No Question About Atlanta’s Field, but There Is Some About Stadium

The inaugural event in the Olympic Stadium today might be the best international track and field meet in the United States since the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, the ones in 1932.

“If you recall, there were some 37 countries that were not there in 1984,” said Ollan Cassell, executive director of USA Track & Field. “It was called the boycott Olympics. This may be a better track competition than you saw there.”

Among the entrants for the IAAF Grand Prix meet are 51 Olympic and world championship medalists, including Carl Lewis, Dennis Mitchell and Donovan Bailey in the men’s 100, Gail Devers and Gwen Torrence in the women’s 100, Michael Johnson and Michael Marsh in the 200, Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the women’s high hurdles and long jump, Maria Mutola in the women’s 1,500, Noureddine Morceli in the 1,500, Marie-Jose Perec in the 400 and Sergei Bubka in the pole vault.

Vice President Al Gore and International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch are expected among an anticipated crowd of 60,000. Perhaps no more than a third of those will have paid. The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, to avoid the embarrassment of a multitude of empty seats for a meet televised in 121 countries, dispensed most of the tickets to volunteers and sponsors.

The stadium has not been particularly well received worldwide. Asked about it Thursday night, the world-record holder in the triple jump, Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, said, “Well, maybe I shouldn’t say anything.”

The problem is that is is too little like previous Olympic stadiums and too much like a baseball stadium, which it will become when the Atlanta Braves move in next season. Seating capacity will be reduced by about 30,000 for baseball.

“When we first saw the plans of the stadium, it was beautiful, but it was a baseball stadium,” said Primo Nebiolo, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

“We for track and field had to change it. We looked at the stadium, made a proposal and it was accepted. It will always be a baseball stadium, but it’s also a good Olympic stadium.”

British track and field writers who toured the stadium this week are not so sure.

“My report was not entirely favorable,” said David Powell of The Times of London. “Mostly, Olympic stadiums are bowls. In this configuration, there is an open end around the bend [for the area behind home plate.] That will serve as more of a ventilator for atmosphere instead of a generator.”

But British track coach Malcolm Arnold said that should not affect the competition,

“Don’t think about what the stadium looks like,” he said. “It’s what happens in it that counts.”