Summer Olympic Games the first athlete to ever win the distance double twice. Following the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games – the smallest number since 1956. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country. In 1984 the Soviet Union and 13 Soviet allies reciprocated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Romania, notably, was one of the nations in the
President of the International Olympic Committee Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics. He subsequently stepped down from the IOC presidency after the 1924 Summer Olympics, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900. He was succeeded as IOC President in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour. De Coubertin remained Honorary President of the IOC until his death in 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland. Henri, Comte de Baillet-Latour was elected IOC President in 1925, after the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron de Coubertin, stepped down from the