From the Archives 1980 The sour Games
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on August 4, 1980
The sour Games
THE MOSCOW Games failed to deliver the propaganda triumph so ardently desired by the Soviet Union. The boycott was partly responsible for this but so also was the Soviet Union’s determination to place the Games into a political context. Sporting triumphs were not courted for themselves but as examples of the superiority of the communist political system.
A spectator waves the American flag at the closing ceremony Lenin Stadium on August 3, 1980. Credit:Russell McPhedran
True, President Carter made much the same claim when welcoming the victorious United States ice hockey team to the White House after the Winter Olympics earlier this year. At Moscow, however, journalists from around the world were hectored to write what was considered good news. Television film was edited to censor anything that might reflect discredit on the hosts.
The crowds, in the main made up of people from the East European bloc, were viciously partisan. Most of the athletes left Moscow as soon as their events were completed. Overall there was none of the joy and exuberance that should come when young people are gathered together to see who is the fastest, the strongest and the most skilful.
A Soviet militiaman with sniffer dog searches the offices of Australian Associated Press in Moscow “for drugs or explosives†on July 14, 1980Credit:Russell McPhedran
The Games demonstrated once again the need to get rid of the “amateur†concept. There was the ludicrous situation of wealthy equestrian riders competing because of the fiction that prize money won in the past had been earned by their horses. The Australian and other cyclists have already left Moscow to compete in road races where the prize money amounts to up to $100,000. Olympic gold medal winners will now name their price to promoters of athletic meetings in Europe over the coming months.
The ideal of the lilywhite amateur may have been appropriate for the upper class competitors of the Edwardian era but it makes no sense today. Most East European athletes, and American athletes on sporting scholarships, are professionals in all but name. Other athletes compete either at a massive disadvantage or become involved in sordid under-the-counter money deals. The sensible solution is to open the Games to athletes of all talents regardless of whether they are being paid or not.
Administrators have spent too much time on Canute-like attempts to hold back professionalism when the tide is irresistible. They should be devoting more energy to the more important problem of drug taking. Two gold medals were won at Moscow, by women athletes, one from the Soviet Union and the other from Bast Germany, who had previously been banned for life for drug offences.
AdvertisementThe British representative on the IOC’s medical commission, Professor Arnold Beckett, claimed that many athletes cheated their way to medals at Moscow. The charge is a serious one. To prevent it being made in the future, research needs to be intensified to find ways of detecting drug taking. And a rule should be made that identified drug takers are banned from competing at Olympic Games.
Australian team members march during the closing ceremony at Lenin Stadium on August 3, 1980.Credit:Russell MchPhedran
More easily identifiable (and more easily remedied) than drug taking is cheating by officials. The chairman of the International Amateur Athletics Federation, Mr Paulen, has denied that the Hood of accusations levelled against Soviet Union officials has any merit. True, most of the evidence is circumstantial. But it takes the breath away, for instance, that a Soviet Union diver (who ultimately won the gold medal) was allowed to have another dive because “crowd noise†put him off the first time.
Mr Paulen, whose casting vote allowed athletes barred for life over the use of drugs to compete at Moscow, was not convincing in his defence of officials over cheating charges. He did not seem to be aware of the film made by the Swedish team which showed the gatekeepers opening the gates of the stadium apparently to create a favouring wind and help Soviet Union javelin throwers. Moreover, complaints straddled the political fence. East Europeans were as convinced as competitors from dozens of other countries that the Soviet Union was prepared to win medals by fair means or foul.
Despite the vast efforts and wealth invested by the Soviet Union to make the Games a memorable event, the overriding impression from them is one of sourness. The warning from the boycotting nations that Moscow was a poisoned bait came true. The International Olympic Committee now has to ensure that it does not repeat this mistake. The long-term solution to the problem of siting the Games is a permanent site in Greece.
Australia’s representatives on the IOC could well take a lead by stopping lobbying for the 1988 Games to be held in Melbourne and pressing instead for immediate action on the site at Olympia.
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