EAST GERMANY PREPARING FOR 1988 OLYMPICS IN SEOUL
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from November 1984.
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East Germany was one of about a dozen Soviet allies that boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games because of what officials claimed were U.S. plans to harass communist competitors. Despite government backing, the walkout was highly unpopular in East Germany, which figured to challenge the Soviet Union for honours, as the top team from the communist world.
The Soviet Union recently launched a campaign in the state-run press against the 1984 Seoul Games in an apparent effort to pressure the International Olympic Committee to switch the venue. But IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch has insisted the committee would honour its pledge to hold the games in the South Korean capital.
In a speech in East Berlin, President Manfred Ewald of the National Olympic Committee stressed that East Germany supports the Olympic Charter and the spirit of the games.
"We support a democratic further development of a unified Olympic world movement with the Olympic Games at the core," Ewald told the committee in remarks carried by the state news agency ADN.
"They must always serve the humanistic goals of international understanding, detente and peace. This also goes for the Olympic Games of 1988," he said.
Ewald appealed to East Germany's athletes "to prepare themselves for this with their greatest personal effort" so they could serve the Olympic idea and "represent their socialist homeland honourably."
He noted that East Germany has reaped worldwide respect and acclaim from the sports triumphs of its athletes. Ewald also condemned "commercial misuse" and professionalism in Olympic sports and accused the Los Angeles Games' organizers and the U.S. Government of blocking East Germany's participation.
"The athletes of (East Germany) prepared with great effort for the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where they wanted to repeat the traditional success of our republic. "As is known this didn't happen because the U.S. Government and the games' organizers feared a new success of athletes of socialist countries and thus prevented their start," he charged. East Germany will host the 90th session of the International Olympic Committee next June 3-6 in East Berlin
