Olympic committee head takes political view

Press, 22 September 1987, Page 29

Olympic committee head takes political view

By

LARRY SIDDONS

NZPA-AP Lausanne

From his desk in an eighteenth century chateau, Juan Antonio Samaranch has two views of the world. If the International Olympic Committee president looks out the window to his left he can see past gardens and statues to Lake Geneva, a hazeshrouded oasis of calm water. When his gaze returns to the work before him, Samaranch sees another world, just as real as the sailboats on the horizon and much more unsettling. It is the world of politics. It has been in step with the Olympics since ancient times, and for the sixth consecutive Olympiad is becoming as much a part of the Summer Games as marathon runners and gold medals. “It always comes, again and again and again,” said Samaranch, the Spanish ambassador to the Soviet Union before his election to head the 1.0. C. in 1980.

Centuries ago in Greece, the flashpoint was Sparta v. Athens. Since Mexico City in 1968 it has been black power, terrorism, apartheid and super-. Power struggles. Now it' was Korea.

Seoul, the capital of the southern half of the peninsula divided after World War 11, is hosting the 1988 Olympics, starting in one year. Pyongyang, the capital of the Communistled northern half, is demanding to co-host the games by staging eight events. It is a dispute Samaranch estimates takes up half his time, and is only slightly closer to a solution than when the North issued its demands some years ago..

“I am not optimistic and I am not pessimistic,” Samaranch said. “Our concern is to do our best and try to reach an agreement with North Korea.”

If no agreement is reached, North Korea has said it will not attend the Games and has hinted that it will try to lead a boycott of Seoul by other Eastern-bloc nations. Boycotts have hit the last three Summer Olympics, but the Korean dispute brings a new element to the chess match of Olympic politics: military might.

Tens of thousands of troops are lined up on both sides of the demilitarised zone, less than an hour’s drive from Seoul.

A Government-sup-, ported South Korean think tank has said the North might use military power to disrupt the Games if its co-host demands are not met Earlier this year a North Korean Army sergeant defected ' to the South and promptly told a Seoul news conference of rumours circulating among his old regiment that “something unusual” might happen in connection with the Olympics. Internal politics have been touched by the games as well. North Korean officials have repeatedly said student and labour unrest in the South make Seoul a dangerous place to the hold the Games. When those demonstrations against the South Korean Government spread to the middle class this summer and filled downtown Seoul with tear gas, the fate of the Games was discussed world wide. As a handful of cities offered themselves as alternative sites, Samaranch said the Olympics would be held in

Seoul or nowhere. He kept in close contact with South Korean leaders until stability returned.

But it is North-South tension that has been the LO.C.’s long-running focus and the subject of mediation efforts. In that mediation, the 92-member 1.0. C. has given complete authority to its executive board. Samaranch heads the board and has become the point man in trying to find a solution.

He has held four joint meetings with the two sides at the 1.0.C.’s headquarters at Chateau de Vidy and numerous sessions with officials on one side or the other. He has enlisted the North’s allies, meeting the Cuban Premier, Fidel Castro, in Havana to dicuss the situation. Samaranch has

also received what he described as a “personal, important letter” from Castro, urging him to keep the issue open and offering Cuba’s help “to reach an agreement that can permit or allow all the countries, including North Korea, to take part in the games.”

Samaranch travels widely: three silver trophies, each awarded for 1 million kilometres of air travel attest to that. Virtually everywhere he goes, the Korean dispute is discussed. North Korea asked that the issue of invitations to the games be postponed until talks were finished, but the 1.0. C. said that would violate the Olympic Charter, its by-laws. One reason for the North’s request was that

the invitations for 1988 must ask national Olympic committees whether the games of the twentyfourth Olympiad “in Seoul, Korea,” are in accordance with the charter. But they also include a footnote.

“There is a paragraph mentioning we are dealing with North Korea with the possibility to have some events in Pyongyang,” Samaranch said. “All the national Olympic committees, if we reach an agreement, will be told in due time.”

It is a unique solution for a unique dilemma orchestrated by a man who will repeatedly say "the Olympic movement never has been stronger.”

That is Juan Antonio Samaranch’s favourite view of the world.