Backround 

Tension with the soviets has been around for a long time. The events that took place before the Olympics show the reasoning for the boycott. In December 1979 Leonid Brezhnev called for an invasion of Afghanistan to lead a communist action. This caused lots of mixed anger and frustration for everyone. This along with other actions done by the Soviets is what led Carter to try and get the Soviets to leave afghanistan. This led to the idea of a boycott which soon became a reality.