Will Pros Go for More Gold in Olympics? Yes and No, and Only If They’re Good Enough

Will we see Magic Johnson, Marvin Hagler, John McEnroe and Renaldo Nehemiah in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea?

Will we see Dorothy Hamill and Wayne Gretzky in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary?

If the International Olympic Committee adopts a new Athletes’ Code at its October meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, the international governing bodies of each sport will have the right to determine their own eligibility rules for the Olympics. That would enable them to open their sports to professionals.

Most sports would not be affected since they have no professionals.

Others that do have professionals probably would not be in favor of allowing them to compete in the Olympics.

But according to representatives to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s House of Delegates meeting recently in Los Angeles, sports that might liberalize their rules to some extent are basketball, boxing, soccer, tennis, track and field and ice hockey.

Bill Wall, executive director of the American Basketball Assn. of the United States, said the international governing body, Federation Internationale de Basketball Amateur, is likely to adopt a proposal that would enable National Basketball Assn. players and all other professionals to participate in the Olympics.

But for reasons involving scheduling and contracts, it is considered doubtful that most NBA players would be able to take advantage of the new rule. Players in the Continental Basketball Assn., however, probably would have no such restrictions.

Col. Don Hull, president of the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation, said he does not foresee changes in boxing’s eligibility rules because of strong opposition by the Soviet Bloc. But even if there were open competition, Hull said he does not believe prominent professional boxers would compete in the Olympics.

“Participating in the Olympics is a wonderful thing, but I don’t think Marvin Hagler is going to come back to represent the USA in three-round bouts,” Hull said. “He could get hurt and wouldn’t get paid. Or he could get beat. There are Iron Curtain boxers today who could beat our professionals in three rounds.”

Hull, also the president of the Assn. International de Boxe Amateur, said he will propose that young professionals who have not competed in bouts lasting longer than six rounds be allowed to compete in the Olympics.

Chuck Blazer, a representative of the U.S. Soccer Assn., said his sport probably will not alter its eligibility rule before the 1988 Summer Olympics. For the 1984 L.A. Olympics, all players who had not participated in the World Cup for European or South American teams were allowed to participate. But for the 1992 Summer Olympics, Blazer said he expects the Federation Internationale de Football Assn. to allow all players who are 23 and under to compete.

“We presently have 16-and-under and 20-and-under world championships,” Blazer said. “Under 23 championships would be the reasonable progression. But there’s no way soccer will be totally open in the Olympics. The World Cup is the world’s largest sporting event. We don’t want to create a competition that would be equal to it.”

Tennis also had limited professional participation in the 1984 Summer Olympics, allowing professionals under 21 to compete. But Ed Fabricus, spokesman for the U.S. Tennis Assn., said the International Tennis Federation favors open competition in 1988.

“To some people, professionals are bogeymen,” Fabricus said. “But we’ve lived with them. We’ve prospered because of them.”

As for track and field, its athletes are considered amateurs, even though many of the more successful ones earn six figures and more per year. Under a proposal supported by The Athletics Congress, the sport’s national governing body, former track and field athletes who are now professional football players, such as Nehemiah, Willie Gault and Ron Brown, also would be eligible for the Olympics.

Ice hockey allows all professionals to compete in its annual world championships, but the debate continues over eligibility rules for the Olympics. Before the 1984 Winter Olympics, a compromise was reached that enabled pros who had not played 10 or more games in the National Hockey League or the World Hockey Assn. to participate.

Canada, which stands to gain the most from liberalized eligibility rules, continues to lead the fight for open competition but has been unable to muster enough support to overcome opposition from the Soviet Bloc. The United States has sided with the Soviets.

Even if figure skating is opened to professionals, which isn’t likely, don’t expect to see Hamill or Scott Hamilton in Calgary in 1988.

“Dorothy Hamill doesn’t want to skate against (world champion) Debi Thomas,” said Chuck Foster, a representative of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. “Debi’s at the peak of her athletic skills. Unless they went back into training full time, the professionals wouldn’t be competitive with the top amateurs.”