‘Games here to stay’ — Lance Cross in Russia

Press, 30 July 1980, Page 19

‘Games here to stay’ — Lance Cross in Russia

NZPA Wellington “The Olympic Games in their present form are here to stay,” in the opinion of Mr Lance Cross, a member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee and the president of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. In an interview with a Novosti press agency reporter. Yevgeny Pozdnya-. kov, Mr Cro..; said that all the speculation about “the end of the Games as we know them” was based either on ignorance or bias.

There were, however, several problems that influenced the future development of the Olympic movement. Cne of them was" the “gigantism” of the Games. With the increase in the number of Olympic sports, the number;, of participants, officials, judges, journalists as well as spectators also went up significantly.’ Because of this trend, ■ Mr Cross explained, fewer and fewer-xities in the World could .'now provide the necessary sport, accommodation, transport and communication facilities. When such facilities were built specially for the Games, the problem arose of using them afterwards. In some' cases, according to Mr Cross, as in Tokyo, Munich and in Moscow, the Olympic village and sport arenas were easily incorporated into town-development projects. But in other cities the Olympic facilities stayed idle for many years before they were fully used by the local community.

To solve the problem, said Mr Cross, it had been suggested that the right to organise Olympic Games be granted not to a single city, but rather to a country which could then distribute Olympic events between several cities. This might lessen the burden on individual urban centres but would ruin the main Olympic principle of having all participants — boxers and swimmers, runners and wrestlers — together in one village. The idea behind the Olympics was not only sporting competition but also the getting together of athletes of different nations. Mr Cross pointed to the “great fraternising” which took place now in the Moscow Olympic village, where sportsmen of

different races, religious faiths, ideologies and cultural backgrounds lived, trained, and enjoyed many things together. .Many become friends for life. No-one could deny, said Mr Cross, that this led to. a great amount of understanding between representatives of different countries, which was a very beneficial factor for ■the human race today. Lance Cross is opposed to the idea of one permanent place for the Games, even at Olympia in Greece. He thinks that the idea is not practical since it is financially difficult to maintain the facilities, especially electronic sport and communication equipment, between the Games. Besides, in four years some of it can become outdated. Most of the international sports federations, said Mr Cross, would reject propositions to use permanent Olympic facilities for their, world tournaments.

There was a strong belief among their leaders that by arranging competitions in different parts of the world they helped to promote their sports in various countries and places. Some federations, according, to Mr Cross, because of the nature of their sports, could have their world championships even in small towns, giv* ing backwater provinces the chance, to come to the fore. He cited the world rowing championships in New ' Zealand a couple of years ago as well as the archery this year, in Palmerston North as vivid examples of such strategy. This was also true of

the Olympics, he said. When the Games were held in Melbourne, he recalls, this brought the whole country into the movement. That was why he agreed with the newlyelected lOC president, Mr Juan Samaranch. that Olympic Games belonged to the whole world and should be held in different parts of the globe. Mr Cross.spoke strongly against manipulation of the Olympics for political purposes. They sometimes put the international Olympic committee in a position where it was not able to carry out its objectives in accordance with its charter. There was a growing need, Mr Cross said, to re-establish the 1.0. C. as the international independent nongovernment organisation. The problems facing

modern Olympics were , complex. but in spite of this he was sure the Games will be with us for a long time. Those who criticised the organisation of the Games, he said, did not suggest anything constructive. To the tens of thousands of athletes throughout the world they remained the most attractive goal, the greatest platform of international competition; there was no substitute. Speaking of the Moscow Olympics, Lance Cross calls their organisation “absolutely perfect” or “spot on” in Kiwi vernacular, thanks to a great amount. of expertise accumulated in the Soviet Union in arranging international tournaments, national meetings and world university games.