L.A. Group Announces Festival Sites

The opening ceremony for the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival will be held at Dodger Stadium, the organizing committee announced Tuesday.

Baseball, however, will be played at USC’s Dedeaux Field. The Coliseum, site of the opening ceremony and track and field events for the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, will not be used during the July 12-21 festival, said Eli Primrose-Smith, president and executive director of the Los Angeles organizing committee. Track and field will be at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

Primrose-Smith said all but four venues--canoe-kayak, rowing, water polo and ice hockey--have been secured. Most of the events will be held at UCLA (eight sports), USC (nine) and Loyola Marymount (six). The 4,200 coaches and athletes competing in the Olympic-style games will be housed at the three universities.

Gymnastics and basketball are the other major events scheduled for UCLA, both at Pauley Pavilion. Swimming and diving will be held at USC. Volleyball and boxing are scheduled for Loyola Marymount.

Other venues include the Forum, for figure skating and some boxing, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, Balboa Park in Van Nuys (archery), El Camino College (soccer) and the South Bay Bowling Center in Torrance.

“We wanted to keep transportation to a minimum,” said Jan Palchikoff, vice president of operations for the festival. “Athletes competing at UCLA, USC and Loyola Marymount will be housed right there. Other athletes should be no more than 10-12 miles from their venues.”

Cycling will be held at the Olympic Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills and shooting will be held at Prado Dam. However, the Sports Arena, site of the ’84 boxing competition, will not be used. Unlike the ’84 Olympics, during which several events were held in Orange County, all events for the Sports Festival will be held in Los Angeles County, Palchikoff said.

Primrose-Smith said ticket information will not be available until early spring.