U.S. Olympic Committee Wary of 1991 Pan Am Games in Cuba

The U.S. Olympic Committee has asked federal agencies to help lessen tension that might surround the American team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, the panel’s president said today.

USOC chief Robert Helmick said the committee had been in contact with various departments and offices in Washington about providing the best possible atmosphere when U.S. athletes make a rare appearance in Cuba.

The two countries lack diplomatic relations, and contacts between them remain strained 30 years after the Communist takeover.

Helmick, during a break in a meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, said he is certain that Havana can stage the games despite the U.S. Treasury Department’s refusal to allow ABC to pay $9 million in television rights fees to Cuban organizers. ABC sued the Treasury Department Monday over the refusal.

“It was always felt that the cost of production of the TV program would outweigh the rights fees,” Helmick said. “Our main concern is that our athletes are given the chance to perform in an atmosphere where tension is such that they can perform to the best of their abilities.”

No matter what happens with the television money, Helmick said, the United States would send a team to Havana.

“We discussed this with the Cubans before they agreed to send a team to (the 1987 Pan Am Games in) Indianapolis,” he said. “We agreed that the day of boycotts is behind us.”