Reagan attended the opening of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the first U.S. President to do so. The Soviet Union and several other Communist countries boycotted the Games in retaliation for Jimmy Carter’s partial boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Reagan’s presidency not only helped speed the end of the Cold War, but also marked the end of presidents giving the cold shoulder to the Olympics. During a two-day trip to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co. (paid for by his re-election campaign), the President, a former college swimmer, assured the American team that the Soviets “don’t want to be embarrassed by having revered athletes in their country come to this country and stay.” The games grossed $223 million, becoming “a model for future games”—and Reagan’s re-election campaign motto “America is back.”
A Brief History of U.S. Presidents and the Olympics
Mitt Romney is not the only politician with an Olympic past. From Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama, the biennial games have been a fixture in politics. As the 2012 Summer Olympics kick off in London, TIME looks back at how America's Presidents have handled the world's premier sporting event.