It Was A Call To Colors

Some of the pomp was dampened by politics, but the XXI Olympiad opened last Saturday in Montreal. For more than a year there had been doubts that the Games would take place. But on a gloriously beautiful afternoon, with England's Queen Elizabeth presiding, speaking first in French, then in English, the Olympics began. The torch was carried into the stadium by a boy with the haunting name of Stephane Prefontaine, accompanied by a girl, Sandra Henderson, who shared the symbolic task by holding his wrist lightly as they ran. There was music and dancing and speeches and the traditional parade of participating nations. That part didn't take nearly as long as it should have; more than a score of nations were absent.

Taiwan was not in the stadium, of course. Nobody was surprised at that. The Canadian government had sugar-coated the bitter pill of its Olympics ban with last-minute concessions and the U.S. had applauded the move. But the athletes and officials of the Republic of China had spurned the bottom-line offer to operate as Nation X and had packed their principles and departed.

In quick order the Taiwanese were joined by 24 nations, the majority of them African, all electing to boycott the Games for another political reason. Their wrath was aimed at New Zealand but their real target was South Africa. Thus, the rainbow march of athletes seemed only slightly longer than the lineup of those missing. Not that the African exodus from Montreal's $1.5 billion playground was any less expected than that of Taiwan—the African nations have been poised for just such a move ever since New Zealand sent a rugby team to play in South Africa following the recent Soweto riots in which an estimated 176 persons died.

Lee Evans, twice a U.S. Olympian and now the sprint coach for the Nigerian track team, had seen it coming. "I knew the heavy stuff would come down at the Olympics," he said. "I was just waiting for it to happen. I'm glad we are making a stand, even though I'd like to see how my guys would have done. The Olympics aren't so big that we can't give them up. We feel that a sacrifice must be made."

The African nations had played a patient hand. Their opening move came two weeks ago, after the annual summit conference of the Organization of African Unity, when Tanzania announced that it was not sending its team—1,500-meter world-record holder Filbert Bayi and friends—to Montreal. A day later Nigeria, largest and politically one of the strongest of the black African nations, said other countries would probably take the same stand. After that the Africans sat back to wait as the Taiwan issue dominated the headlines.

The Taiwanese had played this game before. They had been forced to parade under the name of Formosa in Rome in 1960 but had been allowed a banner of protest. Four years later in Tokyo they marched as Taiwan. Still, their Olympic face had been saved when their Japanese hosts permitted them to print, in small Japanese characters, the name " Republic of China" under the larger one of Taiwan on the parade placard. But now, when the IOC and a suddenly tough U.S. delegation tried to force Canada into a similar compromise, the move was rebuffed. "We don't want another compromise," warned Victor Yuen, secretary of the Taiwan delegation. "Either we are the Republic of China or we go home."

By last Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had relented enough to allow the Taiwanese to use their flag. And if they won a gold medal, he agreed, they could play their anthem. But they still could not participate under the forbidden name. "They can play whatever tune they want and they can wave whatever flag they want," he said, "but they can't use a name that isn't theirs."

A relieved Lord Killanin, president of the IOC, felt that Canada had made important concessions. "Good show," he said. Philip Krumm, head of the U.S. delegation, at first said, "We feel that our loyalty to the Republic of China and our pledge to it has been fulfilled even with this restriction. We took a tough stand—without those concessions from Canada we could have gone home." Later he said, "It is astounding that the Taiwanese turned it down."

That night 15 of the black African countries signed a pledge reserving the right to leave the Games unless New Zealand was sent packing. The major sporting nations were Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda. The others were Chad, Ghana, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Togo, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Niger, Zambia and the Congo. They gave the IOC until 4 p.m. Friday to render a decision, but they were not optimistic. Even before their letter was carried to Lord Killanin, Nigeria had a charter plane on its way to Montreal.

The New Zealanders professed to be stunned by the African onslaught. Rugby isn't an Olympic sport. "But I can't blame the Africans," said Dick Quax, who recently ran the 5,000 in 13:13.2, only .2 off the world record. "I mean, knowing how they feel about the South Africans. I blame the rugby people and I blame our government for putting us in this position. If our government says sports and politics don't mix, they ought to come here."