Seoul GIs Get a Sneak Preview : U.S. Basketball Coach Grudgingly Opens a Practice

An agreement reached Tuesday between the Defense Department and the U.S. Olympic Committee will enable men’s basketball Coach John Thompson to close all but one of his practices to military personnel and their families at Yongsan, the base for the U.S. Eighth Army stationed in Seoul.

About half of the 645 U.S. athletes who will compete here during the Olympics are expected to take advantage of the sports facilities on the military base for workouts. Taekwondo (Korean martial arts) athletes already have begun training there.

An Eighth Army spokesman, Senior Master Sgt. Wilt Baker, said that the only stipulation is that each team must open at least one of its practices to military personnel and their families. There are about 42,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea.

“We will be able to view all the teams at least once,” Baker said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for servicemen and their families stationed in Korea to meet and support our athletes. At the same time, we recognize the desires of the teams to have privacy.”

Earlier this year, Thompson had asked military officials here to allow his team to use the gymnasium at Yongsan as a practice facility during the Olympics.

The military officials said they would agree if Thompson would open his practices to those stationed on the base and their families.

Thompson, who has a reputation at Georgetown University for going to great lengths to keep his practices private, balked. He attempted in interviews later to depict the military as unpatriotic for refusing to make its gymnasium available.

Negotiations continued at the USOC-Defense Department level, resulting in a compromise.

USOC spokesman Mike Moran said that the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) has provided practice facilities for all sports, but that there aren’t enough to allow teams to work out as often or as long as they might feel necessary. He said the U.S. teams will practice both at SLOOC and Yongsan facilities.

Yongsan has a 50-meter swimming pool, a large fieldhouse and weight rooms.

“Their facilities are as good as you’ll find at almost any college in the United States,” Moran said.

As of Tuesday night, fewer than 100 U.S. athletes, including Greco-Roman wrestlers, team handball players, taekwondo competitors and shooters, were in Seoul for the Games, which begin Sept. 17. Several yachters were in Pusan, the country’s largest port, where their competition will be held.

Moran said most of the athletes who will represent the United States are expected here by Saturday night.