Friendship competitions
Under the name Competitions of Friendship ( Russian Дружба-84 , Druzhba-84 , literally: "Friendship-84") in 1984 the countries of the socialist camp held a series of international sports competitions as a propaganda counter-event to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles . These had been boycotted by 14 countries .
The competitions included all Olympic sports as well as a few other disciplines such as tennis , table tennis and sambo . They took place between July and September 1984 in nine countries ( USSR , Bulgaria , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Cuba , North Korea , Mongolia and the GDR ). Competitions in canoeing , road cycling and handball were held in the GDR .
In addition to the socialist countries, many Western countries also took part in the competitions, from a total of 49 countries. While the boycott states sent their top athletes, athletes who had missed the Olympic qualification often started for the other countries.
The absolute results partly exceeded those of the parallel Olympic Games. The flood of world records aimed at by the socialist sports management did not materialize, at least in the core Olympic disciplines. In contrast, 30 world records were set in weightlifting alone .
