1980 Olympic Team

[Nile4000]

If the team was allowed to fight in Moscow, who had the best chance to gold medal?

[Bob]

With Olympic boxing at the time it would have depended on two things - the draw, and fair scoring. There was virtually no chance the U.S. would have been given a fair deal in the Soviet Union when it came to the scoring, and it would have been very interesting to see how the draw would have come out prior. On those two factors alone it would have been near impossible for the U.S. to come out with any gold medals. For the sake of argument, let's assume everyone was on a level playing field and all the results were based on boxing ability and style alone. The U.S. had a very solid team, but the issue would have been style-wise for Olympic scoring...the U.S. still had more of a professional style that would have hindered them even with the (fair) officials. My opinion of the chances would be:

106: Robert Shannon - could not have cracked the Soviet bloc; no medal
112: Richard Sandoval - smooth boxing might have gotten him a bronze and possibly a silver as he would have matched up well against the Soviet bloc fighters, but Lessov, Miroshnichenko, and Varadi were all solid
119: Jackie Beard - excellent chance at a silver and possible gold, but Juan Hernandez was very, very good and not sure Jackie could have gotten past him for the gold
125: Bernard Taylor - on ability and style an excellent chance overall, but having to go through Fink, Horta, Rybakov, etc. would be a very daunting task; probable medal but very tough road to get to gold
132: Joe Manley - same as Shannon; he could not have gotten through the Soviet bloc and just did not have the well-rounded skills as an amateur to get him through to the medals
139: Johnny Bumphus - similar to Taylor...on skills alone he had an excellent chance at a medal, but the depth of the division with Oliva, Konakbayev, Aguilar, etc. would have made it interesting; think a bronze at least for Bump City
147: Donald Curry - in 1980 he was still on the rise and do not think he could have overcome his lack of international experience against Aldama, Mugabi, Szczerba, etc.; a possible dark-horse for a medal but do not think it was his time yet
156: James Shuler - he might have snuck in to the bronze medal round but would not have been able to get by the top fighters in the division
165: Charles Carter - no chance for a medal against the Soviet bloc fighters
178: Leroy Murphy - on ability he had an outside chance of getting to the medals in a division that may not have been as strong as some of the others, but his style was not conducive to the amateur scoring and I think he would have finished outside the medals
HEA: James Broad - two words...Teofilo Stevenson

These are my opinions only and probably fogged by four decades of life, but I will be curious as to what others think.

[Ambling Alp II]

I think that you are right about the officiating; the U.S. fighters would have been getting screwed by the refs and judges.
It does look like a weak team by U.S. standards. The 1976 and 1984 teams were much stronger.

[Joson]

With Olympic boxing at the time it would have depended on two things - the draw, and fair scoring. There was virtually no chance the U.S. would have been given a fair deal in the Soviet Union when it came to the scoring, and it would have been very interesting to see how the draw would have come out prior.

These are my opinions only and probably fogged by four decades of life, but I will be curious as to what others think.

But how much influence would the Soviets have had over the selection of officials? Aren't they appointed by the International Olympic Committee, and not the host country?

Of course the officials in all Olympic events are notoriously biased, even corrupt. But I don't think the host country has as much influence over the officials as you claim. I could be wrong.

If I'm wrong, by all means, tell me what you know.

[Bob]

The tournament is run by the affiliated body, in this case (in 1980) AIBA, chosen by the IOC to oversee the individual disciplines...the IOC oversees the running of the entire Games but not the individual events. The officials would have been chosen by AIBA, and to say that the officials would have been chosen to have a slight leaning towards the host country or host ideology would be a bit of an understatement.

[margaret thatcher]

it was one of the weaker teams, the results would've shown as much