Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic courses. According to the IOC statutes the contests in all sport disciplines must be held either in, or as close as possible to the city which the IOC has chosen. Since Moscow was not a suitable place the Olympic Yachting Centre in Pirita Tallinn was constructed for the 1980 Olympic Sailing event. The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott of the Moscow Olympics was a part of a package of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet–Afghan War. The Tallinn boycott influenced most sailing events. For example, in the Soling, the Canadian team of Bill Abbott, Jr., Bill
Ronald Reagan American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers. In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the governor-general, U.S. forces withdrew. Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas. He proclaimed that it was "morning again in America," regarding the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the American athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics on home soil, among other things. He became the first U.S. president to open an Olympic Games. Previous Olympics taking place in the United States had been opened by either the Vice President (three times) or another person in charge (twice).