The 1984 Winter Olympic Games opened in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia & Herzegovina), on February 8, 1984. These were the first Winter Games – and the second Olympics – held in a communist state. Sarajevo authorities had shown interest in hosting the Winter Olympics as early as 1970. For the 1984 games, they competed against Göteborg, Sweden, and Sapporo, Japan, for the honor of being host city. Sarajevo was ultimately selected and announced as the host city in 1978. The games would be the first Winter Olympics held in a socialist state and a Slavic-speaking country. They were the second consecutive Olympics held in such a country after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Dozens of nations, including the US had boycotted the 1980 Olympics and the Soviet Union would boycott the 1984 Summer Games held in Los Angeles later in the year.