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2004-04-28 International-UN-NGOs
Spitz Raises Spectre of US Missing Olympics
United States Olympic hero Mark Spitz has raised the spectre of an American withdrawal from this summer’s Athens Games due to security concerns. Spitz, who won seven swimming golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by terrorists, believes the US team is at this stage not certain to show up in Greece.

With ongoing conflicts involving the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as heightened terrorist fears since the events of September 11 2001, Spitz claims American politicians will still be keeping an open mind on whether to send a team to Athens. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We are looking under the microscope at all the different terrorist acts and we know there is a high degree of probability that something could happen in Athens. Would that be political suicide to send a team there if you were the Bush administration?

“If you were to yank the carpet out from under the American team and nothing happened, would that be because they are only after Americans? If that does happen in will happen in the 11th hour and 59th minute.

“I would say that about six months ago it was highly unlikely but each day as it goes on with current world affairs it becomes more probable than not that ongoing conversations will take place as to how important it is to put athletes in harms way.”

However, a spokesman for the US Olympic Committee said: “Today there is absolutely no consideration given to the notion our team will not be in Athens.”
I would suggest that if the US team is attacked by an islamfascist group in Athens, the gloves will come off. We won't go nuclear, but a good 3/4 of this country will finally get it, and get mad.
Posted by Steve White 2004-04-28 12:00:00 AM|| || Front Page|| [11138 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 ..IIRC, Dr Spitz is a member of the US Olympic Commission - if so, this may be the two minute warning.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-04-28 12:19:37 AM||   2004-04-28 12:19:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Hey, Aris, how are those stadiums coming along?
Posted by Raj 2004-04-28 12:22:50 AM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com]  2004-04-28 12:22:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Athens 2004 could be far, far worse than Munich 1972.
Dr. Spitz knows whereof he speaks.
I think the USA team should stay home.
Posted by Jen  2004-04-28 12:25:56 AM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-04-28 12:25:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 I doubt anything will happen. Targetting Americans will put other nations' athletes at risk and that would piss off the whole world (or parts of it anyway).
Posted by Rafael 2004-04-28 12:26:31 AM||   2004-04-28 12:26:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Meanwhile, the people that built the Parthenon thousands of years ago can't get the roof on the main stadium for the Olympics.
Posted by Jen  2004-04-28 12:30:08 AM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-04-28 12:30:08 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 From the link that Raj provided:

The union claims average working hours are being pushed up from five to seven a day, to between seven and 12 hours a day

Say it ain't so!!! My record is 16 hours straight. Two shifts. Illegal, but hey... I know people who regularly do 12 hours.
Posted by Rafael 2004-04-28 12:31:24 AM||   2004-04-28 12:31:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 These Olympics are going to be unpleasant. I'm not so much worried about the Koran & Semetex crowd as I am about the Eurotrash fans. They're gonna be booing the flag and the anthem and our athletes. Considering the fact that we'll dominate the medal stands as usual, there's going to be a lot of chances for booing.
Posted by John in Tokyo 2004-04-28 12:51:35 AM||   2004-04-28 12:51:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Jen, are we piling on again?
Posted by Raj 2004-04-28 12:55:26 AM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com]  2004-04-28 12:55:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Rafael, don't be so sure. They bombed the UN in Bagdad, they attacked Turkey twice, Jordon just missed a big on, Syria ditto, SA got hit, Madrid! The jihadies could care less about pissing people off. They want total jihad, Islam vs the world. But guess where jihad isn't going on. Cough cough, Iran.
Posted by Lucky 2004-04-28 1:30:26 AM||   2004-04-28 1:30:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 I think coordinated AQ style attacks during the Athen Olympics are a certainty.
Posted by Phil_B 2004-04-28 2:01:23 AM||   2004-04-28 2:01:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Jokes are often made about the dearth of great jewish athletes; the jokes don't seem to account for Spitz. It shows that identifying ethnic heritage is not important for most people in the US. Note - he may not be jewish, but I read a variety article several years ago that talked about the backlash against Olympic athletes. His backlash came because everyone expected him to be the jewish Omar Sharif bun as an actor Mark turned out to be a wonderful swimmer. At least he didn't insult Micky Mouse.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-04-28 2:07:49 AM||   2004-04-28 2:07:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 yesterday - they took out insurance on game cancellations due to unfinished venues and security concerns. Security costs are $1 billion, up 300% over the last games
Posted by Frank G  2004-04-28 7:03:08 AM||   2004-04-28 7:03:08 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 #6 Rafael, I've heard that the key to success in running your own business is to work half days -- the beauty of it is it doesn't matter which 12 hours you work.
Posted by GK 2004-04-28 8:35:38 AM||   2004-04-28 8:35:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 I'm not so sure the atheletes are in danger as much as the crowds are. The Olympic village can be protected and routes to and from stadiums can be protected. Maybe during a Marathon or something outside the stadiums...

On the other hand the Olympics is a world wide audience and would be too good to pass up. My guess is the bad guys will attempt to target a hotel, somewhere near where a lot of media types are staying to ensure it gets lots of coverage. I would also guess that it would happen early on, perhaps before the games (but after the media has arrived) to put a pal over the events and make sure everyone talks about it throughout the games.

I also expect some serious arrests in the days and weeks before the games as Europe attempts to clean up/disrupt any cells or such hoping to be involved. I expect the Greeks to ethnicly profile as well as profile due to passports (which are known to be easily forged or from nations of concern). I expect the civil liberties issues will be worth sorting out afterwards if a bloodbath can be prevented.
Posted by ruprecht 2004-04-28 10:28:04 AM||   2004-04-28 10:28:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 GK, absolutely true.

And not just your own business ... I averaged 65-70 hr weeks when I worked in Silicon Valley startups during the late 70s and early 80s. On salary, of course ... but also on profit-sharing arrangements.

When the software development got hot and heavy, our reception area sofa often had 2 or 3 toddlers all sleeping together, snug in their jammies, late at night. My daughter also spent more than one day at work with me when she had the sniffles. A large blanket over a work table makes a snug sleeping / play den .... backpacking sleep pad + kiddy sleeping bag and pillow, books, toys and later a small TV. And then, lunch and snacks (and occasionally dinner) plus short breaks for story time, or a walk outside or whatever .... Mom and kid days were pretty common given that most of the technical staff were in our 20s and early 30s then. Dad and kid days were pretty common too.

None of us whined about doing it, either. If you didn't want the benefits of being part of a startup, sometimes stock options but more, the excitement of doing cutting edge work and the flexibility, then you could go work for one of the dinosaur companies instead.
Posted by rkb  2004-04-28 10:32:12 AM||   2004-04-28 10:32:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Will car bombing be an Olympic event this year? Will the explosive belts slow down the runners from the PA? The normal level of terrorist activity in Greece is so high that the AQ, Hamas, Hizbollah, Fatah, et. al. teams will have to do something really spectacular to medal. Not to mention the problems with the bribed French and Russian judges...
Posted by RWV 2004-04-28 10:33:12 AM||   2004-04-28 10:33:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#17 They'll go for the boats... liners, fousands of 'em..
Posted by Howard UK 2004-04-28 10:37:04 AM||   2004-04-28 10:37:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#18 As far as I'm concerned, there's only two questions: Can adequate and reasonable security be provided by the host country? If not, is it worth putting Olympic athletes in possible harm's way?
Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-04-28 12:40:50 PM||   2004-04-28 12:40:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 The whole Athens Olympics scares the heck out of me--- and I lived there and loved it. But the prospect of Greek security forces....mmm, I saw how the Greek police forces managed automobile traffic, and how they kept Americans so safe from the N-17 gang. So, my answer to Bomb-a-rama's question is "probably not".
Posted by Sgt. Mom 2004-04-28 12:59:54 PM|| [www.sgtstryker.com]  2004-04-28 12:59:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 We should stay out of this Olympics. The risk far outweighs any reward. Besides, the Olympics have outlived their purpose/usefulness. They used to be a big deal because athletes came from all over the world to compete against each other, but now with easy and quick global travel that happens practically every weekend. All they are now is a terrorist's dream opportunity, with US athletes and fans as the primary targets.
Posted by docob 2004-04-28 3:16:50 PM||   2004-04-28 3:16:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 If we do anything in terms of non-attendance, it should have nothing to do with any government edict. Jimmy Crack-Peanuts threatened to confiscate any passport of athletes who wanted to go to Moscow in 1980. In retrospect, owing to what happened, Jimmy ended up looking stupid.

The closing ceremony with the flags had the Los Angeles City flag raised to the tune of the Olympic Hymn.

What we should have done is gone and had the olympic flag and hymn played when we won something. The athletes would not have been denyed to participate, and we could have made our point about Afghanistan if we thought it appropriate in that venue.

Posted by BigEd 2004-04-28 3:30:47 PM||   2004-04-28 3:30:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Maybee we could have big flyover of aircraft during the happy walk, just like at Daytona.
Posted by Shipman 2004-04-28 3:53:05 PM||   2004-04-28 3:53:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 
Targetting Americans will put other nations' athletes at risk and that would piss off the whole world (or parts of it anyway).
That's never stopped the Islamonazis before, Rafael.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut  2004-04-28 4:25:53 PM||   2004-04-28 4:25:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Bush can guarantee the safety and security of our athletes with one sentence: "If there is a Muslim terror incident in the Athens Olympic Games, I will destroy Mecca", then do it if something happens. When SA complains, just say "that's enough, or Riyadh's next". These people understand the concept of power - what they don't understand is the concept of restraint. We need to show them that we exercise restraint because we choose to, and when we choose not to, we can be even nastier than they can, 'cause we've got the BIG toys. We need to employ that same concept in Najef - "we won't come in there if Sadr and his bad boys come out by noon, Wednesday. If they're not out by then, we still won't go in there, because there won't be a "there" to go into. Noon, Wednesday. Don't be late." We need to stop playing these little games, and start being the mean, evil, wicked, bad, nasty, cruel and heartless bastards we can be. That's the only thing that will make these people back off. They have no respect for anyone not like them, but they can learn fear. The lessons need to start - yesterday.
Posted by Old Patriot  2004-04-28 6:26:44 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm]  2004-04-28 6:26:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 Translation: We need to be ruthless enough to be respected.
Posted by CrazyFool  2004-04-28 6:29:07 PM||   2004-04-28 6:29:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 Amen, Old Patriot. There was a time when using precision weapons meant using a 300KT weapon instead of 10 MT. In this case though, a B53 ground burst would be just the thing.
Posted by RWV 2004-04-28 6:56:20 PM||   2004-04-28 6:56:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 that would sure do it old patriot but the surrender monkey's of the dem party would be in a frenzy...the those world leaders that supposedly say they support skerry would be upset...


as for the olympics i think we should stay home. let them conduct it without american support/money/patronage. plus greece has done a fairly poor job getting ready for the security issues that will surrond this olympics..

didn't the ancients also cancel their olymipics during the Peloponnesian War?????

Posted by Dan 2004-04-28 7:08:15 PM||   2004-04-28 7:08:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 I read somewhere that in the classical age Olympic games were either not held during times of war, or the currently-being-waged-war had to stop while the games went on.
Posted by Tresho 2004-04-29 1:26:25 AM||   2004-04-29 1:26:25 AM|| Front Page Top

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