“We’re kind of like ghosts, wandering around, shaking our chains, saying, ‘We never got our chance,’ ” the former pole vaulter said.

And in the world of raw deals in athletics, that’s a pretty good way to describe the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.

All of which makes this year’s Olympic Trials at Hayward Field a sort of catharsis. Because the 1980 track and field team, the team that wasn’t, the team that was told to stay home because of some woefully misguided political ploy by President Carter, has been a cause célèbre this weekend in Eugene.

Dozens of the athletes are here, as they were at the 1980 trials in Eugene, basking in a small slice of glory that was denied them when Carter decided to boycott the Moscow Games. The Soviet Union had egregiously invaded Afghanistan, and Carter felt the most appropriate response was to keep American athletes out of the Games.

Suddenly, the U.S. Olympic Team was reduced to wandering ghosts.

“At 18 years old, you think you have your whole life ahead of you and you’ll get another opportunity,” said hurdler Candy Young. “I never got that opportunity.

“If we had gone it would have caused a lot of problems, because we were an awesome team.”

Therein lies the tragedy of the 1980 boycott. The athletes were damaged more than the Soviet Union. The athletes lost a singular moment in their lives; the Soviets remained in Afghanistan until 1989.

“I don’t know what it accomplished,” Hintnaus said. “It did nothing. It wasn’t a monetary thing; it took away a dream.”

It would be naive to suggest that the Olympics could ever be apolitical. They are played out under the specter of global politics, and wishing that away is as likely as man landing on Pluto.

The 1976 Montreal Games had been riddled by boycotts. Two dozen African nations stayed away because of the participation of New Zealand, which allowed rugby teams to compete in apartheid South Africa. Taiwan and China stuck their tongues out at each other, both boycotting to protest the legitimacy of the other.

So, yes, the 1980 boycott was not the most ludicrous in Olympic history. But its true cost comes into focus when you hear from the athletes who were affected.

“We should never consider boycotting the Olympic Games,” said Herman Frazier, a 400-meter runner. “To take that away from athletes and use them as political pawns is something that is not correct.

“I think you use the Games to unite the world, not drive a hole in it.”

That’s what this weekend has been about for the 1980s Olympians. They were honored at Friday’s opening ceremonies. They have held press conferences to tell their stories.

And along the way, perhaps, some of the ghosts that have been wandering for 28 years have been appeased.

“It’s been 28 years, and it seems like they instantly forgot about us,” Hintnaus said. “This really, really does help.”

Greg Jayne is Sports editor of The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4531, or online at greg.jayne@columbian.com. To read his blog, go to columbian.com/Sports/GregJayneBlog/