USOC to Pay for Some Housing Costs at ’84 Games

More than a year after rejecting the idea, the United States Olympic Committee has agreed to reimburse foreign national Olympic committees for some of their housing costs at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Under terms of a compromise announced this week by International Olympic Committee and USOC officials, the USOC will give up $1 million of its approximately $94-million share of the Los Angeles Olympic surplus for distribution to the foreign Olympic committees. Each committee will share in proportion to the number of athletes it sent to the Games.

It was also announced that the USOC will spend another $3.2 million of its share of the surplus on a foreign-exchange program of athletes and coaches. The USOC will administer that program.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain had originally asked that $7 million be given to foreign Olympic committees to help defray their Olympic housing costs.

That idea was rejected by the USOC Executive Board in a meeting on Feb. 10, 1985. Instead, the USOC board suggested that the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee join it in a $7-million program of exchanges. Los Angeles Olympic directors later rejected the proposal, which would have meant spending $2.8 million of the amount that was supposed to go to support Southern California youth sports.

The compromise, which does not involve the use of the Southern California share of the surplus money, was hammered out in a meeting earlier this month at Lausanne, Switzerland, between Samaranch and USOC President Robert H. Helmick.