It was all very different 40 years ago. When the members gathered at the Lake Placid Resort Hotel for their session before the 1980 Winter Olympics, it was politically charged as never before.

The speech which caused all the problems was made by Cyrus Vance, the United States’ Secretary of State.

The Soviets accused him of "unprecedented political interference in Olympic sports".

One senior IOC member told reporters: "I was as mad as hell."

The morning after, the New York Times reported that "many members were angered over last night’s strongly worded political address. The displeasure with Mr Vance’s stern language was underscored by Juan Antonio Samaranch."

At that time Samaranch was Spanish Ambassador to Moscow, but was to become IOC President six months later.

"We are surprised to listen to a political speech," he said.

It all took place against the backdrop of a campaign by American President Jimmy Carter in response to Soviet Union military incursion into Afghanistan.

Moscow had been chosen as 1980 Olympic host city, but Carter demanded that the Games be moved from the Soviet capital. That the Winter Olympics were held on American soil that same year was a twist of fate.

Carter sent Vance to speak on his behalf at the opening of the session. There was concern when the text was not made available in advance.

"That heightened my suspicion that we were in for a political diatribe," saidLord Killanin, IOC President at the time.

Eventually, a few minutes before the ceremony, Lord Killanin was handed a telex containing an embargoed agency report highlighting the most strident paragraphs.

He described it as "outrageously political" and quietly advised the Moscow 1980 delegation not to attend.

"If the American Government was going to abuse the occasion and use it for political ends, I did not want anyone involved with the Olympic Movement to respond with a counter demonstration,” he insisted.

Before the speeches came, the Olympic hymn was sung, there was a musical interlude by the Olympic Chorus from the Crane School of Music and gymnast and dancer Toby Towson also performed.

Lord Killanin was the penultimate speaker. He ended with the words: "I sincerely hope that these Games will not be used for the furtherance of political aims or demonstrations of prejudices."

Then, flanked by the stars and stripes and the Olympic flag, Vance began.

"In the view of my Government, it would be a violation of this fundamental Olympic principle, to conduct or attend Games in a nation which is currently engaging in an aggressive war, and has refused to comply with the world community’s demand to halt its aggression," he said. 

"It is whether the Games should be held in a country which is itself committing a serious breach of international peace. It is our conviction that to do so would be wholly inconsistent with the meaning of the Olympics.

"We do not want to see the Olympic Movement damaged. But if the basic principles of the Olympics are ignored, the future of the Games themselves will be placed in jeopardy. Throughout the world, there is broad and growing opposition, among governments and people, to going forward with the Games as planned, as if nothing has happened.”

Vance cited a Soviet Communist party handbook for activists.

"We already see the nation selected as hosts of the Summer Games describing its selection as 'recognition of the correctness of its foreign policy course and its enormous services in the struggle for peace'."

He echoed Carter’s call "to transfer the Games from Moscow to another site or multiple sites this summer or, with a simple change of rules, to postpone the Games for a year or more."

Vance doubled down: "We will oppose the participation of an American team in any Olympic Games in the capital of an invading nation. This position is firm. It reflects the deep convictions of the United States Congress and the American people.’"

Lord Killanin later admitted: "There were a lot of white knuckles gripping the arms of chairs to conceal anger."

The Soviet Union's official news agency TASS branded the speech "crude political interference".

In the official report, Moscow 1980 Organising Committee President Ignati Novikov wrote: "At that time the sports world was very gratified to hear the IOC members' single-minded rebuff to attempts to use the Olympic movement for unseemly political motives."

Phil Wolff, Lake Placid 1980 Olympic Organising Committee chief of staff desribed it as "the only time in my life I’ve been embarrassed to be an American".

He concluded: "That was not right to be so derogatory and political when we’re supposed to be welcoming our guests."

The IOC President, not given to hyperbole, described it as "the most embarrassing ceremony ever held."

IOC director Monique Berlioux admitted she was "shocked" by a speech received almost in silence by the members. That, Lord Killanin said, "was a demonstration at an Olympic event of which I approved."

James Worrall of Canada was "mad as hell and even more determined that the IOC must never yield to political pressure."

Another who did not applaud was Julian Roosevelt, IOC member in the United States.

"I am sure Mr Vance’s speech will have an unhappy effect on the membership," he said. "I was unhappy and embarrassed with what he said and I thought it was unnecessary."

Such was the political content that Vance never did officially open the Session. Lord Killanin did so the following day.

He had told members: "I have never denied or ignored the intrusion of politics into sport and I believe it to be in all our interests that these intrusions must be resisted."

He insisted the 1980 Olympics would be in Moscow, which had been selected in 1974.

"The decisions were welcomed as a symbol of mutual understanding," he said. "Sadly the current political situation is different today but the IOC entered into agreements which must be honoured by us all."

Brazilian member João Havelange told Lord Killanin that his own speech "would mark an epoque in the Olympic Movement".

The work of the session was fraught.

US Olympic Committee President Robert Kane faced some frank questioning about a potential US boycott of Moscow. It was also announced that the IOC were being sued by Chinese Taipei as the long battle to include both nationalist and communist China reached its conclusion.

Most people were relieved when the sport began.

Although the US ice hockey team grabbed headlines with the "Miracle on Ice", another American, speed skater Eric Heiden, wrote his name largest into the history books with five gold medals.

Soviet cross-country skier Nikolai Zimyatov won three and Hanni Wenzel was the most successful woman; her two Alpine skiing golds were Liechtenstein’s first.

As the Games ended, Lord Killanin made the closing declaration.

"If we can all come together it will be for a better world, and we can avoid the holocaust which may well be upon us if we are not careful," he told the crowd. 

He was greeted with cheers, but Vance’s words were not forgotten.

Lord Killanin wrote that they "had drawn the IOC members together as if someone had lassoed them with an enormous rope".

An IOC statement endorsed by all the members at Lake Placid 1980 insisted they were "fully aware of world conditions which have created the most serious challenge to confront the Olympic Games".

Senior figures such as Worrall, Willi Daume from West Germany and Kenya’s Reg Alexander had helped write the document that noted Governments "had stated that the athletes of their countries would not be encouraged and might even be forbidden to take part in Moscow."

It insisted that only the National Olympic Committees "can accept or refuse invitations to the Olympic Games". 

Many had been put in a “difficult” position.

It requested Soviet delegates "to inform the highest authorities of their Government of the circumstances which have created these difficulties".

It asked all Governments - "in particular those of the major powers to come together to resolve their differences."

A total of 80 nations did eventually take part in the Moscow Games. These included Australia, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland.

Approximately 60 stayed away. 

Among them were Canada, Japan, Kenya, West Germany and the United States.