1980 Olympic Boycott

Three Villanova runners were to compete at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Eamonn Coghlan ran the 5000 meters in that Olympiad, finishing fourth. The two Americans -- Dick Buerkle and Don Paige -- stayed home with the rest of Team USA as President Jimmy Carter issued a boycott of the Games in response to the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But Carter did throw a bone to the 1980 American team: he invited them to a picnic on the White House lawn. Below are two photos from that White House event: Dick Buerkle and his wife and baby in the first, and Don Paige and his parents in the second. Interestingly, Don Paige finished that 1980 olympic year ranked #1 in the world at 800 meters (the Brit Sebestain Coe lost an 800 race only 4 times between 1978 and 1984, but he lost two of those four in 1980: to Steve Ovett in the Moscow final and to Don Paige in Viareggio, Italy. Controversially, Track & Field News ranked Don Paige #1 that year, ahead of Ovett and Coe).