Word: olympiad
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...marred by politics. The unhappy sequence began with riots outside and a black-power salute by U.S. athletes inside the 1968 Games in Mexico City and the massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Games in Munich. It continued in 1976 with the boycott at the Olympiad in Montreal by black African nations that had unsuccessfully tried to get New Zealand expelled because one of its rugby teams had toured South Africa (which was barred from the Olympics after the 1960 Games because of its apartheid policies...
...wait a minute," interjects a still very angry man. "It's been years since we have achieved the political conciliation and unity of which you speak. Every Olympiad since 1976 has been marred by boycotts and international squabbles...
...stranger distances himself from the table and proclaims. "Gentlemen, think about an Olympics where the best compete against the best, but without associations with their countries. Yes, it would lack the sometimes burdensome political ramifications of the Games, but how empty such an Olympiad would seem, how pointless...
...Zurich and Geneva makes more than just political sense. The economic burden of the Games can be tremendous, Host city Montreal, for example, lost a bundle in 1976 and almost did not complete construction of its stadium in time for the opening ceremonies. Although local business thrives during an Olympiad, the host's tax coffers are rapidly depleted. If the site of the Games were made permanent, the initial expenditure would be offset by a lack of building requirements for all subsequent Olympiads. The initial construction costs themselves might be spread out, and assumed by the various participating nations...
Although far from an amateur, McKay obviously loves what he does and performs with the same concentration as that shown by the athletes he describes. With his 65th birthday on the horizon before the next Olympiad, he thinks about slowing down some, spending more time at his Maryland farm and racing a small stable of horses. Perhaps this will be his last Games. But then he stirs restlessly at the thought of Calgary in four years. "The Olympics," he says, "is the last real drama." That is precisely what he and ABC are striving to create for 13 days...