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Olympics Blog

Olympians get their due

By Helene Elliott
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EUGENE, Ore. -- Nice touch during the opening ceremony for the Olympic trials here today.

Members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team -- which didn’t go to Moscow because of the boycott imposed by then-President Jimmy Carter -- were introduced at intervals and walked most of a lap around the track. The crowd was warmly appreciative, with many according the former athletes a much-deserved standing ovation.

Nothing will remove the sting of not going to the Games, but at least they know they and their sacrifice have not been forgotten.

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--Helene Elliott

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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