Cuba joins boycott

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 26

Cuba joins boycott

NZPA-AP Mexico City Cuba, following the lead of the Soviet Union and nine other Communist nations, yesterday withdrew from the summer Olympics, claiming the organisers had violated Olympic regulations. The decision not to go to Los Angeles was reported by the Cuban Government’s news agency Prensa Latina in Havana. The dispatch, monitored here, said the action was taken by the Cuban Olympic Committee in a special meeting held yesterday in the Cuban capital. The dispatch quoted a statement by the committee as saying: "The committee has proof that it is absolutely true that in organising the Los Angeles Games, a series of irregularities and violations of Olympic regulations were committed. “This caused deep worry, protests and denunciations by various National Olympic Committees,” the dispatch quoted the statement as saying. It cited among other failures “pro-

vocations against Socialist countries and lack of security.” Cuba became the eleventh country to withdraww from the Olympics. The boycott began on May 8 when the Soviet Union announced it would not take part, alleging lack of security.

Others who have announced they are not going to Los Angeles are East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, and Afghanistan. There have been widespread predictions that more will follow, including Rumania and North Korea. All the countries that have withdrawn have until June 2 to reconsider. It is by that date that nations must make known their intentions. The Cuban withdrawal will deprive the Games of several top athletes, including the heavyweight boxer, Teofilo Stevenson, who was going to try to win his fourth Olympic gold medal. In the women’s javelin, Maria Colon, the Pan

American champion, and Mayra Vila were considered medal contenders. Cuba’s women’s volleyball team is also highly rated. Cuba won 10 boxing medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and was expected to again do well.

Cuba's announcement came the same day leaders of the International Olympic movement were arriving in Prague, Czechoslovakia, for talks with Communist sports leaders in a lastminute attempt to reverse the spreading boycott. In Los Angeles, Peter Ueberroth, the Games chief organiser, called the Cuban withdrawal a Soviet blockade of Cuban athletes who wanted more than anything to compete and excel in the 1984 Games. He said it was further evidence of the Soviets’ unconscionable campaign to strongarm other nations. Ueberroth said the Soviets had pledged last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, not to try to pressure other countries to join their boycott.