Athletes on Campaign for Goodwill Games

After the Soviet Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics, television mogul Ted Turner thought it would be a nice idea to stage a major international sporting event without political intervention.

“I thought, how can we go back and undo the wrongs that occurred both ways and start all over again?” Turner said, referring to the U.S. Olympic boycott in 1980 and the Soviet boycott in 1984.

His answer was the Goodwill Games, a multisports event featuring athletes from the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries. It will be held July 5-20 at Moscow.

On Aug. 6, an agreement was signed by officials from the Turner Broadcasting Committee, the Soviet State Committee for Television and Radio, known as Gostelradio, and the Soviet State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport, known as Soyuzsport. At that time the three groups committed $80 million to the project.

“I hope this means our nations will meet on the athletic field and never on the battlefield,” Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, the Soviet track and field coach, said at the time.

Since then, the games have been taking shape. But not without some skepticism.

People are wondering if this is just another ploy by Turner to draw attention to himself? Or, would the games really come off? And, who would compete in the games?

A group, including Turner Broadcasting officials hired to organize the games and a number of well-known athletes, is traveling throughout the United States spreading the word about the games. The tour will soon move on to Australia, Japan and a number of European countries.

The tour arrived in Los Angeles this week, headed by Willie Banks, world record-holder in the triple jump; Carol Lewis, American record-holder in the women’s long jump and the sister of Olympic star Carl Lewis; Tim Daggett, a member of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team that won the gold medal at the ’84 Olympics; Rowdy Gaines, who won three gold medals in swimming at the ’84 Olympics, and Terry Schroeder, captain of the U.S. Olympic water polo team that won a silver medal.

Also on the tour were Lyudmilla Bragina, who at 29 won the gold medal in the women’s 1,500 at the 1972 Olympics at Munich with a then world record of 4:01.38, and Alexander Dityatin, who won eight medals in gymnastics at the 1980 Olympics.

Asked if all the top Soviet athletes would compete in the event, Bragina said, “Of course.”

It’s not quite so clear-cut with American athletes. But those on the tour are convinced all the best athletes will be there.

And that includes Carl Lewis. At a luncheon Monday, Lewis’ sister said: “When Carl first heard about the games, he was definitely not going. Now, I’d say, it’s 75% that he does.”

At a press conference Tuesday, she said: “I talked to my manager (Joe Douglas, who is also Carl’s manager) last night. He told me Carl now is definitely planning to compete.”

The track portion of the Goodwill Games is being sanctioned by The Athletics Congress and will be part of the Grand Prix circuit. So those competing can earn points toward Grand Prix championships, which pay $10,000 to individual-event winners and $25,000 to the men’s and women’s overall point champions.

“I think the key thing here is that the best athletes in the world will be competing, so a good performance could help you a lot in the world rankings,” Carol Lewis said. “And that’s what most athletes are really concerned about.”

Money is another thing. The top track athletes usually get appearance money from meet promoters. Carl Lewis gets as much as $15,000 a meet.

“There has been some talk with TAC about appearance money,” Carol Lewis said. “Nothing has been decided yet, but each competitor may get something like $2,000.”

The United States will send only two athletes per event in track and field. Those placing first and second at the national championships at Eugene, Ore., in June will be invited.

The two top Soviet athletes in each event also will be invited to compete, along with the world’s four other best.

In team sports, there will be a U.S. team, a Soviet team and six others.

In all, about 5,000 athletes from about 40 nations will compete in 18 sports.

Carol Lewis said the relatively small field is especially attractive to track athletes. In most cases, there will be no preliminaries, just finals.

“You can get in and out real quick that way,” she said. “You can come in, compete in your event and then leave. You don’t have to worry about prelims one day and finals another.”

Said Banks: “I think this is an event every track athlete will want to be a part of.”

Edwin Moses, Valerie Brisco-Hooks and Evelyn Ashford are among those who have already committed to participate.

Said Gaines: “They’re doing this for us. They mean business. There are no political overtones. I think that’s the main reason you’ll see the best athletes in the world. I’m real excited about the whole thing and I hope to be there next summer.”

Daggett said he and Scott Johnson are the two men’s gymnasts most likely to represent the United States.

In team sports such as water polo, national teams will be selected. Schroeder said the Goodwill Games will take the place of the usual world water polo championships in Hungary.

However, there will be no men’s basketball at Moscow because the dates of the Goodwill Games are the same as the basketball world championships in Spain.

But it was announced at the press conference Tuesday that Turner Broadcasting has acquired the rights to the basketball tournament and will televise games to coincide with the Goodwill Games coverage.

John Wooden was present at Tuesday’s press conference and was made an honorary ambassador for the games.

It was also announced that there will be 129 hours of television coverage of the games. Besides being carried on Turner’s WTBS via cable, the coverage will also be carried by over-the-air, independent stations. Stations in 42 markets have already agreed to carry the games.

Among those are KTIE-TV in the Oxnard-Ventura area. Henry Gillespie, Turner program services board chairman, said that serious negotiations are under way with L.A. independent stations.

Television coverage in the Soviet Union will be 180 hours.

The athletes on the U.S. tour have also been visiting hospitals at every stop, such as Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

But it was an 8-year-old girl named Beverly in Houston that made a tremendous impact on Banks.

“She had no hands or legs,” he said. “But she extended her hooks and asked me to shake. ‘Squeeze harder,’ she said. Then she announced she would be our tour guide. Everyone in the hospital knew her. She was one of the nicest, most personable persons I’d ever met in my life. She was so upbeat, so strong.

“She walked on straight artificial legs. Another girl called out to her and said, ‘Hey, Beverly, I hear you get your knees next week.’ Man, I’m worried about not doing well in the Olympics, and this girl is excited about getting knees.

“The experience totally moved me. I can’t tell you how much. I think I will be a stronger person for it.”