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- <text>
- <title>
- (1980) A Warsaw Pact Picnic (U.S. Boycott)
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1980 Highlights
- </history>
- <link 07504>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- August 11, 1980
- OLYMPICS
- A Warsaw Pact Picnic
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>Eastern Europeans prevail in the Games, but Britannia makes
- waves
- </p>
- <p> When the 22nd Olympiad closed Sunday, much of the world sighed
- with relief. The host Soviets had been afraid everything would
- go wrong. The boycotting Americans had feared everything would
- go right. And the rest of the free world fretted about whether
- they should have participated or stayed at home. The oldtime
- innocence was gone; politics had once again impinged on sport.
- </p>
- <p> The absence of so many world-class athletes made for a
- pleasing unpredictability in Moscow. A judo competitor from the
- tiny Republic of San Marino (pop. 20,000) admitted: "It isn't the
- same without the Japanese. Even I have a chance here now." At the
- same time, the Games produced three dozen world records, the same
- number as in 1976, and some moments of high drama.
- </p>
- <p> The highest came in the long-awaited confrontations between
- Britain's middle-distance marvels. Sebastian Coe, 23, and Steve
- Ovett, 24. When they first squared off in the 800 meters at the
- end of the opening. Coe let his countryman build an
- insurmountable lead, then misjudged his kick. Said he: "I blew
- it in the backstretch." He was determined not to make the same
- mistake in last Friday's 1,500. The first two laps were
- leisurely, with Coe and Ovett a few yards off the lead in third
- and fourth places. Then East Germany's Jurgen Straub, 26,
- spurted in front, and the quarter-mile pace quickened from 63
- sec. to 55, just the way Coe likes it. He hit the accelerator
- in the backstretch and roared past Straub into the lead. Ovett
- gave chase but could not catch the East German. Coe's winning
- time was a slow 3:38.4, more than six seconds behind the world
- record he shares with Ovett. "I did it the way I planned," said
- Coe. "Once I got into the rhythm of it, I felt I could do it."
- </p>
- <p> After crossing the finish line, Coe knelt and covered his face.
- Then, quite against Olympic rules, he took a victory lap. His
- rival gave him a hug at the end, and Coe was like a child,
- bouncing on his toes and grinning. During the awards
- ceremonies, the British fans ignored the Olympic hymn that was
- being played. Instead, they belted out a chorus of God Save the
- Queen, with Rule Britannia as an encore.
- </p>
- <p> Britannia did not exactly rule the Olympics, but she did score
- impressively in important track events. In addition to the
- golds earned by Coe and Ovett, Britain's Allan Wells won the
- 100-meter dash and Daley Thompson took the decathlon. With 36
- nations heeding President Carter's call for a boycott over the
- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there was little else for the
- West to cheer about. Pietro Mennea, a flamboyant Italian,
- finished first in the 200-meter run, and Ethiopian Miruts
- Yifter, listed as 35 but rumored to be in his 40s, captured the
- 5,000 and 10,000.
- </p>
- <p> Otherwise the XXII Olympiad was a picnic for Warsaw Pact
- countries. The Soviets alone won some 30% of the total medals
- and 40% of the golds; the East Germans took about 20% of each.
- East-bloc nations piled up more than three quarters of the
- medals awarded. But many of the medals were tarnished by the
- absence of leading Western competitors.
- </p>
- <p> Most of the visitors were from Eastern Europe as well. Of the
- 300,000 tourists originally expected by Moscow, only about
- 150,000 eventually showed up, and of these only a smattering
- were Westerners--8,000 Finns, 7,000 West Germans, 1,500
- Americans and a few hundred Britons.
- </p>
- <p> The cancellations proved a boon for ordinary Soviets, who got
- the unused tickets. They were as boisterous as old Brooklyn
- Dodger fans, though relying on ear-splitting whistles instead
- of clanging cowbells. Countrymen were cheered lustily, as long
- as they were winning, and foreign rivals were jeered, with
- gusto. The racket was deafening for visiting pole vaulters, who
- are accustomed to the polite silence accorded a golfer bending
- over his putt. Wladislaw Kozakiewicz of Poland finally shut up
- the unruly crowds with a world record (18 ft. 11 1/2 in.), then
- defiantly shook his arm at them. Said he: "The public was very
- bad. It was like boxing."
- </p>
- <p> Charges that the host country was cheating marred the second
- week of competition. After a Soviet won the triple jump,
- Australian Ian Campbell, 23, a senior at Washington State
- University, complained bitterly that the home judges had robbed
- him of a jump that would have been good enough for the gold.
- "They said I fouled by dragging my right foot at the end of the
- step," he recounted. "When I demanded an English interpreter
- and appealed for the track referee, the judge just shrugged and
- had the area raked. I am sick over it!" All told, Campbell and
- Brazilian Joao de Oliveria, 26, the Soviets' other main
- challenger, were called for fouls on nine of their twelve jumps.
- </p>
- <p> The Soviets evidently tried to flimflam the pole vault as well,
- though to little avail. According to Western vaulters, Soviet
- judges improperly raised their flags to help countrymen gauge
- the wind. Adriaan Paulen, president of the International
- Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) detected some hanky-panky in
- this one, not by the officials but by a Soviet vaulter, who was
- evicted for giving hand signals to a teammate. Groused Swedish
- Vaulter Miro Zalar, 23: "Everybody knows they are cheating."
- </p>
- <p> The disputes might have been headed off had the IAAF followed
- usual protocol and posted red-jacketed representatives at each
- field event. But the Soviets asserted that their judges would
- be intimidated, and they persuaded Paulen to keep IAAF
- supervisors in the stands. At midweek, as the chorus of
- protests rose, Paulen was forced to reverse himself and sent his
- men back on the field "to protect the judges from ugly rumors."
- Said he: "We are still very happy with the quality of the
- judging."
- </p>
- <p> The athletes also raised a little hell back at the Olympic
- Village, where Orwellian security measures were putting everyone
- on edge. Frustrations finally boiled over one night at the
- village discotheque, where several dozen Western athletes
- protested the customary 11 o'clock closing. As disco infernos
- go, it was pretty mild stuff: some boozy scuffling with Soviet
- police, a lot of hollering, a small-scale food fight. But
- Soviet officialdom took it very seriously, as a headline from
- TASS, the state news agency, made clear: THEY SHOULD BE THROWN
- BEHIND BARS.
- </p>
- <p> The next night, the doors leading from the disco to the bar
- were locked tight; thirsty dancers had to go downstairs, outside,
- upstairs again and then past six security guards. When a dozen
- Australians were turned away without explanation, one of them
- delivered a line that seemed to capture the Games perfectly: "I
- think we've got another case of the nyets, mates."
- </p>
- <p> The 10,000 meters was an intricately plotted race, starring two
- of the world's best-known distance runners: Yifter, who missed
- the 1976 Games because of the African boycott, and Lasse Viren,
- 31, of Finland, winner of both the 5,000 and 10,000 in 1972 and
- 1976. Yifter, as it turned out, had a better supporting cast.
- </p>
- <p> The bantam-size African (5 ft. 4 in., 117 lbs.) and two
- teammates ran in alternating spurts to weary the bearded Finn.
- Said Viren: "The Ethiopians broke the pace, continuously
- changing the lead, stopping and then pushing harder again to
- crack our nerves." By the final backstretch, Viren was spent.
- His rival, known as "Yifter the Shifter" for his overdrive
- kicks, sprinted home. Yifter's time was 20 sec. slower than the
- world record, but this was of no consequence to the jubilant
- Ethiopians, who danced and sang in the stands afterward. "We
- are running for medals," exulted Yifter.
- </p>
- <p> The Ethiopian rabbits made more mischief in the 5,000, taking
- runs at anyone with the temerity to challenge their flagship.
- The most elegant Alphonse and Gaston routine took place on the
- final backstretch when Ethiopian Mohammad Kedir, then second
- behind Kaarlo Maaninka of Finland, swerved to the outside so
- that the Shifter could rocket through for his second gold. Poor
- Kedir got tangled up with the pack, lost a shoe and finished
- dead last.
- </p>
- <p> In the marathon, Waldemar Cierpinski, 29, of East Germany became
- the first runner to repeat as champion since Abebe Bikila of
- Ethiopia accomplished the feat in 1960 and 1964. In the
- 3,000-meter steeplechase, Bronislaw Malinowski, 29, of Poland
- finally finished on top after coming in fourth at Munich, second
- at Montreal. Filbert Bayi, 27, a Tanzanian miler running only
- the sixth steeplechase of his career, appeared to have the race
- in hand, leading by as much as 50 meters. But Malinowski
- mounted a stirring comeback and overtook Bayi with about 150
- meters remaining. His time was 8:09.7, the fastest in the world
- this year and only 4.3 sec. behind Kenyan Henry Rono's all-time
- best. "I have been waiting for this gold medal for 13 years,"
- declared Malinowski. "Now my only goal is to establish a world
- record."
- </p>
- <p> The 400 meters was won by Soviet Victor Markin, 23, in 44.60,
- the fastest time recorded in the event in two years. Finishing
- a game but distant fourth was Alberto Juantorena, 29, called El
- Caballo (the Horse) in 1976 when he breezed to victories in the
- 400 and 800. This time, the Cuban was off his form, still
- suffering the effects of Achilles' tendon surgery last fall. He
- was a scratch in the 800.
- </p>
- <p> Mennea, 28, became the first Italian runner to win a gold medal
- in track and field since 1960 when he finished first in the 200-
- meter dash. Disgusted by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he
- agonized for months over whether to go to Moscow--and continued
- to agonize once he arrived. Said he: "The pressure of being the
- favorite with no Americans here, and the bitterness of the
- boycott...cracked my nerves." On the track he had to worry
- about Wells, 28, a Scotsman. "I knew from the semifinals of the
- 100 that he was two meters faster at 100, so I must catch him
- gradually," said Mennea. That he did, in the relatively slow time
- of 20.19 nearly half a second off his own world record.
- </p>
- <p> A three-way battle for the gold in the high jump pushed an East
- German to a new world record. Gerd Wessing, 21, cleared 7 ft.
- 8 3/4 in. on his second attempt, breaking the old mark by a
- quarter inch. Another East German, Lutz Dombrowski, 21, became
- only the second man ever to exceed 28 ft. in the long jump, but
- his 28 ft. 1/4 in. fell more than a foot short of the record set
- in 1968 by American Bob Beamon.
- </p>
- <p> With the U.S. men at home, the basketball title figured to be
- a cinch for the Soviet team, dubbed "the U.C.L.A. of the East."
- The Soviets had broken the U.S. hoop monopoly with a last-second
- goal in Munich and, though upset by Yugoslavia in Montreal (where
- the U.S. recaptured the gold), were as imposing as oaks--and
- just as fast. The fleet-footed Italians, running and gunning like
- outlaws in a spaghetti western, left the hulking Soviets wounded,
- 87-85.
- </p>
- <p> Next to out-finesse the Soviets were the Yugoslavs, who humbled
- them in overtime, 101-91. "The Russians can't handle the
- pressure," gloated Yugoslav Center Kresimir Cosic, 31, who
- starred at Brigham Young University in the early '70s. "They
- panic when it gets tough."
- </p>
- <p> Coach Ranko Zeravica threw down the gauntlet after his Yugoslav
- deadeyes trounced Italy, 86-77, for the gold medal. Said he:
- "The question of who is best--the Yugoslavs or the U.S.--is
- being disputed, so we must meet and find out." But the U.S.
- Amateur Basketball Association said a showdown was not likely.
- Admitted Cosic: "We play better against the Russians. The
- Americans--they kill us."
- </p>
- <p> The sleek Cuban boxing machine, Teofilo Stevenson, 29, won his
- third straight heavyweight boxing championship--although for the
- first time in his Olympic career, two opponents actually lasted
- the full three rounds. In the finals Pyotr Zayev, a stocky (5
- ft. 10 in., 191 lbs.) Soviet, even had the audacity to hit the
- towering (6 ft. 4 in., 220 lbs) Stevenson a few times before the
- inevitable loss.
- </p>
- <p> As the second week of competition began, some 380 U.S.
- Olympians traveled to Washington to enjoy a five-day, $950,000
- tribute sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Some of the
- athletes had contemplated staying away to protest the boycott,
- but in the end more than 90% of those who were free showed up.
- Dressed in their best cowboy outfits (the official U.S. Olympic
- uniform: denim pants and skirts, plaid shirts, rawhide boots
- and white western hats), the athletes received gold-plated
- congressional medals on the west terrace of the Capitol.
- There, President Carter told them: "It is no exaggeration to
- say that you have done more to uphold the Olympic ideal than any
- other group of athletes in our history."
- </p>
- <p> The President's speech was received as coolly as his boycott.
- But none of the athletes disrupted the proceedings with
- demonstrations, as rumor suggested they might. Almost to a
- person, they seemed genuinely touched by the Olympic Committee's
- efforts to recognize them--and to lift their spirits, Renaldo
- Nehemiah, 21, the splendid sprinter from Scotch Plains, N.J.,
- spoke for most everyone when he said: "With the people's
- appreciation, it's not a total loss for us."
- </p>
- <p> Some top U.S. competitors missed the show: 900 swimmers were
- in Irvine, Calif., participating in their own Olympics, the
- U.S. National Championships. They were racing against each
- other but even more against the clock, which flashed their own
- times alongside those of the previous week's winners in Moscow.
- Said Mike Bruner, 24, the 1976 gold medalist in the 200-meter
- butterfly: "It will make me happy if our swimmers blow away the
- Olympic times, especially the Russians."
- </p>
- <p> Frequently they did. Moscow marks were bettered in eight of
- the first 17 Olympic-distance events. Mary T. Meagher, 15, of
- Louisville, and Craig Beardsley, 19, of Harrington Park, N.J.,
- set world records in the women's and men's 200-meter butterfly.
- In the men's 200 butterfly, the three top finishers all came
- in faster than Soviet Sergei Fesenko did in winning the gold
- medal. In both the 200 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, two
- Americans finished under the Moscow times. The performances
- were remarkable considering that many of the swimmers eased up
- on their training when the boycott was announced. Jesse
- Vassallo, 18, of Mission Viejo, Calif., quit altogether for six
- weeks but managed to outclock his Moscow counterpart in the 400
- individual medley.
- </p>
- <p> Even before the 1980 Olympics ended, the 1984 Games were
- causing controversy. Under strong U.S. pressure, the
- International Olympic Committee last week finally abandoned its
- plan to raise the American flag and play The Star-Spangled
- Banner at Sunday's closing ceremony. Instead the flag of the
- 1984 host, Los Angeles, was substituted.
- </p>
- <p> That flap was inconsequential to the U.S. athletes. What
- matters to them was that another Olympics is coming and that so
- far no one planning to boycott. For some competitors the loss of
- the 1980 Games is irreversible: they will retire to pursue other
- interests. But many of the champs are already California
- dreamin'.
- </p>
- <p>NUMBER OF MEDALS WON
- </p>
- <table>
- Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
- U.S.S.R. 80 69 47 196
- E. Germany 47 36 43 126
- Bulgaria 8 16 16 40
- Hungary 7 10 15 32
- Poland 2 14 14 30
- Rumania 6 6 13 25
- Britain 5 7 9 21
- Cuba 8 7 5 20
- Italy 8 3 4 15
- France 6 5 3 14
- </table>
- <p>[Excludes one final equestrian event.]
- </p>
- <p>-- By Stephen Smith. Reported by Bruce Nelan and B.J. Phillips/
- Moscow.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-