International Games News

May 2000

Full 2000 Schedule

Sydney Torch

The Olympic torch was blasted into space April 24, to lead off the longest torch tour in the history of the Olympic Games. The space shuttle Atlantis carried the torch and a Sydney 2000 flag into orbit during its 10 day expedition to the International Space Station. The shuttle will return to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on May 4 before the torch is lit in Greece on May 10 at the start of an Olympic torch relay through Oceania and Australia. Australia-born NASA astronaut Dr Andy Thomas initiated the project.

This is the second time an Olympic torch relay has begun by orbiting the earth, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games being the first.

The Olympic flame will be lit May 10 and after a 10-day relay in Greece, handed over to Australia. The flame will be flown to Guam where it will travel through the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Zealand. On June 8, the flame will be flown from Auckland to Uluru (Ayers Rock) where Atlanta hockey gold medallist Nova Peris-Kneebone will begin the Australian portion of the torch tour.

Palestinian Boycott?

Olympic organizers have denied a published report that Palestine is threatening to ask Arab countries to join a boycott of the Sydney Games. A story in Australian papers suggested that Palestine objected to a monument that has been erected in Sydney Olympic Park to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes slain at the 1972 Munich Olympics and would call for an Arab boycott. The story got its start when Sydney organizers were proposing a minute of silence to remember those slain at he Munich Games. The idea was dropped in February.

X Games

ESPN has plans to continue the expansion of the X Games by adding several annual international events. The Asian X Games Qualifier will return in December 2000, followed by four worldwide events in 2001 and possibly five events in 2002, in Asia, Europe and Latin America. ESPN marketers are anxious to expand the games and attract new sponsors.

The global qualifiers will include street and vert competitions in skateboarding, in-line skating and bicycle stunt riding, plus additional events that are popular within each region. ESPN International Networks televise action from each qualifier in over 180 countries. Qualifying athletes will be eligible to compete in the sixth annual X Games, August 17-22, 2000 in San Francisco.

New documents from the National Security Council declassified last month have revealed detailed plans by US President Richard Nixon to try and influence the selection of the host city for the 1976 Olympic Games. The administration had hoped the games would become part of the US bicentennial celebration.

The pressure was in direct response to Moscow having joined the bidding in 1969 to compete with Los Angeles and Montreal.

The White house and organizing committee discussed providing U.S. coaches for foreign nations through Fulbright grants, and US organizing committee members asked that all 72 IOC members be given "pieces of moon rock," as gifts, and that President Nixon write letters to each IOC member. Both proposals were rejected by the White House, though Nixon had ordered Henry A. Kissinger and the State Department to join in an "all-out" effort to capture the Olympic prize for the bicentennial celebration.

The IOC vote went to neither of the cold war powers. On May 12, 1970, Moscow led the first ballot with 28 votes, Montreal second with 25 votes and Los Angeles last with 17. On the second ballot, 16 of the 17 Los Angeles votes switched to the Canadian city giving Montreal the honor of hosting the 1976 games.

Squaw Valley

Not much is left from the legacy of the second winter Olympics held in the United States, Squaw Valley in 1960. A roadside memorial, the 79-foot-tall "Tower of Nations," supporting five Olympic rings and the crests of competing nations marks the location of he games. However the High Camp mid-mountain lodge includes the 1960 Olympic Museum and skating is open to the public at the Olympic ice rink. A swimming pool and bungee tower are also available.

Anniversaries

100th anniversary of Olympic Games, Paris, France, May 20-Oct. 28, 1900

70th anniversary of Far East Championships, Tokyo, Japan, May 24-27, 1930