Would Reagan, if he was in Carter's position, done the same thing? And if so, would those who chastise Carter for the boycott, done the same thing if it were Reagan that did it. The difference is, Reagan would have done even more than the boycott, while Carter thought that would have been enough.
Reagan wouldn't even have contemplated a silly boycott. Reagan was into action not hollow gestures. Reagan would have done what he did, arm the resistance to the teeth and don't bother to talk about it. Reagan would have understood the power of Jesse Owens winning in Berlin and not taken away our athletes' ability to make a similar point, much like our hockey team did in the winter games.
Typical of Democrats, Carter started a military action to free the hostages in Iran. When it started having problems, and soldiers killed, Carter withdrew in disgrace. Carter was trying to micromanage the rescue mission, and Reagan would have let the military do it since they knew how to accomplish it. However, the failed rescue or the botched boycott of the Olympics were just more of the same legacy we have come to expect with Carter and Democrat leadership. Even with double digit inflation, double digit unemployment and double digit interest rates, Carter thought everything was going along just fine. To this day, Democrats revere Jimmy Carter as one of their party heroes, which is why most of us laugh when his name is mentioned.