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 put higher up the mountain.

Kobayashi claims that would break Japanese environmental law.

FIS officials believe that 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. FIS officials claim they would not need to build anything in the park and the racers would simply ski through an area which recreational skiers already use.

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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, USOC marketing leader John Krimsky said.

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.

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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.

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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; Arnaud Clement rallied to beat Marc Rosset, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. . . . National team goalkeeper Kasey Keller and women’s national team striker Mia Hamm were selected as the U.S. Soccer Federation’s athletes of the year. . . . Chris Dickson resigned as skipper of Dennis Conner’s yacht Toshiba, which finished a disappointing sixth out of 10 boats in the first leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race.