After the boycott of the Moscow 1980 by the United States, the Soviet Union declared that they never will boycott Olympic Games.
In the begining of May 1984 fullfilling their promise the Soviet Union declared their non participation of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games.
They explained non participation is different from boycott and is due to a lack of security for their athletes in Los Angeles.
The other socialist countries were advised by the Soviet Union not to participate.
Only Romania rejected this wise advise and participated.
In some sports the level of competition in the Olympics Games dropped.
In Men Handball they were 6 qualified teams not playing in the Olympic Games, but in Women Field Hockey there were no qualified team.
The name used by the media was - Drujba tournament stronger than the Olympic games.