The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the American who was held by the Taliban for five years before the Obama administration traded five Guantanamo Bay prisoners for his release last week, was reportedly a top-level cyclist who nearly made it to the Olympics.
Bob Bergdahl had been chosen to ride on the 1980 U.S. Olympic track cycling team, according to a Daily Mail report, but never made it to the Moscow Games because the U.S. boycotted those Olympics.
The elder Bergdahl, according to sources in the Daily Mail story, grew frustrated with the American government after the boycott. He is pictured racing with Greg LeMond in a 1978 photo.
“Bob was devastated about missing the Olympics,” said Chip Deffe, a close friend of Bergdahl’s. “He had worked so hard for the chance to compete at the Olympics and then suddenly it was snatched away. Anyone would be upset, he was so passionate about racing and had made the U.S. national team as a track racer.
“He wasn’t at all happy with the government, he couldn’t understand it and became disillusioned.”
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. On Jan. 20, 1980, President Jimmy Carter said the U.S. would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics if the Soviets did not withdraw their troops.
The withdrawal never happened, and the U.S. spurred a move by several other nations to boycott the Games.
The post In the News: Father of freed American Bowe Bergdahl was elite cyclist appeared first on VeloNews.com.
via VeloNews.com http://ift.tt/1kG5StU
No comments:
Post a Comment