#1790 – 1979 10c 1980 Summer Olympic Games
camera Mint Plate Block of 12
1979 10¢ Summer Olympic Games
City: Olympia, Washington
U.S. #1790 is one of the many stamps issued during 1979 and 1980 to salute the 1980 Olympic Games. The 10¢ denomination met the domestic rate for mailing post cards.
On July 19, 1980, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Moscow, Soviet Union. They were the first Olympics to be held in Eastern Europe.
Moscow was selected as the host city for these games in 1974, beating out Los Angeles by 19 votes. The games would only include 80 nations, the smallest number since 1956, as a result of protests led by US President Jimmy Carter.
In late December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and began nearly 10 years of fighting between the two countries. The invasion was sparked by a Soviet desire to keep communist leaders in power in Afghanistan. In response, US President Jimmy Carter denounced the Soviet Union's actions and gave a State of the Union address to America promising to keep Middle East oil supplies safe from Soviet influence.
Carter also imposed economic sanctions, a trade embargo, and led a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Eventually, 65 other countries joined in the boycott as well. In spite of this, athletes from some of those nations still participated, playing under the Olympic Flag.
Many of the boycotting countries attended the Liberty Bell Classic (commonly called the "Olympic Boycott Games") in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, instead. Four years later, the Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, California, and the Soviet Union and its allies boycotted them in response to the 1980 boycott.
In spite of the controversy surrounding the games in Moscow, they went ahead as planned, opening on July 19, 1980. The opening ceremony included a parade of Greek chariots and a series of artistic performances. Among these performances were a dance suite of the traditional dances of the 15 Soviet republics, a gymnastics display, and a children's performance.
In all, 5,179 athletes (4,064 men and 1,115 women) from 80 nations participated in 203 events in 21 sports during the games. A total of 21% of the competitors were female, the highest percentage up to that point. And the total of 203 events was the most up to that time in Olympic history.
More records were set than at the Montreal Olympics, with 36 World records, 39 European records, and 74 Olympic records. Throughout the games, new Olympic records were set 241 times and world records were beaten 97 times.
Seven nations made their first Olympic appearances: Angola, Botswana, Laos, Jordan, Seychelles, Mozambique, and Cyprus. Additionally, Zimbabwe made its first appearance under its new name, having previously competed as Rhodesia.
The games came to an end on August 3. In all, Russia won the most medals with 195, of which 80 were gold.
The US 1980 Olympic Games Stamps
In late 1979, the USPS issued several stamps and postal items in anticipation of the Olympics, mere months before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. After that invasion and President Jimmy Carter's call to boycott the games, the stamps were removed from sale. That quickly drove up demand for the stamps. Dealers were paying up to seven times the face value of the stamps. The day after the games ended, the USPS suddenly made all the stamps available through the philatelic Bureau. They stated it was to honor "the fine men and women of the US Olympic team who [had] sacrificed months and years of training."
#YS1970-79
1970s Commemoratives, 321 stamps
1979 15c Special Olympics
1979 15c John Paul Jones
1979 15c 22nd Summer Olympic Games
1979 15c Seeing Eye Dogs
1978 13c Performing Arts: Jimmie Rodgers
1979 15c Endangered Flora
1979 15c American Architecture
1979 15c Albert Einstein
1979 15c Pennsylvania Toleware
1979 15c Literary Arts: John Steinbeck
1980 15c 13th Winter Olympic Games
1979 15c International Year of the Child
1979 15c Vietnam Veterans
1978 13c Early Cancer Detection
1979 15c Performing Arts: Will Rogers
1979 15c Black Heritage: Martin Luther King Jr.
1979 15c Robert F. Kennedy
1979 15c Traditional Christmas: Virgin and Child
1979 15c Contemporary Christmas: Santa Ornament
1978 13c French Alliance