The general manager of the 1976 Olympic team, Mr. Jack Howson, had previously quit the team.
Mr Allan McDonald, chairman of the national sports body, said athletes should not travel to Moscow. He has asked the executives of the Australian Amateur Sports Federation and affiliated state associations to consider a boycott.
Australian athletes sit at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow to watch the opening ceremony of the 22nd Games.Credit: Associated Press
“The public backlash to Friday’s AOF decision was strong and could change its mind,” Mr MacDonald said.
Since January, he said, his personal position has been to defer to the government’s decision not to attend events in Moscow.
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Two federal ministers continued to put pressure on athletes by urging them to boycott the Games and avoid being seen as Moscow’s pawns.
Business Secretary Mr Lynch said athletes competing in the Olympics would be seen as siding with the Soviet Union in a conflict with the West and as pawns in Moscow’s “game” to try to humiliate the US and its country. allies. “There’s still time for our athletes to do the right thing,” Mr Lynch said. “The whole world is watching them.”
The minister’s comments were firmer than those made by Prime Minister Fraser on Sunday night, when he urged all Australians to consider the national interest. Mr Lynch said it was time for conscience and realism. He said the Moscow Olympics were a hoax.
“Of course Australia’s best athletes don’t want to compete in this fake Olympics,” he said.
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Health Minister Mr Hunt said it was outrageous that the Commonwealth had sent a team. AOF chairman Syd Grange rejected Mr Fraser’s suggestion that the Olympic decision could be overturned. Probably many athletes won’t go, but that’s their decision.
Mr Phil Coles, general manager of the Olympic team, said he understood the controversy “very deeply”. It has gotten to the stage where he doesn’t care if Australia is represented.
ACTU president Mr Hawke said Mr Fraser should accept the referee’s decision. Opposition Leader Mr Hayden said the Prime Minister’s actions were disgraceful. NSW Premier Mr Wran will fund athletes to compete in the Olympics, but Queensland Premier Mr Bjelke-Petersen has changed his mind.
He earlier supported an Australian team, but he now believes AOF has put itself above Australia’s well-being.
New Zealand’s men’s hockey team – the gold medalists at the last Olympics – will not play in Moscow.
The team’s governing board decided last night that the standards of the game had changed so much that the team should not participate.
