Olympic Festival Officials Show They Can Stage Event

U.S. Olympic Festival officials called it a news conference, but anyone passing the corner of Wilshire and Hobart Tuesday probably thought he or she had stumbled onto the set of a Fellini movie.

The scene: A Wells Fargo stage coach, led by four horses, pulled into the parking lot of an ARCO am/pm mini-market. While a police helicopter noisily circled overhead, on the lookout for a suspect from a nearby armed robbery, Festival chairman Harry Usher emerged from the coach to make an announcement concerning ticket sales. As he spoke, one of the horses demonstrated the drug testing procedure sans the bottle.

A commentary on the Festival? Ticket prices? Fellini?

Festival officials promised a “theatrical briefing” and delivered. They also promised Florence Griffith Joyner and didn’t deliver. But eight former Olympians were there, ranging from tiny gymnast Kathy Johnson (1984), to tall basketball player Frank Lubin (1936).

As for the announcement, it was routine. Usher said 625,000 tickets for 36 sports at the July 12-21 Festival in Los Angeles can be ordered as of today by mail or phone. Ticket brochures are available at ARCO stations, am/pm mini-markets and Wells Fargo banks. Ticketmaster outlets at May Company and Music Plus will handle phone orders.

The most expensive tickets are for the July 12 opening ceremony at Dodger Stadium. They range from $25 to $35. The canoe/kayak, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting and yachting events are free. Tickets for other sports range from $4 to $16.

Usher predicted the first sellout will be for taekwondo.

He was serious. The first sport to sell out for the 1984 Summer Olympics, he said, was judo.