On the eve of the Paris Para Olympics, I’m going to tell you about a book I read recently.

BOYCOTT is the story of Australia’s controversial participation in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

66 countries, led by the United States, boycotted these Olympic games in protest of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, which commenced on Christmas Eve 1979.

Australia ended up sending a scaled back team of just 123 athletes (218 were originally selected to go) who marched in the Opening Ceremony carrying not the Australian flag but the Olympic flag.

BOYCOTT author Lisa Forest today is a tv commentator, actor, writer and media personality. Back in 1980, she was the 16-year-old captain of the Australian swim team.

In her book she writes how those Australian athletes who competed at the Russian games were viewed by many people back home as traitors to their country and ‘communist sympathisers’.

Forest talks about the death threats she received by telephone, including one answered by her then 11-year-old sister.

To her way of thinking, NOT attending the games would have sent the wrong message. She quotes a fellow Olympic team member at the time telling a journalist –

And for a little comparison, the Top Ten medal countries from the last Olympics in 2021 –

I always liked Lisa Forest, back in the day. I think it was that smile. She was two years older than me, so in the right range for a sporting ‘crush’, I guess you could say.

Her nickname around that time used to be ‘smiley’, so a positive, chlorine-scented vibe was definitely a large part of who she was. And I’m guessing still is. Though maybe not the chlorine-scented part so much these days.

Time for a HAPPY DAYS hit? Then click HERE.

In this week’s concluding chapter, we witness the amazing end to Onoda’s 30 years in hiding. If you missed the previous three installments, you can catch up HERE – HERE – and HERE.

A Japanese explorer by the name of Norio Suzuki (1949 – 1986) located Onada in the jungle on Lubang island in 1974. Onada refused to end his wartime mission however until he received official orders from his former commanding officer.

The Japanese government organised for Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, Onada’s former war-time commander and by that time an old man working in a Japanese bookstore, to fly to Lubang and officially relieve Hiroo Onada. It was only then, after 30 years of hiding away in the jungle after WW2 had ended, did Onada ‘surrender’.

Upon his arrival back in Japan, Onada was hailed a hero. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. 

In later years, he followed the lead of his brother and moved to Brazil. His wife, who he married in 1976, became head of the Japan Women’s Association (JWA). Hioo Onada lived to the age of 91.

Only one other Japanese soldier held out after the war ended longer than Onada. Private Teruo Nakamura emerged from his hiding place on Morotai Island (Indonesia) only a few months after Hiroo Onada.

And don’t forget…

What could be happier than Hiroo returning a hero (I liked it too) to Japan after 30 years in the jungle?

Click HERE to find out.