Houston Is Gearing for the Sports Festival

The midway point of the 24th Olympiad will be marked July 25-Aug. 3 with the nation’s largest gathering of amateur athletes--a 34-sport extravaganza that has a new name but adheres to its original purpose.

More than 3,000 competitors will take part in the United States Olympic Festival, heretofore known as the National Sports Festival.

The name of the U.S. Olympic Committee-sponsored event was changed in order to identify it more closely with the giant international show that takes place every four years. The name change seems to have served its purpose.

Well before the opening ceremonies are conducted in the Astrodome Friday night, local organizers will have surpassed the previous Festival record of $1.2 million in ticket sales.

And although the quality of the field cardly be measured in real terms, those associated with the 10-day spectacle feel they have attracted, except for the Olympics themselves, as talented a group of amateur athletes as has ever gathered in this country.

The Festival began in 1978 as a hastily thrown together enterprise in Colorado Springs. A year ago, despite the heat and humidity of Baton Rouge, La., 60,000 people showed up at Tiger Stadium for the opening ceremonies.

The Festival has grown to such an extent that as many as 80 cities have expressed an interest in bidding for the event during the years between the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Cincinnati are among the potential bidders.

“We are thrilled at this show of interest by so many outstanding American cities,” said USOC president Robert H. Helmick. “This proves that the U.S. Olympic Festival is now the most sought-after amateur sports event in the nation for our Olympic athletes and it is a testimony to the popularity of Olympic sports and for this kind of event.”

The top-notch field in most sports was attracted this year despite encroachment of the Goodwill Games--the highly publicized clash of American and Soviet athletes in Moscow.

Both swimming and track and field at the Goodwill Games took place early in the competition and athletes in those sports have had plenty of time to travel to Houston. The track events at the Festival will not take place until the closing weekend--Aug. 1-2-3.

The Festival has even stolen the Goodwill Games idea by inviting Soviet teams in boxing, figure skating and cycling to take part in the Houston competition. Medal winners from the Festival will meet their Soviet counterparts, although no scores will be kept in the figure skating exhibition.

Track and field usually holds the most glamour in multi-event competitions and it should be the highlight of the Olympic Festival as well.

Edwin Moses, having returned to the track after a series of personal and physical problems, will be on hand after his recent triumph in Moscow.

So will Jackie Joyner, who at the Goodwill Games became the first person surpass 7,000 points in the heptathlon.

Carl Lewis, Benita Fitzgerald-Brown, Evelyn Ashford, Willie Banks, Greg Foster, Roger Kingdom and Henry Marsh--all at or near the top in their chosen events--will add class to the track and field program.

But there will be quality throughout the city, from archery to diving to figure skating.

This, after all, is the midway point between the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics and in sports such as boxing, swimming and gymnastics there is a steady building process between Games.

It has been the goal of the Festival backers throughout its existence to use this event as a springboard for future Olympians in addition to being a showcase for past ones.

Almost 96% of the American athletes who took part in the Los Angeles Olympics competed in previous Festivals.