Olympic Organizer Threatens to Resign

The chief organizer of next year’s Nagano Olympics has threatened to resign after a bitter disagreement over the showpiece event of the Winter Games--the men’s Alpine skiing downhill, Olympic sources said Tuesday.

Makoto Kobayashi, the director-general of the Nagano Organizing Committee, disagrees with international skiing officials who want to keep the Games from staging one of the shortest downhill races in history.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) argues the start of the downhill must be higher up the mountain.

FIS officials believe a higher start of 5,905 feet from the planned 5,510 is needed to ensure the race is of Olympic standard.

Not raising it would be discriminating against Olympic skiers because recreational skiers already have access to the area, it claims. But the move is opposed by environmental groups who say it would affect a national park.

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For the first time since the 1920s, no commercial logos will appear on uniforms worn by U.S. athletes when they ascend the medal podium in Nagano.

Only the U.S. Olympic Committee’s logo--the letters USA over the five interlocked Olympic rings--will appear on team suits worn for medal presentations and the opening and closing ceremonies.

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Women’s water polo was given Olympic status, wiping out the last men-only team sport in time for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.

Auto Racing

Michael Schumacher conceded he made a mistake in colliding with Jacques Villeneuve during Sunday’s European Grand Prix, but didn’t apologize.

“It’s part of the game. But I didn’t try to foul. . . . I see no reason to apologize,” Schumacher said of the collision, which cost him this year’s world title.

Some accused him of deliberately steering into Villeneuve’s Williams-Renault to try to take both cars out of Sunday’s race.

British driver David Coulthard testified in Imola, Italy, that the flexibility of the steering column in Ayrton Senna’s car was normal when the Brazilian champion died in a 1994 crash.

Prosecutor Maurizio Passarini contends that a badly modified steering column in Senna’s Williams-Renault cracked during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, causing the fatal crash.

Coulthard was a test driver for Williams in 1994.

Miscellany

Anaheim Stadium wants to lure assorted football and soccer events to the renovated facility next fall.

Kevin Uhlich, the Angels’ director of stadium operations, said he would like to book high school and college football games as well as soccer matches, concerts and motor sports into the stadium next year, with the emphasis on special events rather than a team tenant.

Organizers of this month’s Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, say four medal-winning athletes tested positive for banned substances.

The athletes were Indonesia’s gold medal-winning cyclist Tonton Susanto, Burma’s bronze medal body builder Khin Maung Htwe, and two gold medalists from Thailand, shooter Kerdsumiran Nuawan and decathlete David Yinsumruay.

Boris Becker beat Australian Mark Woodforde, 6-2, 6-4, in his opening match at the Paris Open. Former French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced easily with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Daniel Vacek, and Arnaud Clement rallied to beat Marc Rosset, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. . . . Mario Ricon upset third-seeded Marcelo Filippini, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), in the opening round of the Colombia Open in Bogota, Colombia. . . . National team goalkeeper Kasey Keller and women’s national team striker Mia Hamm were selected athletes of the year by the U.S. Soccer Federation. . . . Chris Dickson resigned as skipper of Dennis Conner’s yacht Toshiba, which finished a disappointing sixth in the first leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race.