Catching Fancy of L.A. Not Athletes’ Concern : Olympic Festival: Pageantry, camaraderie and competition make the event worthwhile to participants--regardless of crowds.

It has been suggested that the U. S. Olympic Festival might languish in environs spoiled by Super Bowls, NBA championships, the real Olympics and tilts featuring the likes of Zsa Zsa vs. a Beverly Hills cop.

Until this year, the Festival has played in such off-Broadway locales as Oklahoma City and Baton Rouge, La., places where crowds would have gathered for a bean bag toss.

So now the imposter shows up in L.A.--as opposed to La.--and the question is asked: Will the local sports sophisticates take the bait and actually pay to show up late and leave early?

Some say they will. Most say they won’t. We interrupt this debate with a dose of reality: It doesn’t matter.

Oh, maybe it does to the Festival organizers, who have their pride. And to ESPN (“Look at all those empty seats in the background.” Click!) But who else?

The U.S. Olympic Committee has its multiday, multisport event in another non-Olympic year, corporate sponsors have another tax write-off and a parking lot sometimes known as the San Diego Freeway must squeeze in a few dozen more cars. In its first year, 1978, what was then known as the National Sports Festival drew about 3,000 nonpaying spectators to a hillside in Colorado Springs for its opening ceremonies. This year, more than 3,000 athletes will compete and opening festivities were held at 55,000-seat Dodger Stadium.

The fiscal impact of the event on its host city has become a big story. A headline the other day read, “Will It Play in L.A.?” Right now, it’s a $3.4-million question. That is the break-even point for ticket sales.

Somewhat lost in all this are the athletes, who have largely become victims of their own advertising. Festival organizers like to point at the percentages. About 75% of the athletes in the 1984 and ’88 Summer and Winter Olympics have competed in the Olympic Festival.

Former Olympians who make an appearance--often with a strong nudge from their sponsors--make triumphant arrivals. Never mind that many of them are not close to top shape.

As a result, the original purpose of the Festival is lost in the shuffle and spectators are left expecting a bit too much.

Indeed, there probably are many future Olympians taking part in this year’s Festival. Good luck identifying them, or which year’s Olympic team they are likely to make.

This is not to say that the Festival itself is a bad idea. To the contrary, the pageantry of an opening ceremonies and the concept of athletes in fellowship, sharing dormitories and such, separates the Festival from other national competitions.

The Festival may seem small time in the big city, but not to the athletes or their families.

They alone seem able to grasp the purpose of the Festival without losing perspective.

Lindsay Gassner, a 14-year old swimmer from Valencia, wore a path to her family’s mailbox while awaiting word that she had qualified to compete.

Her mother, Barbara, has a two-word response for anyone who dare slight the biggest event of her daughter’s budding career: “You’re crazy!”

Weeks ago, the Gassner family purchased tickets to Friday night’s opening ceremonies. They didn’t wait for the complimentary tickets they would eventually receive. The ones they bought are on the field level, a short distance behind home plate.

They wanted to see their daughter on parade, up close and personal.

“I look at my kid and I am so proud,” Barbara Gassner said. “It’s hard to express in words. You can’t believe it’s your child who has done this. All the hard work and all the driving and lack of family dinners, all the time not spent together has paid off.

“Even if this is as far as it goes, she has to be happy with the opportunity she has had to compete and travel and take part in something like this. If it doesn’t culminate in the Olympics, that’s still OK.”

Meanwhile, Christine Tucay, 13, a rhythmic gymnast, will be making her first appearance as a member of the U.S. Junior National Team. Her Burbank family was seated on the loge level of the stadium Friday, binoculars poised and video camera rolling.

Tucay, an eighth grader at Burbank Middle School, is probably not aware that upwards of $15 million has been spent on the Festival’s production. What she does know is that about three dozen of her classmates from the L.A. School of Gymnastics will be cheering for her at UCLA’s Wooden Center today and Sunday.

“This is my first big gymnastics meet near home,” Tucay said this week. “I want to show people what I can do.” Not just any people. Her people--parents, friends and coaches who have lent support since she took up gymnastics at the age of 5.

“I can understand how some people might feel like the Olympic Festival is not a big thing,” Tucay said. “But that doesn’t change what it means to me. We work so hard, most of our lives, to try to make it this far.”