As the memory of the Soichi Winter Olympics (and its accompanying LGBT rights protests) gets ever dimmer, it’s worth remembering that that was not the first time the Olympics have been used to draw attention to Russia’s seemingly entrenched homophobia.

When Russia (or the Soviet Union as it was then) hosted the 1980 summer Olympics, a number of countries boycotted the event. On this occasion it was in protest at the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan (something that a number of those same countries would do themselves two decades later.)

It was left to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) to try and draw attention to the Soviet Union’s Article 121, which allowed for jail sentences of up to 10 years or incarceration in mental institutions simply for being lesbian or gay. As protests were held in countries around the world one brave soul – Italian activist Vincenzo Francone – took the matter right to the belly of the beast. Just as the Games got underway he attempted to chain himself to some railings close to the Kremlin in Moscow’s Red Square.

Whether the KGB were expecting this (as early as 1979 ILGA had announced that there would be a protest in Moscow) or they were just being their usual over-zealous selves, Francone didn’t make it as far as the railings. Still carrying his banner calling for the release of two Russians accused of homosexuality and the repeal of Article 121, he was grabbed by police and security agents, flung to the ground and kicked and beaten.

Foreign journalists attempting to photograph the event were also jostled and threatened with everything from broken limbs to death.

Given that so much time has passed since the event took place it is difficult to establish how much coverage it received around the world. Certainly if it was anything like that from the Melbourne Age, above, it would appear that there was far greater concern for foreign journalists (“a photographer had his tooth broken in the struggle”) than there was for Vincenzo.

For the record, Francone was deported shortly after the event.