BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : LONG-LASTING HATRED

In four more days, at the end of Barcelona’s Summer Games, the countdown will begin for Atlanta.

Billy Payne, president of Atlanta’s organizing committee, said that he already is feeling the heat as the man who will either be credited for the Games’ success or blamed for their failure. But he said that he has taken some solace from Peter Ueberroth, who was in the same situation in 1984 at Los Angeles.

“Peter says that I’m going to be the most hated man in Atlanta for the next four years because I’m the one who has to tell people no,” Payne said. “But he said that when the Games are over, everyone will be telling me they knew all along it was going to be a big success.

“I hope he’s right. But I don’t look forward to being the most hated man in Atlanta for the next four years.”

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and Baltimore Sun, all Times-Mirror newspapers.