Countdown to 1988 Olympics Begins at U.S. Sports Festival

With the American performance in Los Angeles last year still acting as a catalyst to the country’s youth, the long countdown toward the 1988 Olympics begins this week along the banks of the Mississippi.

The National Sports Festival reappears for the sixth time, having grown from a hastily thrown together enterprise into just what its creators intended--a proving ground for United States’ quality amateur athletes.

More than 3,000 competitors will take part in 34 sports in a dozen days. Limited activity will begin Wednesday, with the bulk of the action starting next Saturday.

Robert Kane, while working his way up through the corridors of the United States Olympic Committee, pestered his colleagues about establishing a gathering of American athletes--one which would take place in non-Olympic years.

His efforts met with no success until he became president of the USOC.

“It helps when you are president,” said Kane. “You have a little more clout.”

Kane’s pet project came to life on a pleasant summer evening in 1978 with a small crowd gathering in a Colorado Springs city park to take part in very low-key opening ceremonies.

Next Friday night the festival’s opening ceremonies, patterned after those of the Olympics, will be conducted in 76,000-seat Tiger Stadium on the campus of LSU.

A few of the performers at this year’s festival will be the unquestioned best in the world at what they do--among them Olympic diving gold medalist Greg Louganis.