TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/caps/80/80capoly.3

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                P                                                              August 11, 1980

OLYMPICS

A Warsaw Pact Picnic


Eastern Europeans prevail in the Games, but Britannia makes
waves


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.

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.

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."

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.

Britannia did not exactly rule the Olympics, but she did score
impressively in important track events. In addition to the
gold 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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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 alltime
best. "I have been waiting for this gold medal for 13 years,"
declared Malinowski. "Now my only goal is to establish a world
record."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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."

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."

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."

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.

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.

That flap was inconsequential to the U.S. athletes. What matter
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'.

_______________________________________________________________
NUMBER OF MEDALS WON

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

[Excludes one final equestrian event.]


By Stephen Smith. Reported by Bruce Nelan and B.J. Phillips/
Moscow.