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TORONTO — When Canada decided to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Jay Triano couldn't fathom the thought of another four years spent sweating in the gym to get back to the Games.
So he returned to Simon Fraser University — to play football.
Triano, now an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors, and Leo Rautins, Canada's national men's coach and a Raptors TV analyst, were both members of the Olympic men's team that never made it to Moscow.
The decision to stay home became a defining moment in their careers. Rautins would never play in an Olympics. Triano lost interest in basketball for a while.
Now, amid rumblings about boycotts of this summer's Beijing Olympics, both say they believe skipping Moscow may have been the wrong call.
"It served no purpose," Rautins said. "In my opinion, it accomplished nothing. The athletes basically became the pawns and it really didn't do anything. Everything we did for four years was to gear up for that, and then all of a sudden it was gone."
Recent bloodshed in Tibet has human rights activists and some politicians calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
Pro-Tibetan activists held a rally on Parliament Hill demanding a Canadian boycott, although Canadian Olympic Committee officials have said they're not considering it.
The Belgian government, though, has said it wouldn't rule out a boycott, while French president Nicolas Sarkozy suggested boycotting the opening ceremonies was a possibility.
In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter led calls for an international boycott of the Moscow Games to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Canada's then-Liberal government supported Carter along with the opposition Conservatives, and on April 23, then-external affairs minister Mark McGuigan told the House of Commons that Canada would not participate in the Games.
"We were at the qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico when we started hearing about the different rumblings," Triano said. "I think it was right before our final game, and we had already secured a spot (for the Olympics), when we heard there was a good chance we would not be going.
"The thing that bothered me is. . . the Afghanistan athletes (11 of them) went to the Olympics in Moscow," Triano added. "We thought what (the Russians) were doing was wrong, but the country they were doing it to didn't think it was wrong enough not to send their athletes to the Games."
Men's basketball, coached by the late Jack Donohue, was the only Canadian team that qualified for Moscow. When the Canadians pulled out, Brazil was bumped up to take their spot — the Brazilians went on to finish fifth.
"By many accounts, that might have been one of the best teams Canada's ever had, so we were pretty optimistic that we could win a medal," Rautins said.
"We peaked at the right time, we had gone to Puerto Rico for the Olympic qualifying tournament, got on a little bit of a roll," Triano said. "Who knows what would have happened? We definitely had something pretty special at the time."
Instead of battling for a medal in Moscow, the Canadians were flown to Toronto and put up at the Royal York Hotel for two days. They were feted with a dinner, offered tickets to a hockey game and attended a concert in their honour featuring Gordon Lightfoot and Harry Chapin.
Small consolation.
Triano went back to SFU, but had trouble finding motivation to play basketball, so he signed on with the school's football team in his senior season.
"I had a hard time seeing four years down the road," Triano said. "I'm not as bitter about it now because I did get to play in two more Olympics ('84 and '88), and coached in one (2000). But had that been my one shot, I think I'd still be bitter."
Moscow was Rautins' one shot. The former Syracuse star went pro in 1983, drafted 17th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Olympics didn't allow professionals at that time.
"It ended up being a defining point in my career, because 1980 was my best shot," said Rautins, who was on the '92 Canadian team that failed to qualify for the Barcelona Games. "And even though guys like Jay went on to play on other Olympic teams, there was something special about that team, it had everything you want on a team, the chemistry was unbelievable."
Triano and Rautins were among 212 Canadian athletes named to the 1980 Olympic team.
"I felt bad for the guys who never got to play in another Olympic Games," Triano said. "I was young enough where it became my goal to overcome it and see if I could play in another one. But I felt bad for the guys who, it was their only shot."
And it's tough enough to qualify for one Olympic Games, let alone two.
"I felt bad for other athletes," Triano said. "For example, there's a certain timeframe for gymnasts, where they're in their prime and it can't happen over two Olympics. Same thing for swimmers. . . I felt bad for those types of athletes who trained, some of them, their whole lifetime for the experience of competing in the Olympic Games."
Rautins' Canadian squad — including his son Andy, a point guard at Syracuse — is in the hunt for a berth at the Beijing Games. The Canadians have to finish top three at a last-chance qualifying tournament in Athens in July.
Meanwhile, the world continues to watch, waiting to see how China deals with the recent unrest in Tibet.
"My whole gripe is, where were all the political people when they chose the venue?" Rautins said. "Why are they coming out now when the only people who will get hurt by this are the athletes.
"Athletes have a voice, so go (to Beijing), perform and if you want to make a political statement, use your voice at that time to challenge human rights, whatever issues may come forth, whatever they see first-hand — use that opportunity to make a statement."
NOTES: Edmonton's Mangisto Arop led Canada's National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) boys team to a fifth-place finish at the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim, Germany. Arop averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds in the tournament, which is considered the "unofficial under-18 world championships." Canada defeated Russia 74-48 and then Australia 66-53, before routing Argentina 80-54 to finish fifth.
