Cold War: CIA Attempted to Orchestrate Soviet Star's Defection at Olympics, But One Agent Ruined Everything

A bizarre chapter from the Cold War unfolded at the 1960 Rome Olympics, resembling a spy novel but rooted in reality. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched an operation, codenamed Project Aerodynamic, aimed at exploiting ethnic ties within the Soviet Olympic team.

This initiative, which began in the late 1940s, supported anti-Soviet and Ukrainian nationalist movements. While the CIA had previously distributed Western literature to Soviet visitors at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the Rome operation escalated the efforts. The primary goal was to persuade athletes with Ukrainian heritage to defect to the United States.

The CIA entrusted the Rome operation to Mikola Lebed, a Ukrainian nationalist whom the agency itself characterized as a "notorious sadist." Lebed had led a partisan group during World War II, fighting both Nazis and Soviets, and was later accused of mass murder of Poles. His involvement highlights the complex and often morally ambiguous nature of Cold War intelligence operations.

According to reports, Lebed began preparations a year before the games, enlisting the help of Bishop Ivan Butsko and his associate Orest Kuprynets, a former SS member. They reportedly contacted Soviet athletes, including shot putter Tamara Press, pole vaulter Igor Petrenko, and long jumper Igor Ter-Ovanesjan, identified as a promising target. Ter-Ovanesjan would later set a world record in the long jump in 1962.

U.S. track and field athletes Al Cantello, a javelin world record holder, and Dave Sime, an Olympic sprint medalist, were recruited to assist. Cantello recounted a meeting in 1959 where he encountered a man, possibly Lebed, who offered him a drink that he suspected contained truth serum or intoxicating substances. The purpose was to extract information about Ter-Ovanesjan, whom Cantello had befriended.

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