Quax critical of N.Z. Olympic decision

Press, 9 July 1980, Page 40

Quax critical of N.Z. Olympic decision

PA Auckland Dick Quax, back in Auckland for a brief stay before returning to the United States, yesterday criticised the New Zealand Government for its handling of the Moscow Olympic boycott. “I believe the New Zealand Government handled the whole Olympic situation very badly,” said Quax,

among those favoured to win the Moscow Olympic marathon before the athletic section of the New Zealand Olympic team was withdrawn. “Now the New Zealand politicians are talking about alternative competitions and alternative games for our sportsmen and sportswomen. “That’s a load of rubbish.

There are no alternatives to the Olympics — they are the ultimate.”

Quax believes that every New Zealander selected for the Moscow Olympics should have been left to make his or her own decision’ about taking part in the Games. “And I believe the Olympics are finished,” Quax said. “The Americans are naive to

think the next Olympics, scheduled for 1984 in Los Angeles, will go ahead. I cannot see it. I just cannot see the Eastern Europeans going to an Olympics in the United States after what has happened over Moscow.” The 1976 Olympic 5000 m silver medallist added that even if the 1984 Olympics were held, he would not be

interested in trying for them.

“I have spent enough time in Los Angeles to appreciate the difficulties of running an Olympic 10,000 m or marathon in that city. The heat in mid-summer and the smog would be killers.”

Quax will stay in Auckland until the end of this month and may contest both

the Auckland 10-man teams’ cross-country championship this Saturday and the Auckland individual cross-country championship on July 26.

He will then return to the United States to live permanently. He will be based in Eugene, Oregon, often referred to by Americans as the “running capital of the world.”