Echoing, empty halls at Moscow village

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 26

Echoing, empty halls at Moscow village

NZPA Moscow Footsteps echo hollowly round the Moscow Olympic village home of, New Zealand the team that almost wasn’t. So far, only the team manager and doctor are in residence. Today, four canoeists are due to arrive, with their manager, and tomorrow, in will come the modern pentathlete, Brian Newth, and that will be it. Five competitors and three officials will be in apartments that would have accommodated about 90 New Zealand Competitors in the separate men’s and women’s blocks. All except the iiwo sec tions of the New Zealand team pulled out because of

the American-inspired boycott of the Olympics over Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The New Zealand team manager, Mr Tay Wilson, was a somewhat lonely figure yesterday, in one of the seven neatly-appointed two-bedroom apartments that form the New Zealand men’s quarters. Today he will be joined by the canoeists, lan Ferguson, Alan Thompson, Geoff Walker and Steve McDonald, with their manager. The canoeists have been competing in England and Europe, and their form has been “reasonably good,” Mr Wilson said. “It’s disappointing to have had so many New Zealand competitors forced by various pressur-

es to pull out,” said Mr Wilson. “The pressures were very great — almost totalitarian, but there was a hard core who resisted all the pressures, and New Zealand will be taking part in the games.” The New Zealand team will be marching in the opening ceremony behind the New Zealand Olympic flag — bearing the five Olympic rings and a silver fern. : t*

Not one to sit around alone, Mr Wilson late* yesterday was heading for the friendly (in spite of last Saturday’s rugby result) confines of the Australian headquarters. “They’ve got a supply of good Aussie beer over there,” he said.