TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/080690/0806260.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.5 KB | 113 lines

                                                                                SPORT, Page 65

Beyond the Big Chill


In the glasnost era, the Goodwill Games lose some sizzle


    Ever since it began after World War II, athletic competition
between the U.S. and the Soviet bloc has served as a surrogate
cold war. While the battles on the playing fields took place
between individual performers or teams, the organizations that
financed athletes and the crowds that cheered them on tended
to trumpet each victory as a triumph for an entire economic and
political system and to mourn any defeat as a boon to an
iniquitous empire. Sports officials on both sides exploited the
conflict to raise funds. The political overtones helped
motivate athletes. Says swimmer Rowdy Gaines, who won three
Olympic gold medals: "I always found it helpful to have the
Soviets around so I could psych myself up against an enemy of
my country." At its most extreme, politics pollutes
sportsmanship; the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics held in
Moscow, and the Soviets snubbed the 1984 Games held in Los
Angeles.

    Now the cold war is over, and a track meet is once again
simply a track meet. While athletes and their coaches are as
happy as anyone else about peace, the disappearance of the
symbolic moral struggle has taken away a certain dramatic
appeal -- and has led to pragmatic worry that subsidies will
soon diminish. Both those concerns have been evident at the
Goodwill Games in Seattle, which with 186 medal events in 21
sports is the first large-scale encounter between U.S. and
Soviet athletes since the revolutions in Eastern Europe.

    Some U.S. athletes stayed away, seemingly more worried about
minor injuries or the size of appearance fees than any struggle
for national honor. The capitalist side was further weakened
by no-shows among European stars more concerned with
championships scheduled on home turf. Most East bloc stars
came, but many wondered how long they would continue to enjoy
special privileges, including subsidized travel, priority
housing and victory bonuses paid in Western currency.

    Most immediately affected are the East Germans, whose
powerhouse teams have already endured deep cuts in coaching
staffs and facilities and will soon be merged with West German
competitors. Their demoralized squad's lackluster showing was
the biggest news of the opening days of the Goodwill Games,
which otherwise generated few stellar performances. The second
biggest news also reflected political change. Soviet hockey
player Sergei Fedorov said he was not defecting -- he wants to
return home eventually -- but left his team to sign on with the
Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

    The East German slump was most evident in swimming, as the
women's team captured only one of 13 individual gold medals
(vs. eight of  13 at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul) and lost a
major medley relay to an American squad for the first time
since 1978. Said Kathleen Nord, who won the 200-meter butterfly
in Seoul but was shut out in Seattle: "People have turned
against us. We cannot concentrate on competition when the shape
of our lives is so uncertain. When we become part of the free
world, we will have to find corporate sponsors." Daniela
Hunger, another East German gold medalist at Seoul, went to
Seattle ranked No. 1 in the 50-meter freestyle but finished a
weak third. She explained, "Psychological chaos is unsettling.
Many of us now have to think first of finding jobs. Before, the
jobs took care of themselves."

    Swimming nonetheless provided a new world record, as Mike
Barrowman of the U.S. improved his own mark in the 200-meter
breaststroke, and a great comeback story, as 1988 U.S. Olympian
Matt Biondi emerged from semiretirement to win five medals,
four gold. That was more excitement than track achieved despite
having such U.S. stars as Carl Lewis, Roger Kingdom, Jackie
Joyner-Kersee and Evelyn Ashford, who, at 33, finished just out
of the medals in the 100-meter dash in the twilight of her
exceptional career.

    Ratings were not yet available for the telecasts by games
originator Ted Turner on his TBS cable channel in the U.S. and
on TV systems in more than 70 other nations. But in Seattle,
where most events were staged, ticket sales lagged; there were
even 1,000 empty seats at the welcoming gala. Turner raised his
estimate of losses on the games from $13 million to $26 million
or more. But he insisted that the event, which he created in
1986 in a different climate, retains its rationale. "Things
have certainly improved as far as our government-to-government
relations are concerned," Turner said, "but American and
Soviet people need to feel better about each other. You can't
do this at summits. We still need goodwill."

    Many participants welcomed the new absence of political
tension. Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University
said, "I've coached several times against the Soviets and never
used the good-guy-vs.-bad-guy approach. These kids of mine have
nothing to do with politics. They get up to play the Soviets
because they're good on a basketball floor, not because of some
political evil. And that's how it should be." But when his
squad met the Soviets in a sold-out first-round game at the
Seattle Coliseum, the favored Americans fell, 92-85. Some fans
may have been forgivably wistful for the bad old fired-up days.


By William A. Henry III. Reported by Lee Griggs/Seattle.