East Germany, Bulgaria join Olympic boycott

Press, 11 May 1984, Page 1

East Germany, Bulgaria join Olympic boycott

NZPA-Reuter East Berlin East Germany, Bulgaria, and Vietnam yesterday joined the Soviet Union in withdrawing from the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in July and August.

As the United States seemed reconciled to the fact that the decision was final, the fear that the rest of the Eastern bloc countries, as well as Cuba, would follow the Soviet lead became a distinct possibility However, there will be no rival games held in the Eastern bloc to coincide with the Olympics, it was announced from Sofia.

The position is likely to become clearer today after an Eastern bloc summit meeting in Moscow, but the president of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, had still not given up hope of persuading the Russians to change their minds, and he will be flying to Moscow to meet officials tomorrow.

The Soviet Union defended its decision in a tersely worded article which appeared in the official news agency Tass yesterday, while reaction in the United States was guarded, with both President Reagan and his predecessor, Mr Jimmy Carter, expressing their regret. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is still in the running for nomination as the Democratic Party candidate in the Presidential elections, said he is meeting the Soviet Ambassador to Washington, Mr Anatoly Dobrynin, today with a view to

persuading the Russians to reverse the decision. Mr Jackson successfully negotiated the release of an American hostage in Syria by flying to Damascus earlier this year for talks with the Syrian President, Mr Hafez Assad. However, the United States appeared resigned to the Russian absence from the Games, and a State Department spokesman, Mr John Hughes, said: “The Soviet refusal to participate in the Los Angeles Games seems to be final, and we have had no discussions with them on this.” He said that the Americans did not envisage making any new concessions to appease Moscow, as they had taken “all possible steps” to facilitate the Soviet Union’s participation. Bulgaria became the first country to follow the Russian lead by announcing it was also withdrawing from the Games, but the national Olympic committee president, Mr Ivan Slavkov, denied that Bulgaria would be organising an alternative games. Reports had suggested that plans for a rival “Red Games” to be held in Sofia, were well advanced. The Polish news agency Pap has questioned Poland’s participation, and it was expected that all the Eastern bloc nations, as well as

Cuba, would withdraw from the Games. The only possible exception could be Rumania, who may go to Los Angeles to display their independence from Moscow. Leading Eastern European sports officials were meanwhile gathering in Moscow for a “summit” meeting today, which is expected to decide whether East European countries should follow the Soviet Union’s lead. However, Cuba has yet to comment on the withdrawal. Vietnam’s withdrawal was announced in a Communist Party newspaper article which accused the United States Government of ordering plans to kidnap Vietnamese athletes. “The Reagan Administration has given orders to numerous Vietnamese reactionaries to gather tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles, with the aim of organising demonstrators hostile to Vietnam, as well as plans for kidnapping, intimidation, and violence against Vietnamese athletes,” the Hanoi newspaper, “Nhan Dan” said. The East German news agency, A.D.N., said there was no guarantee for the security of participants from East Germany and other socialist countries. In proportion to its 17

million „ population, East Germany is regarded as the world’s strongest sporting nation and was expected to be amongst the top three medal winners at Los Angeles. Reuters news agency said that East Germany’s decision to follow the Soviet Union out of the Games will, in sports terms, have a far more disruptive effect than the 1980 United Statesled Olympic boycott in which more than 50 teams declined to go to Moscow. The East Germans and the Soviet Union are the outstanding nations in Olympic competition and their withdrawal will mean many of the best-known athletes in international sport will be absent from what is supposed to be the greatest festival in the sporting calendar.

Late last evening, the president of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, Mr Lance Cross, said in Wellington that the row over Olympic attendance was starting to take on serious proportions. Mr Cross said he was still hopeful the dispute could be settled in time to allow the Games to proceed, “I may be over optimistic, but I still hope the International Olympic Committee may be able to influence the situation,” he told NZPA.