Olympics: To Go or Not to Go

The U.S. weighs hitting Moscow where it would really hurt

In Moscow last week, truck after truck rolled to a stop outside the new press building near the Foreign Ministry, and fur-hatted workers unloaded crates of telephone and telex equipment. A mile north of the Kremlin, electricians toiled in the Olimpiisky Sports Center, which will be the largest covered stadium in Europe. Near by, other workers rushed to finish a huge swimming arena. In classrooms and auditoriums all over Moscow, some 200,000 prospective tour guides, waiters and other staffers continued learning foreign languages and the foibles of the 300,000 tourists who are expected at this summer's Olympic Games.

Thus, as far as Soviet officials were concerned, the Games were still on. But around the world there was a growing debate among diplomats, Olympic officials, champion athletes, politicians and sports fans over the Carter Administration's proposal that the Games be moved to another country, postponed or boycotted to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets reacted with anger. Said one editor about Carter: "He is going too far. This has nothing to do with Afghanistan. It is America's pure anti-Sovietism coming out again."

The fact is that there is probably no single action short of war that would punish Moscow more than to have the Olympics taken away or spoiled. As the first Communist country to play host to the modern Games in their 84-year history, the U.S.S.R. is determined to turn them into a model show. Over the past three years, the Soviets have spent, by their official figures, $375 million in preparation for the Olympics, including the construction of 99 arenas, dormitories and other buildings. The Moscow Olympics are meant to be a monument to the Soviets' selfesteem, an extravaganza of self-congratulation that in a way betrays their profound insecurities. With so tempting a target, the Carter Administration last week was doing some purposeful sighting. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance announced a mid-February deadline for a Soviet pull-out from Afghanistan if the Games are to on as scheduled. Appearing on NBC'S Meet the Press, the President said that he lad asked the U.S. Olympic Committee to Boycott the summer Games or move the Olympics to another city unless the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan by the February deadline. Said Carter: "Neither [ nor the American people will support sending the American team to Moscow while Soviet troops are in Afghanistan."

Only the International Olympic Committee can make the decision to move the Games. Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who at the President's behest ounded out NATO members about shifting the Games, found them cool to the idea. Said French Minister of Youth and

Sports Jean-Pierre Soisson: "The Olympics are a sporting event, not a political affair." That, of course, is not true. The Olympics long ago became politicized, with authoritarian societies like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sparing no effort to train their athletes--all in the hopes of piling up gold medals as proof of the superiority of their political systems.

The only exception in Europe was Great Britain, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, appearing before the House of Commons, endorsed a shift of the Games. More than 100 members of Parliament signed motions urging the I.O.C. to move the Olympiad.

For its part, the I.O.C. is adamantly opposed to moving the Games. "It's Moscow or nowhere," said Lord Killanin, an Irish peer who has served as president of the I.O.C. since 1972. Killanin argued that it would be "virtually physically impossible" to shift the Games to another site, and that in any case the I.O.C. is obligated to fulfill its 1974 contract with the Soviet Union for the Moscow Games. U.S. officials nonetheless plan to ask the I.O.C. to take up the question of moving the Summer Games at its next scheduled meeting, at Lake Placid, N.Y., early next month. But the request will almost certainly be turned down. Said a top I.O.C. official: "Those who believe that there will be no Moscow Games are the victims of wishful thinking. So far, all our national committees are against [any change]."

As an alternative, Christopher talked with NATO members about boycotting the Moscow Games. To muster support for a boycott, U.S. officials have suggested holding an alternate set of games, a sort of "Free World Olympics" in which nations boycotting the Moscow Games would compete. This would enable athletes from the U.S. and other nations who have been training for years to take part in an international contest, though obviously not one carrying the historic prestige of an Olympiad.

The boycott idea proved unpopular with most governments. The Netherlands, however, has stopped funding its Olympic teams, and Canada has expressed strong interest in a boycott.

On Sunday Carter said that he opposed U.S. participation in the Games "regardless of what other nations do." In theory, an American boycott decision would rest with the U.S. Olympic Committee. But the President's call for a withdrawal, which will probably be backed by Congress, will be difficult for the U.S.O.C. to reject. Its leaders are naturally upset at such a prospect. Said Robert Kane, 67, president of the U.S.O.C. since 1977: "I do not favor the concept of a boycott at all. The Games do not belong to the Soviet Union. They belong to the International Olympic Committee. To boycott the Games would be to show disloyalty to the organization to which we belong and to the Olympics." Moreover, said Kane, "a unilateral boycott would not be very effective." Not, perhaps, in halting the Games, but certainly in robbing the medals of much of their validity and prestige in sports where the U.S. would have been strong.

Last week Kane met with Vance and White House aides hi Washington and repeated the U.S.O.C.'s strong opposition to a boycott. If the President did request one, Kane announced later, the U.S.O.C. would poll prospective team members before making a decision. Many champion athletes in the U.S. oppose a boycott. Said Al Feuerbach, 32, of San Jose, Calif., a shot putter who finished fourth in the 1976 Olympics: "I am 100% opposed to any pullout, for any reason. We make the sacrifice, we pay our own way, we're not connected to the Government. It's not their life dream that's being tampered with." Added Mark Belger, 23, who specializes in the 800-meter run: "We are being exploited to the fullest extent. Exploitation is taking away the right to run in the Olympics after working with that objective in mind for years." Agreed a former Olympic star, Bob Mathias, 49, of Colorado Springs, Colo., who won gold medals in the decathlon in 1948 and 1952: "Our people want to go to Moscow to beat the hell out of those guys and tell them face to face what's wrong with them."

But many other athletes would reluctantly boycott Moscow if asked to do so by the President. Said Craig Masback, 24, of White Plains, N.Y., one of the world's fastest milers: "As an athlete, I am very frustrated and disappointed. But I am also well aware of what an important political tool the Olympic Games represent, not only to the Soviet Union but to the entire Eastern bloc. Our boycotting the Games would be both valid and effective."

Dwight Stones, 26, a high jumper from Long Beach, Calif., who won bronze medals at both the 1972 and 1976 Games, thinks the U.S. should take more immediate action. Said he: "Why not bar the Soviet Union from coming here for the Winter Games?" Said Bill Toomey, 41, who won a gold medal in the decathlon in the 1968 Games: "We would be naive to place track and field ahead of world events.

Sports cannot live outside reality." Last week the Muhammad Ali Amateur Sports Club in Santa Monica, Calif., decided not to wait for the White House and announced its own boycott. The group, consisting of 32 athletes, agreed to the move after listening to an emotional speech by , Ali. At least half a dozen club members --including Sprinter Houston McTear and Hurdler Greg Foster--were considered top Olympic contenders.

An American boycott of the Moscow Games would mean millions of dollars in losses for dozens of U.S. companies. NBC, for example, has paid the Soviets $87 million for the television rights and plans to broadcast more than 150 hours of the Games this summer. If the U.S. withdraws, NBC has decided not to cover the Games at all. Though the network would recover almost all of the fee from its insurance company, it would lose expected advertising revenues, as well as its best chance of getting out of last place in the network ratings.

Merchandising rights for the 1980 Olympics in the Western Hemisphere are owned by Stanford Blum, president of Image Factory Sports, Inc., in Los Angeles. He has sold licenses to 58 companies to market Olympic trinkets, ranging from stuffed Misha bears (the official symbol of the Games) to pajamas and key chains. Because of the possible U.S. boycott, many retail stores have stopped ordering the souvenirs, and production has halted on some items. For example, US Americans, a firm based in Los Angeles, is stuck with an order of 15.5 million plain drinking glasses; until the boycott issue is resolved, the company does not dare follow through on plans to imprint the Moscow Games insignia on them. Groused Blum: "The sales being blown away are between $50 million and $100 million. Premium promotions are hurting because companies don't want to be identified with things that have 'Moscow' written on them." Whatever happens, Blum will not look to Moscow for a refund. Said he, with a shrug: "The Soviets will simply say, 'It isn't our fault.' "

About 11,000 Americans who have paid deposits for trips to the Moscow Games are no doubt worrying about refunds in the event of a U.S. boycott. All travel arrangements are being handled by the Russian Travel Bureau--Olympic Travel, a U.S.-owned firm based in New York City. According to its president, E. Wallace Lawrence, some of the deposit money has already been sent on to the Soviet Union. If the U.S. withdraws from the Games and tourists cancel their reservations, Lawrence will attempt to negotiate reimbursements with Moscow; in any case, he promises to refund any funds still in the U.S.

The Kremlin is counting on the I.O.C. to hold firm and keep the Games in Moscow. Soviet officials argue that, since the U.S.S.R. has fulfilled its agreement with the I.O.C., there is no reason for moving the Games elsewhere. The Kremlin expects some athletes to withdraw, but as individuals and not as entire national teams. If nations do boycott the Games, Moscow is determined to go on with the Olympiad. Four years later, however, it might pay back the U.S. by boycotting the Summer Games scheduled for Los Angeles.

If so, the Olympic movement might be mortally wounded. Said Kane: "There would no longer be Olympic Games. They would not be a global enterprise any more." On the other hand, the threat of boycott revived an old suggestion: that the Games be permanently located in a small country, thus making them less vulnerable to the pressures of high-powered international politics. President Carter favors this step. He believes that the most logical site would be Greece, where the Olympic torch first flickered in 776 B.C.

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