WINTER OLYMPICS : Notes : U.S. Olympic Committee Passes Buck on Team’s Poor Showing

In a three-page statement, the United States Olympic Committee attempted Thursday to absolve itself of blame for the poor U.S. performances at the Winter Olympics.

Through Wednesday, the United States had won only one medal, and it took two people to do that. Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard won a bronze medal Tuesday night in the figure skating pairs competition.

“The United States Olympic Committee has made a record amount of funding available for our athletes in this quadrennial period,” USOC President Robert Helmick said in the statement.

According to the statement, the USOC has contributed $7,653,370, including more than $3 million in 1988, to the seven national governing bodies that send teams to the Winter Olympics.

That includes the U.S. Ski Assn., the U.S. International Speed Skating Assn., the Amateur Hockey Assn. of the United States, the U.S. Luge Assn., the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. and the U.S. Biathlon Assn.

Helmick minced no words in putting the onus on the national governing bodies.

“All of the funds we allocate to our national governing bodies are done so after we review their purpose and need, and we expect accountability on their part and a relationship to performance and results,” he said.

“We are doing our part for the athletes and their governing bodies who select and train them for Olympic and other competitions, and we will do even more in the future.”

Some of the Calgary Olympic organizing committee profits may be gone with the winds.

Two more events, the women’s downhill and the 90-meter team ski jumping, were postponed Thursday because of high winds. That makes seven events that have been postponed since Sunday, six of which were either sellouts or near sellouts.

If only one quarter of the people who bought tickets to those events ask for refunds, OCO will lose about $2 million.

More embarrassing to OCO officials, they did not establish a system for resales of tickets that are returned to them.

After signing a sports exchange agreement with Canada’s sports ministry, Manfred Ewald, president of East Germany’s Olympic Committee, said that, contrary to popular opinion in the West, his country’s success in athletics is not a result of selective breeding and performance-enhancing drugs.

“There’s no secret to the success of GDR (German Democratic Republic) athletes,” he said. “It’s the result of years of planning and working toward it. What we do is give young people a chance to develop in certain sports, and we support their ambition.

“But don’t call it a farm for athletic talent. We give young people the same opportunity in economics, science, singing, dancing or ballet. We find the talent and then help them further their careers. This doesn’t work in all countries. It depends on the economic, social, traditional and political structure of each country.

“We’re in full accord with (Canadian sports minister Otto Jelinek) as far as doping, unfairness, brutality and cheating is concerned. In other words, we’re against all of that. But by fighting against that, you’re fighting only against the blooming flower.

“The fight has to be carried out against the roots of the evil, such as professional sports and misuse of commercialism. When the money enters the picture at that level, athletes start cheating and poisoning themselves.

“I’m not accusing all athletes of that, but some of them. We should also fight against their bad advisers, agents and coaches who think only of themselves and the money they can make off the athletes.”

Among the celebrities attending the figure skating pairs long program Tuesday night at the Saddledome were Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers and his fiancee, actress Janet Jones.

Larry Tucker, a columnist for the Calgary Sun, said it was the first time Gretzky has been in the Saddledome when he wasn’t booed.

The National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames play their home games in the Saddledome.

If you think corporate sponsors of the Winter Games don’t jealously guard their little domains, guess again.

Thursday at Canada Olympic Park, site of the bob-luge run and the ski jumps, workmen were diligently removing or covering the identifying signs on the portable toilets.

Why?

“It could show up on television or newspaper pictures,” one explained. “The organization committee doesn’t want any unauthorized advertising.”

Marty Hall’s suggestion the other day that it would be logical to assume that Soviet cross-country skiers might be resorting to blood doping continues to cause repercussions.

Hall, an American, is coaching the Canadian cross-country team.

Otto Jelinek, a former figure skater who now serves as Canada’s federal sports minister, is the most recent entry into the controversy. He said he has spoken with Marat Gramov, the Soviet sports minister, expressing his regret over Hall’s remarks and disassociating the Canadian government from them.

Prince Alexandre de Merode of Belgium, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, also has condemned Hall’s comments.

A cartoon in Thursday’s Calgary Sun showed Hall standing on the biathlon range while a member of the Canadian Olympic Assn. pointed to him, calling to the biathletes: “Bonus points!”

Hall, meanwhile, has defended his statements. “When asked specifically about possible blood doping, I made it clear no accusations were being made, since there was no evidence available,” he said.

Blood doping involves taking blood from an athlete, storing it, then re-infusing it into the athlete shortly before competition, the extra blood yielding extra oxygen. It is not allowed, but there are no reliable tests for its discovery.

Alex Kuznetsov of the Soviet cross-country team’s medical staff said that he would have no objection to testing for blood doping if a test could be found.

“Yes, we’ll agree,” he said. “We have no problems with that whatsoever.

“I think that in the future, we’ll do those things. If the samples will be gathered in conjunction with all the declarations in the Olympic charter, it should happen.”

Kuznetsov is no dummy. That would most likely involve removal of blood, and the Olympic charter specifically forbids testing that involves removal of blood. Only urine tests are allowed.

The case of the missing Romanians has finally been solved.

When three female speed skaters and their coach left the athletes’ village before the Opening Ceremony, it was widely speculated that they had defected. Then it was announced that they had returned home, but no reason was given.

It turns out that the coach, Adrian Ciobanu, left because his wife had been injured in a car accident. The skaters, figuring they would not have a chance without his guidance, left with him.

At least that’s what the Romanian chief of mission told the Calgary Herald.

The 90-meter team ski jumping event was postponed again Thursday, for the second consecutive day, because of high winds. The jumpers will try again next Wednesday.

There was a bit of a flap about a year ago over the possible installation of wind screens at the hill. The International Ski Federation (FIS) wanted them, but the Canadian organizers vetoed the idea.

Marc Hodler, the Swiss president of the FIS, has suggested now that perhaps the jumps should not have been where they are.

“Geographically, maybe there could have been a better location,” he said.

No one can accuse the Calgary Sun of not getting into the spirit of the Olympics. In its daily Olympic section, writers are identified as members of Team Sun.

Figure skater Brian Boitano on denying an autograph to a woman who was trying for one while he was practicing his routine: “There’s a point when you can’t always be nice.”

Miroslav Zajonc, a former Czech junior champion who has become a U.S. citizen, has been given permission by the International Luge Federation to compete today in men’s doubles luge races with a cast on his right foot.

Zajonc--it’s pronounced ZY-ons--teams with U.S. veteran Tim Nardiello in the two-man event.

Zajonc broke his heel during a practice run in early January and was feared lost for the Olympics. He found later, however, that he could ride with the cast, although he lost five weeks of practice.

“I’m very confident (about the cast),” he said. “When I’m going down the luge track, I’m not thinking about the cast or the injury. The first two runs were a little hard but not now. There’s no pain going down. The cast is protecting me very well.”

Mary Ellen Fletcher, the luge team manager, said that there had been no complaints from other countries about the cast and that she didn’t really expect any, with one possible exception.

“In the event that Miro and Tim do well, I think one country might possibly protest,” she said. “In that event, I can only hope that the FIL stands by its ruling.”

She would not identify the country.

Times Assistant Sports Editor Mike Kupper contributed to this story.