In 1980, the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics, depriving 461 athletes of their Olympic moments. To salve the wounds of not being able to compete, Congress authorized President Jimmy Carter to present a Congressional gold medal to each member of the Olympic team. But the medals,  the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed by Congress, have been denied full recognition due to a technicality in production and they are now--finally--going to be awarded.

Earlier this year, members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team began working with the United States Olympic Committee, the United States Olympians Alumni Association and Congressman Todd Tiahrt of Kansas to properly designate the medal as a Congressional gold medal. The Congressional Record from 1980 clearly indicated that the intent of Congress was to award a Congressional gold medal to the OIympians, partly to record the historical sacrifice the Olympians made.

The Olympic boycott of 1980 was announced by Carter in March of that year as a protest to the Soviet Union's military invasion of Afghanistan. Congress overwhelmingly supported the boycott  and, authorized Carter to present a gold-plated medal to the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team on behalf of Congress.

The U.S. Mint produced 650 medals to be awarded to the 1980 Olympians and coaches but financial constraints dictated that they be gold-plated rather than solid gold. As a result, because of this technical difference, the official listing of the gold-medal recipients maintained by the Clerk of the House of Representatives did not carry the ones awarded to the 1980 Team even though Congress intended that they be fully-recognized Congressional gold medals.

Now 27 years later with the recent designation, the medals awarded to the 1980 Olympians hold the same standing as the ones that have been awarded during the last 231 years.