World Politics and Olympics Do Not Mix, Ex-Player Says

Talking to Joseph Vargas about the 1980 Olympic boycott is a bit like uncorking a champagne bottle after shaking vigorously. The emotions explode and shoot out.

“My opinion today was my opinion in 1980. There’s no room for political leverage in the Olympic Games. That’s not the point of the Olympics. Nothing was accomplished. Let’s just put it this way. I don’t think the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Vargas, a water polo player, didn’t quite believe he wasn’t going to participate in his first Olympic Games in 1980 until he was watching the opening ceremonies at his house in Hacienda Heights.

Vargas, like many of his teammates, returned to play in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

But after the team’s heartbreaking loss by decision to Yugoslavia in 1984, Vargas, now 34, quit for good. After devoting a decade of his life to the game, he needed to get on with his life and his career.

“An amateur athlete pursues his sport with the same intensity (as a professional),” Vargas said. “Magic Johnson . . . isn’t playing basketball and selling real estate on the side.”

By the time the next Olympics rolled around in 1988, Vargas’ brother John was a contender for the squad. But John Vargas, 27, was one of the last players cut on a 1988 team populated in part by veterans who stuck around another four years after the disappointing loss in 1984.

The younger Vargas, who coaches at Corona Del Mar High School, is playing for the U.S. national squad preparing to go to Barcelona.

Ten years after the boycott, Joe Vargas says some things haven’t changed. “World politics and the Olympics are like oil and water,” Vargas said. “By force, they’ll mix for the time being. But if you let the bottle rest, they’ll dissipate from each other.”