Dispute Jeopardizes Anchorage’s Bid for ’94 Games

Rick Nerland, executive vice president of the Anchorage Organizing Committee, said Thursday that he is concerned about reports that U.S. cities will have difficulty winning bids for future Olympics because of a dispute between the U.S. State Department and the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).

“If they can resolve it, it’s a very positive thing for our bid,” said Nerland, referring to Anchorage’s candidacy for the 1994 Winter Games. “If they don’t, it represents a hurdle, one we’ll have to get over.”

The dispute concerns a visa for a member of the Chilean shooting team that was denied Tuesday by the State Department. The shooter, Francisco Zuniga, was scheduled to have competed in the Pan American Games that day.

Zuniga has been accused of human rights violations while serving as a police captain during 1983 anti-government demonstrations.

Robert Helmick, president of the United States Olympic Committee, said Tuesday that the decision to prevent Zuniga from entering the country violates the PASO charter and that it would have a “negative impact” on U.S. cities bidding for future Pan American and Olympic games.

Canadian Richard Pound, a vice president of the International Olympic Committee, was quoted in the New York Times Thursday as saying that the State Department’s decision could prevent Anchorage from winning the ’94 Winter Games bid. The IOC will choose from among five cities in September 1988 at a meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

“I think Anchorage is now very much in doubt,” Pound said.

Undersecretary of State Edward Derwinski met here Wednesday with Mexico’s Mario Vazquez Rana, PASO president, but Rana said there was no resolution.

“Part of the problem is that the government world is different from the sports world,” Derwinski told the Indianapolis Star. He said the visa issue is “one unfortunate episode that should not take people’s minds off the Games.”

Derwinski said he will return Sunday for another meeting.

“We’re caught in the middle of this,” Nerland said. “Obviously, it’s an issue that has to be resolved between the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. government to insure observance of the charter.

“We support the position of the USOC that athletes approved by their National Olympic Committees should be granted entry. I am concerned, but I also recognize this is a political issue that will have a political solution. It will be dealt with.”

Nerland said that because of the controversy, the IOC’s executive board meeting next month in Lausanne, Switzerland, will have more significance for Anchorage representatives.

“Certainly we want to test the sentiments of the members and see how they perceive our position,” he said.