German Unity Could Level Playing Field : Olympics: U.S. official says East Germany would no longer try to ‘win at all costs.’

The ideological walls that have come tumbling down in the Eastern Bloc countries could have a leveling effect on international sports, according to Robert H. Helmick, president of the United States Olympic Committee.

“It will impact their sports system,” Helmick said in a telephone interview from his law office in Des Moines, Iowa. “Heretofore, East Germany has obtained a lot of very favorable publicity by winning in the Olympics. As a result they have really concentrated on that win-at-all-costs approach in the past, something that we’re not going to do.

“What does it mean to win at all costs? You don’t enter athletes who don’t have a chance to win. Here in the United States, we’re committed to enter an athlete in every event, the best athlete we have whether they have a chance to (win a) medal or not.

“In East Germany they don’t waste their money on that. In East Germany they don’t enter team sports. Why? Because it takes 11 times as much money to train 11 water polo players, but you still get only one medal.

“What’s going to happen is that their sports programs will become more like ours, where they recognize sport for its true value, that all young people should have an opportunity to participate and the money should not be directed toward just a few.”

East Germany long has been a target of criticism for its suspected use of chemical technology to create so-called super-athletes.

The recent agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States--joined by the national sports bodies of Australia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Great Britain, Italy, South Korea, Norway and Sweden--to share drug testing procedures and results was really the first such internationally cooperative effort. Helmick indicated an interest in the reaction of East Germany in light of the political changes taking place.

“I would hope, though, with the changes that are occurring in the Eastern Bloc nations, and in East Germany particularly, that there will be a vast reduction in the amount of monetary and scientific and coaching pressure being put on their top athletes. And hopefully, that will assist us in solving the performance-enhancing drug problem.”

Helmick has almost no concern about what many have speculated might be a byproduct of this political upheaval: the joining of East Germany with West Germany.

“When Matt Biondi (of the U.S.) swims against Michael Gross (West Germany), I don’t think he cares whether Michael Gross is representing West Germany or East Germany,” Helmick said. “He wants to beat Michael Gross.

“What the Olympics are all about is striving to be better than that other athlete, and frankly we should look at that. The most important thing is that aspect.”