U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : NOTEBOOK : Greenspan Sad to See Fading Amateurism

Bud Greenspan is disappointed that the U.S. Olympic Festival hasn’t created much interest this week in Los Angeles.

“It’s a tough situation when you have the Gretzkys, the Magics and the Strawberrys as drawing cards, and then you have Sam Smith, who no one knows, competing in the Festival,” he said.

Greenspan, who calls himself “the last romantic,” is known for dramatic television productions chronicling the heroes, both obvious and unsung, of the Olympics.

His “Sixteen Days of Glory,” covering the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, has been seen by an estimated 400 million people in 90 countries.

Those games were marked by fervent nationalism from the U.S. crowds that packed the Coliseum and other venues. But with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the subsequent relaxation of East-West tension, nationalistic frenzy may be a thing of the past, Greenspan said. He said that cannot come soon enough for him.

“I get just as much happiness over seeing a Frenchman or a German win,” he said.

But he said that he is not happy about the collapse of amateurism.

“We’re letting too many professionals in,” he said. “I’m an idealist. I would prefer to see a ‘clean’ Olympics.”