1936 The Nazi regime, with the guidance of Adolf Hitler,backed plans to hold the Olympic Games in Germany.
1936 African-American Jesse Owens, a sprinter and long jumper, enraged the Nazi hosts of the Summer Games in Germany by capturing four medals (100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m) in front of Hitler.
1956 The Melbourne Olympic Games were overshadowed by two international boycotts. Firstly, three Arab states, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, declined to send delegations to protest the Israeli-led invasion of the Suez Canal. Subsequently, Holland, Spain and Switzerland boycotted the global event to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
1964 Because of its participation in the Games of the New Emerging Forces in 1963, North Korea’s sportsmen and women were suspended to compete in the Tokyo Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also suspended Indonesia due to its policy against Israel and Taiwan during the 1963 Jakarta Asian Games.
1964-1988 Due to its apartheid system during Cold War, South Africa was expelled from the Olympic Movement.
1972: The Munich Olympiad was marred as Palestinian terrorists take hostage the murder 11 athletes from Israel.
1972 Because of its status as a racist state on the world stage, Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, wasn’t admitted as an Olympic nation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
1976 The island of Taiwan (known as the Republic of China/ROC) withdrew from the Montreal Summer Olympics after refusing competing under the name of Taiwan.
1976 Several Third World countries, led by the African republic of Tanzania, boycotted the Montreal Olympics in protest over a New Zealand rugby tour to South Africa’s racist.
1980 America’s then President Jimmy Carter criticized the Soviet administration’s involvement in Afghanistan’s conflict. Owing to this, he participated in the 1980 US-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
1980 The USSR hosted the Summer Games. This was the only Olympiad held in a Communist country in Olympic history.
1980-1992 The Vietnamese-occupied country of Cambodia didn’t attend the Summer Games owing to financial troubles and political reasons.
1984 The Los Angeles Summer Olympics were overshadowed by a international led by the Soviet Union. Over 10 Communist countries and anti-American states, among them Iran and Albania, declined to compete in Southern California.
1988 The international event was officially opened by South Korea’s anti-Communist dictatorship.
1988 The Seoul Olympics were boycotted by seven nations from Africa (Ethiopia, Madagascar, Seychelles), Far East (North Korea), Europe (Albania), and the Americas (Cuba and Nicaragua)
2004 Friba Razayee and Robina Muqim Yaar were the first sportswomen elected to represent Afghanistan in the Olympiad, that marked the end of Afghanistan’s isolation on the Olympic stage. Five years ago, the International Olympic Committee suspended Afghanistan (under the aegis f the Taliban regime) because of its policy against women’s rights. Afghanistan’s women weren’t allowed to participate in sports an recreation during the Taliban dictatorship, becoming the first government to do so in a global era. In these years, women were considered second-class citicizens on Afghan soil.
2012 At US urging, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich country in the Gulf Persian and among the world’s leading foreign-aid donors, decided to send female athletes to the Summer Games for the first time, breaking away from the usual practice of sending only male athletes.
