45 years later, Australia's 1980 Moscow Olympians are finally being recognised
At the time, the decision that Australia would compete at the Games was highly controversial, with Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser saying it was a 'rebuff to the national interest of Australia'.
As a result, the Olympians who competed at the 1980 Games were called traitors, receiving death threats and even bribes in an effort to stop them heading to Russia.
But tomorrow in Federal Parliament, the 1980 Moscow Olympic Team will be recognised on the floor of Parliament, a welcome home event 45 years in the making.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Why is the Trump administration threatening to deport this Iranian man to Australia?
The US government is threatening to deport an Iranian man to Australia — even though he has no connection to Australia and has lived in the US since 1985. Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old recruiter from Maryland, has been targeted for deportation because of a marijuana possession conviction from the 1990s, his lawyer says. A court order means he cannot be returned to Iran because of the risk of persecution there. So immigration authorities say they are sending him to either Australia or Romania after arresting him in the street near his home in late June. "They got him while he was walking his dog in his quiet suburban neighbourhood," his lawyer, Ava Benach, told the ABC. "And they detained him and sent him to Texas to hold him, and they said: 'We're gonna deport you to Australia or Romania.' His family, friends and locals are fundraising for a legal fight. They say Mr Zavvar had been quietly contributing to his community for years, helping out his elderly neighbours and making sandwiches each week for those in need of food. He had adopted his dog from a local shelter and recently moved in with his mother to help care for his grandmother. "After 40 years of living in the US, Reza knows no other home," his sister, Maryam, wrote as part of an online petition. "He waits in a privately run detention centre, thousands of miles from anything familiar, while bureaucrats decide his future." Mr Zavvar's case has highlighted a controversial strategy increasingly used by the Trump administration as part of its mass deportation regime — sending migrants to countries they have no connection to, sometimes using historical low-level misdemeanours as justification. But immigration lawyers said they had not seen Australia listed as a destination before. "Most of us in the immigration bar have been hearing about cases being sent to Central and South America," said Mahsa Khanbabai, an elected director on the American Immigration Lawyers Association board. "Normally, what we've been seeing is that the Trump administration is targeting countries where they feel they have some leverage, that they feel they can push around and bully. "Australia is not a country that we would normally consider to be in such a position." The Australian government said it had not been contacted by US authorities about the case. "There have been no new agreements made with the Trump administration on immigration," a government spokesperson said. Despite repeated requests for clarification, neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained why Australia had been selected. But in a statement, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: "ICE continues to try and find a country willing to accept this criminal illegal alien." Mr Zavvar's sister said her brother had "built his life in Maryland, surrounded by his loving family, including his parents, sister, and cousins". "He was a natural athlete, excelling in football during high school, where he was affectionately known as a 'gentle giant' — competitive on the field but kind and warm-hearted off." He had a green card, allowing him permanent residence in the US — but his lawyer says his past marijuana-related conviction was later used to jeopardise that status. In 2004, an airport agent noticed his conviction and started a process that could have led to deportation. But three years later, a judge issued a "withholding of removal" order, preventing his return to Iran. DHS says his previous conviction — for attempted possession of a controlled substance — remains a reason to deport him. "Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US," the department's Ms McLaughlin said. "Zavvar had almost 20 years to self-deport and leave the United States." The Trump administration has been pushing other countries to accept deportees who cannot return to their countries of origin: either because those countries will not take them back, or because of protection orders like Mr Zavvar's. The "withholding of removal" orders theoretically allow the US to deport the migrant to a different country, but that is historically rare. "We've never really seen people being sent to third countries in my 25 years of practice," Ms Khanbabai said. "When the UK started doing that a few years ago, I remember thinking, what a horrendous situation, thank God the United States doesn't do that. And now here we are seeing the US carry out these very same inhumane, what I would consider illegal, practices." The US government recently struck deals with several African countries, which have opened the door to more of these deportations. Small numbers of migrants — from countries including Vietnam, Cuba and Jamaica — have been sent to South Sudan and Eswatini. And on Wednesday, local time, Reuters reported that Rwanda had said it would accept up to 250 deportees, "in part because nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement, and our societal values are founded on reintegration and rehabilitation". The Trump administration says it is delivering on an election promise to crack down on the millions of people in the US who don't have legal rights to live there, and especially those with criminal convictions. "Under President Trump … if you break the law, you will face the consequences," Ms McLaughlin said. "Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US." But immigration lawyers and advocates say Mr Zavvar is among what appears to be a growing number of Iranians detained since the US air strikes on Iran in June. Green card and student visa holders, many of whom have clean records, are among them, Ms Khanbabai said. The lawyer, who is Iranian American and has many Iranian clients, said the community felt it was being targeted. "The Trump administration claimed that they were going to be going after criminals, yet the vast majority of people, including the Iranians, don't have any serious criminal offences or any at all," she said. "And so we're trying to figure out, is there an uptick of this focus on Iranians … or is this just part of the massive targeting of and scapegoating of immigrants?" Mr Zavvar's lawyer hopes her client's arrest will prove to be a publicity stunt that doesn't lead to his deportation. "I honestly think that they wanted to make a show of arresting Iranians in the wake of our bombing of the Iranian nuclear facility," Ms Benach said. "What people are going to remember is that the administration was arresting Iranians when they were certain that the Iranians were going to retaliate … and then six months from now, they might have to release them under the law, but we'll have moved on to something else."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Federal politics live: Treasurer urged to 'be bold' on productivity and ditch 'lazy' AI approach
Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has accused the government of being "lazy" and looking to artificial intelligence as a way of boosting productivity. Follow our live coverage below.
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Trump says 'great progress' made in US envoy Witkoff's meeting with Putin
United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff had made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions. The meeting came two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports. A White House official said while the meeting had gone well, secondary sanctions that Trump has threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented later this week. "My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," he added. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who was present, told Russian news outlet Zvezda: "We had a very useful and constructive conversation". He said the two sides had exchanged "signals" on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believed Moscow was now more amenable to a ceasefire. "It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details — neither us nor the US, " Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Writing separately on the X social media platform, Zelenskyy said he had discussed Witkoff's visit to Russia with Trump, adding that he had reiterated Ukraine's support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself. "Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started," Zelenskyy said, adding that European leaders had joined the call with Trump. Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington's European allies following Witkoff's meeting. Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks "disgusting". Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times. Pressure on India Meanwhile, Trump took a key step toward punitive measures when he imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil. No similar order was signed for China, which also imports Russian oil. The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any US trading partner. The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal.
