Olympics assurance by Russians

Press, 29 November 1976, Page 32

Olympics assurance by Russians

NZPA New Orleans Russia will seek the maximum possible participation of athletes in the 1980 Olympic Games and try to keep politics out, according to a delegation of high ranking Russian officials in the United States, United Press International reported. “We are on record that the Soviet Union is against the utilisation of sports exchanges or cultural events for any ulterior motives,” said Mr Andrei Ledovsky, vice chairman of the Russian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. “So far as the sportsmen are concerned . . . maximum participation will be desired.” Canada barred participation by the Taiwanese during the 1976 Montreal Olympics to soothe relations with mainland China, and many African delegations left the Games in protest of minority white rule in South Africa. Mr Ledovsky, speaking through an interpreter, said it is too early to tell what political complications might arise in Moscow in 1980. He said no limitations would be put on visitors from noncommunist countries, except the natural limit of hotel space.