White House seeks quick U.S.O.C. boycott statement

Press, 18 February 1980, Page 8

White House seeks quick U.S.O.C. boycott statement

NZPA-Reuter Lake Placid American Olympic leaders have met a special envoy sent by President Carter, who has been working to force, the removal of the 1980 Olympic Games from Moscow.

Officials of the International Olympic Committee refused to comment when asked if the White House adviser, Lloyd Cutler, had seen the 1.0. C. president (Lord Killanin) during his visit to Lake Placid where 37 nations are competing in the Winter Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee president (Mr Robert Kane) told reporters he and his general secretary (Mr Don Miller) had met Mr Cutler to discuss Washington’s demand that American competitors should boycott the Moscow Games unless Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan by next Wednesday. The 1.0. C. last week refused to take the Games away from Moscow, rejecting the American charge that the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan made it unsuitable as the venue ' for peaceful world sports gathering. Mr Kane said the American Olympic Committee, which under 1.0. C. rules has until May 24 to accept .or reject the Games invitation, had reiterated to Mr Cutler that, its organisation did not have' the authority to withdraw from the .Games formally . until its governing body, the house of delegates, meets in Colorado Springs on April 11 and 12.. Reliable sources said the White House was pressing the U.S.O.C. to announce a boycott immediately after February 20.

Mr Kane told a press conference last week that the | American committee would [cling to any faint hope that the Soviet intervention might end in time to permit American teams to take part in the Olympics, for which many athletes have been training for years. Lord Killanin said in an interview yesterday that President Carter could not keep American athletes from going to the Games in Moscow without calling in question the individual liberties to which the United States proclaims de.ep attachment. In an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse, Lord Killanin said he believed something would happen before the situation became irreversible.

“Time is very important,” he said.

Evoking the critical few months ahead, Lord Killanin said a government could withdraw its financial aid to an Olympic committee and forbid people to travel. However, 4he.se measures would negate basic personal freedoms. The 1.0. C. president expressed regret that some governments had undertaken a crusade against the Olympics without first consulting the 1.0. C. Had they done so they would have been able to find out what effect their attitude might have on the youth of the world. According to Lord Killanin, domestic policy consrd-

erations had led President Carter to take a stance contradictory to his principles. The cause of the Moscow Olvmpics was not yet lost, he said, but the Olympic movement had become bogged down in a situation of waiting and concern. Lord Killanin said he continued to believe in the moral strength of the Olympic movement, whose unity had been bolstered during the latest time of crisis. He. forecast a further strengthening of the movement at the 1.0. C. meeting with international federations in Lausanne, Switzerland, in April. Meanwhile, 1.0. C. officials have denied that Lord Killanin intends to fly to Moscow in an attempt to persuade the Russians ,to pull out of Afghanistan.