The USSR has announces it is boycotting the Olympic Games blaming the commercialization of the games and lack of security. Most of the Eastern Bloc countries follow suit with the exception of Romania and 14 countries joined the boycott.

The Iranian President Ahmadinejad sent a lengthy letter to United States President Bush, the first time such a move had been made in twenty-seven years. According to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the letter covered such topics as history and philosophy, but did not make any comment or diplomatic address to the nuclear concerns and conflicts the two nations had been facing.