May 8, 1984, the Soviet National Olympic Committee announced that the Soviet Union would not send a delegation to the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The reason for this, the Soviet Olympic Committee explained, was the anticipation of anti-Soviet protests in Los Angeles that the United States would indulge. "There are people in the United States who are fomenting chauvinism and anti-Soviet hysteria," the Soviet Olympic Committee said. Other Soviet bloc countries, including Cuba and Vietnam, are also expected to participate in the boycott. The United States and 59 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.