the ussr announced its intentions to boycott the 1984 summer olympics on may 8, 1984, citing security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-soviet hysteria being whipped up in the united states." a us official said the country had ignored suggestive comments by the soviets in the weeks building up to the announcement and that, in spite of all the indications, the united states was "absolutely dumbfounded" when the official announcement arrived.