How will other sports fill the vacuum as the isolation of Russia bites in the coming months?

In 1984, when the Soviet Union (USSR) and her Eastern Bloc allies declined to take part in the Los Angeles Olympics, they set up their own competition known as "Druzhba" or "Friendship 84".

These were described by Sovietsky Sport magazine as the "main event of the Olympic quadrennium".

The Americans had boycotted Moscow 1980 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The White House even refused permission for the Stars and Stripes to be flown at Moscow’s Closing Ceremony as part of the handover.

Many were concerned that the Soviets might retaliate with a boycott of their own.

"It forced us to establish our own policy and repair the international damage the LA Games had suffered," Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee (LAOOC) President Peter Ueberroth recalled in his memoirs.

In 1983, American and Soviet athletes competed alongside one another at the inaugural World Athletics Championships and athletes from both countries also took part in a series of test events alongside other Eastern Bloc nations in Los Angeles.

Then In September, a Korean airliner was shot down by Soviet missiles prompting the American Congress and California State Legislature to condemn the action. 

Soviet teams withdrew from the remaining Olympic test events as tensions grew.

American President Ronald Reagan had already described the USSR as "an evil empire" and imposed travel limitations. 

US State Department officials refused, for reasons of "internal security", to grant a visa to Soviet official Oleg Yermishkin.

He was listed as a potential Olympic attaché, but many suspected that he was a KGB spy.

A further factor in the chill was the death of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov shortly before the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

His successor was ageing hardliner Konstantin Chernenko, chosen instead of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Some American citizens became vocal in their hostility to the Soviets.

A pressure group called "Ban the Soviets Coalition" added to the negative atmosphere.

Although this had fewer adherents than it claimed, it played into the Soviet narrative to follow.

The very day the Olympic Flame began its domestic journey from New York across America to Los Angeles, there was bad news from Moscow.  

"The Soviet Union is compelled to declare that their participation is impossible," Soviet National Olympic Committee President Marat Gramov announced.

They suggested that "émigré, extremist, terrorist and other groups have come together on an anti-Soviet, anti-socialist basis and were preparing provocations against and threatening Soviet athletes with physical violence".

East Germany weighed in by charging Washington with "constant political interference in the preparations for the Games".

Gramov insisted "Soviet sportsmen and their friends from the socialist nations remain faithful to the task of strengthening the unity of the Olympic movement".

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch vowed to "fight to the last minute" and flew to Prague and Moscow to argue for a change of mind.

He met with no success.

Plans for an alternative sporting programme by the Soviet authorities had already been rumoured.

"There have been reports that the Russians may be considering staging an alternative Olympics," journalist Victor Louis reported in the London Standard.

Louis was a Muscovite who wrote for a number of Western newspapers, but was rumoured to have close ties to the Kremlin.

"Blueprints of the Red Olympics are apparently complete down to the last detail," Louis continued.

"Rumours of such a plan have emerged from almost all branches of sport where communist teams have been out to compete."

Bulgaria was suggested as a potential venue.

In late May, a meeting of sports officials held in Prague confirmed the withdrawals from Los Angeles. 

"Regrettably the Reagan administration has not adopted effective measures to ensure the safety of athletes from socialist countries," a statement said.

Signatories included North Korea, but not the Romanians who did ultimately send a team to the Olympics.

Czechoslovak Olympic Committee President Antonin Himl confirmed details for alternative competitions in the summer of 1984.

"These post Olympic Games should give athletes who had conscientiously prepared for the past four years, a possibility to show their abilities," Himl insisted.

"They will be open to all other sportsmen so as to ensure top competition by rights expected at the Olympic Games."

Competition began with table tennis in North Korea and boxing was staged in Cuba.

The majority of events were held in Europe and it was initially claimed by organisers that there would be over 8000 participants drawn from 40 countries.

Estimates were eventually revised downward.

The Los Angeles Olympics opened in late July and as expected, Americans dominated with 83 gold medals.

Soviet newspaper Pravda spoke of "an atmosphere of crusading nationalism".

Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson wore a tee shirt proclaiming: "Thanks America for a great Games and a good time...but what about the TV coverage?"

This was a reference to the partisan television coverage transmitted in America.

Gramov now insisted "the current situation in Los Angeles shows our worst fears were justified".

The main events at "Friendship 84" were scheduled for mid August after the Olympics .

Chernenko did not attend the showpiece Opening at the Lenin Stadium, but other politburo members including Gorbachev were present to witness a Ceremony reminiscent of 1980.

"The Soviet Union is going all out to put on a spectacular sports festival to display the athletic muscle of the Eastern Bloc," William Eaton wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

"Soviet sport is the ambassador of peace," said one banner.

Placards were carried by Labour, Dynamo, Harvest and Central Army sports clubs and flags of the 15 Russian Republics, then including Ukraine, were displayed.

A giant Soviet crest and a huge globe were brought in by groups of athletes.

Young people gathered in the centre of the field to form the message "We want Peace".

Music included a song with lyrics translated as "Sunny peace? yes, yes, yes! Nuclear explosion? no, no, no".

The song "Stadium of my dreams" written for 1980 and used as a soundtrack for the official Olympic film, was heard again.

Moscow 1980 Olympic 400 metres gold medallist Viktor Markin arrived with a Flame lit at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Women’s athletics was already underway at Prague's Evžen Rošický Stadium.

A field of over 200 included Los Angeles Olympic shot put champion Claudia Losch of West Germany, who placed only 7th in the "Friendship 84" final.

East Germany’s Irina Meszynski set a new world record in the discus with a throw of 73.36 metres.

East German Marlies Gohr won the 100m in 10.95, faster than American sprinter Evelyn Ashford’s time to win Olympic gold in Los Angeles. 

Ashford's compatriot Alice Brown had won silver and travelled to Europe to compete at "Friendship 84" but could only finish sixth.

The men’s events were held at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow.

"During preparations, we beat more than ten world records so I think most of our boys are in very good shape and ready to compete on a very good level," USSR coach Igor Ter Ovanesyan said.

Double Olympic hammer champion Yuri Sedykh, a Ukrainian, won with 85.60 metres, over six metres further than the distance needed for Olympic gold in Los Angeles.

"I am very sorry I could not be in Los Angeles, but I cannot change the situation, though I do think what we are doing here downgrades the gold medals there," Sedykh said.

Cuba’s double Olympic gold medallist Alberto Juantorena competed in the 800 metres, but a photograph could not separate him from Poland’s Ryszard Ostrowiski as both clocked 1:45.68.

"As an athlete I was born in Moscow, and I have come to Moscow to say farewell to competitive sport," Juantorena said.

The Moscow marathon was incorporated into "Friendship 84", prompting guards at the US Embassy, previously regular participants, to withdraw.

Ethiopian Nedi Dereji won in 2:10.01, a time which would have earned fourth at the Olympics.

Soviet media listed twelve world records, mostly in cycling or swimming.

In the pool, East Germany’s women set world records in the 4x100 metres freestyle and 4x100 metres medley relay.

"It is fast becoming a tradition for the women to set spectacular times," said East Germany’s state newspaper Neues Deutschland.

Meanwhile, Kristin Otto won two individual gold medals in a foretaste of her Olympic dominance in 1988.

At the gymnastics in the Czech town of Olomouc, teenager Olga Mostepanova, already double world champion, recorded perfect ten scores on all four pieces of apparatus.

"She has continued to master more and more complex movements, performing them flawlessly in the compulsory routines," admiring reports said.

As the Games came to an end, Gramov delivered his verdict.

"They were a success and promoted peace, stronger cooperation and understanding."

Gramov fired a final salvo at the Los Angeles Games which he said had witnessed "unbridled commercialism and an open onslaught of business on the Olympic ideals".

"At Friendship 84, a truly cordial atmosphere prevailed," Gramov concluded.