Muhammad Ali's Africa Tour and the 1980 Olympics
In response to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the United States decided to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. President Jimmy Carter decided to have Muhammad Ali go on a five nation tour to convince African leaders to also boycott the Olympics. Ali was against the Soviet Union’s actions in Afghanistan and he was a popular figure in Africa, so for Carter this move seemed pretty logical. The five nations that Ali would visit were Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, and Senegal. The United States government was at the time more concerned about this invasion that they were with the apartheid regime in South Africa. The general consensus on this decision seems to be that this was a bad diplomatic move on Carter’s part. Some officials in Tanzania questioned why Muhammad Ali was sent on a diplomatic mission and one questioned if the United States would have sent Chris Evert to London to talk with the British. It also didn’t help matters that Ali was poo