Newport Beach : Police Olympics to Draw 6,000 Officers

Peace officers from across California will compete in 44 athletic events at the 20th annual 1986 California Police Olympics, which will be held June 24-29 next year and be headquartered in Newport Beach.

An estimated 6,000 active and retired law enforcement officers will be participating in events ranging from triathlon and boxing to arm-wrestling and horseshoes.

The competition will take place at locations ranging from Prado Recreation Park in Riverside County to the Carlsbad Raceway in San Diego County. About 14 of the events will be held on the UC Irvine campus.

Peter Ueberroth, baseball commissioner and president of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, will act as honorary commissioner for the police games, according to Jim Gardiner, Newport Beach police captain and executive director of the event.

Gardiner said the games are held to promote physical fitness and “give officers and the community a chance to meet and talk with each other.”

The Police Olympics will be free to the public, with such sponsors as the Irvine Co. helping to pay for the competition and others, including UCI and the Newport Beach Sheraton--the headquarters for the games--providing sites for the athletic events, Gardiner said.

After expenses, part of the money raised by the games through registration fees and merchandise sales will go to organizations such as the Police Employees Assn. of Newport Beach, the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Irvine and Newport Beach, the Orange County Special Olympics and the UCI Poison Control Center.