July 28, 1996

Atlanta Bombing Illustrates Need For Olympic Reform

• Too much hype.
• Too much nationalism.
• Too much politics.
• Too much professionalism.
• Too much commercialism.

A terrorist bomb at the Olympiad in Atlanta -- killing two and injuring 110 at this writing -- reminds us that the ideal of sportsmanship and peace has been smothered once again by excesses.

Origin of the games is clouded by myth. The first record of organized athletics, as a tribute to the Greek god Zeus, is dated 776 b.c. -- a single footrace.

By 394 a.d., the quadrennial Olympiads had become a disgrace for the same reasons listed above. Emperor Theodosius abolished the spectacle.

The first few Olympiads were sensible: see who could run up the hill fastest to the temple of Zeus, give the victor a head band of olive leaves, then everybody party. No nonsense about who was second and third, or how long it took. The aim was to find a winner, not to calculate degrees of muscular effort in hundredths of a second. Next day, the winner's wreath had withered -- 24 hours of fame deemed sufficient for mortals lest they aspire to be gods. But Zeus said, "Let there be TV," and the Olympiads have never been the same.

Old sportswriters, like yours truly, prefer the first Olympiads of the modern era re-invented by a French baron, Pierre de Coubertin, a century ago. Only amateurs could compete. Winners got a silver medal and a sprig of olive leaves. Medals for runners up were introduced later. Incidentally, today's "gold" medal is the same as the second-place silver but gold-plated. No matter. All medals are imperishable and can be parlayed into lifetime fame and fortune with a modicum of TV hype.

This year's summer games at Atlanta set a standard for television promotion that undoubtedly will be mandatory hereafter. NBC-TV paid $450 million for exclusive broadcast rights so it must hustle to make a profit.

With deference to the bottom line, NBC has transformed a pure sports event into an unabashed entertainment for sports illiterates. This is not necessarily bad -- just a bit unsettling for purists. It is reported that NBC researched the lives of 10,000 athletes who have come to compete in this year's games. Those that have suffered in some way were videoed. (Note that this combination of letters, sired by TV, is recognized by my computer as a new, real word.)

When ABC-TV owned Olympic broadcast rights, previews of athletes were a jinx. Superstitious athletes avoided pre-game publicity. NBC now emphasizes heartaches and adversity -- a conscious effort to elicit women viewers.

What a change from the original Olympiads when women were barred from attending the games. Those who sneaked in, and were caught, were thrown over a nearby cliff. In Atlanta, 3,800 women from 170 countries are vying for medals.

Athletes no longer are content with one medal. Superstars strive for several of the 239 golds in 26 sports staged for the "summer" Olympiads. The "winter" games in between have another cache of medals to award.

To further pump up public interest, the media stress nationalism by scoring medal values -- three for gold, two for silver and one for bronze. The country with the highest number of points is declared the over-all winner.

Spectators participate in the international rivalry with flags and jingoistic cheers. Gold medalists are treated to a rendition of their national anthems.

Politics -- always present in the Olympiads of my memory -- were evident also this year. Overly much was made of carrying a flame from Athens, Greece. No one seems to recall that this theatrical touch was instituted by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for the 1936 Berlin Olympiad.

Torches this year were relayed back and forth around the United States for a month -- some runners chosen for obvious political correctness. After a detour in Atlanta to circle the Martin Luther King memorial, the flame finally was passed to Cassius Clay as the most fitting, former Olympic American athlete to light the symbolic torch. Clay is better remembered as Muhammad Ali, the boxer who dodged the military draft during the Vietnam War and changed his name for political reasons revered by social liberals.

Close to politics as an Olympic excess is inclusion of professionals in basketball and tennis -- an egregious violation of Coubertin's ideal of amateurism. The slaughter of Angola by the so-called "dream team" of American millionaires was a farce. Wealthy tennis pros just continued their usual exhibitions from the tours. Promising young athletes in both sports were frozen out.

The city of Atlanta has shelled out $1.7 billion of taxpayers' money -- so far -- to host the affair. The final figure could double. Coca-Cola and General Motors led the parade of businesses that spent untold millions for the honor of being recognized as "official sponsors."

Saturday morning's bomb at the AT&T communication tower appears to be a homemade device. It likely was constructed by a local whacko. Whether planted by a deranged person with a grudge, or a mass murderer revenging perceived religious or racial slights, this latest bombing is a clear reason to reform the Olympiads. Something must be done to reduce the temptation to make them high-profile "statements."

Coubertin's vision of peace through sportsmanship is too important to lose again. We should eliminate national flags and anthems, medal counts, professionals, border-line events, slight variations of the same sports, and opening night extravaganzas.

Either this, or abandon the Olympiads entirely.

PARTING SHOTS

Yard by yard, life is hard. Inch by inch, it's a cinch.

* * *

Haley Barbour, Republican National Chairman, says he doesn't understand Clinton's administrative gaffes inasmuch as the president has a crack White House staff.

* * *

The General Accounting Office wants to discontinue pennies which no longer have much value. One is reminded of the French sou which was dropped as worthless after World War II. The coin originally was minted in pure gold of equivalent $10,000 value for use by sovereigns.

Where are you, Louie, when we need you?

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers