Olympic Festival Goes a Long Way in Just a Short Time

The United States Olympic Festival’s history is short but not entirely undistinguished:

--World track and field records have been set, Calvin Smith’s and Evelyn Ashford’s in the 100 meters in 1983 and Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s in the heptathlon in ’86.

--Stars have emerged such as figure skaters Debi Thomas and Brian Boitano in 1985 and Jill Trenary in ’86.

--Miracle workers have come together, the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team in the summer of 1979.

But what could have been the event’s proudest moment occurred less than two months ago, when representatives from six cities gathered at United States Olympic Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs to present bids for the 1990 and ’91 Festivals.

USOC members congratulated themselves, noting that their Festival has come a long way since the first one in 1978, when Colorado Springs was the only city to bid.

Then came an embarrassing moment during Detroit Mayor Coleman Young’s presentation when committee members realized how much further the Festival has to go to become nationally recognized.

Said Young: “We would be glad to have the 1990 or 1991 Summer Olympics .”

Of that USOC members had little doubt. But all they had to offer was an event with a lingering identity crisis, which has not been overcome despite the name change two years ago from National Sports Festival.

“They’re having the pre-Olympics here this week,” one businessman said to another as they boarded a rental car company’s van at the Raleigh-Durham Airport the other day.

The other businessman looked perplexed.

“You know, a festival, or something like that,” the first businessman said.

“Oh, you mean the Olympic trials,” the second businessman said.

“Maybe that’s it.”

That, of course, is not it, at all. As for what it is, USOC officials have had nine years of experience in answering that question. But not even they can explain it in 25 words or less because the Festival is so many different things to so many different people.

They, however, can tell you that, whatever it is, the Festival is improving with age.

The fact that this Festival, which began in five North Carolina cities Monday, is being called the best ever is significant because every one since 1982, with the exception of Baton Rouge’s failure in ‘85, has been called the same thing. At the time, it was true in every case.

Before the Festival ends July 26, about 3,000 athletes will have competed in 34 sports before crowds that already have bought $400,000 more in tickets than the organizers anticipated.

Sellouts are anticipated for several events, including the final day of figure skating at the 13,397-seat Greensboro Coliseum, diving finals at the 2,000-seat Candler Swim Club in Raleigh, the men’s and women’s basketball finals and the women’s gymnastics individual finals, all at the University of North Carolina’s 20,140-seat Smith Center. It could be the largest crowd ever to see a gymnastics meet in North America.

There are fewer than 1,000 tickets remaining for tonight’s opening ceremony at North Carolina State’s Carter-Finley Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000.

“Opening ceremony” is a somewhat less than honest name for the show, considering that it is being held five days into the competition and one day after ESPN began its 43 hours of live coverage. USOC spokesman Bob Condron recalled recently that only 80 media credentials were requested for the first Festival. There were 1,400 this year, distributed among 200 news organizations.

North Carolina is making sure it shows its best face, having completed the final 7.7 miles of the interstate highway between Raleigh and Chapel Hill in time for the Festival, and having spent $12,000 to update highway signs and $410,000 to plant flowers along the roadsides.

Toward the $5-million North Carolina Amateur Sports (NCAS) budget, the state contributed $800,000. There also have been donations of more than $10,000 each by 116 companies. Other donations include $1.7 million in computer equipment by Hewlett-Packard, $50,000 worth of dairy products by Pine State Dairy, $43,000 worth of eggs by the North Carolina Egg Board, $20,000 by Kroger Co., 33,480 hot dogs, 43,150 strips of bacon and 11,500 slices of bologna by Oscar Mayer and laundry service by the state prison system.

NCAS officials can only hope that there are not as many thieves there as on the outside. Of the 40 Festival banners ($28 each) that were placed on light poles and residence halls at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 20 have been stolen.

But even that is an encouraging sign for the USOC. Nine years ago, who would have wanted a Festival banner?

A more encouraging sign, they say, was the quality of most of the bids for the 1990 and ’91 Festivals.

Washington might have blown it when one of its representatives talked about how well sports mixes with politics.

But the representatives of the other cities, Mayor Young notwithstanding, said what the USOC wanted to hear.

Minneapolis won for 1990 and Los Angeles for ’91. The ’89 Festival previously had been awarded to Oklahoma City. There is no Festival in ‘88, an Olympic year.

USOC members may not have been impressed as much by Los Angeles’ presentation as by the presenters. Mayor Bradley led the 13-member delegation, which also included producer David Wolper; Councilman John Ferraro; Harry Usher, who was general manager of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee; Anita DeFrantz, International Olympic Committee member, and former Olympic champion Rafer Johnson.

“Los Angeles could have sent the second team and still won,” said Harold Zimman, a USOC executive board member. “But they sent the first team.”

That is more than you can say for some of the national governing bodies for sports that are on the Festival program.

For some sports, this is a significant competition. It serves as at least a portion of the Pan American trials for boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, rowing, soccer, taekwondo, wrestling and equestrian events. The Pan American Games are scheduled for Aug. 8-23 at Indianapolis. The 35 finalists for the 1988 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team will be selected next week in Greensboro.

Some of the widely known athletes competing here include divers Greg Louganis and Michelle Mitchell, figure skaters Boitano, Trenary and Caryn Kadavy, and wrestler Jeff Blatnick.

But the Festival has not created much interest for most of the nation’s best athletes in swimming, track and field or artistic gymnastics. Other governing bodies, such as those for volleyball and basketball, use the Festival solely for developmental purposes.

“As the television exposure and nationwide interest increases, I think you’ll see that change,” Zimman said. “You’ll find that those sports won’t be able to afford to pass up the Festival. They’re eventually going to have to take it seriously.”

Until then, the event will have to be accepted for what it is. Perhaps it is unfair to expect too much; the Festival is only 9 years old.