Parade to the Pedestal

Not since Cortes gave Guatemozin a hotfoot in an effort to make him reveal where the Aztecs kept their gold has Mexico been invaded by such a determined band of treasure hunters as the U.S. Olympic team. "The greatest competitive Olympics in history," as U.S. Track Coach Payton Jordan called them, proved to be a showcase for the multifarious talents of an inspired U.S. squad bent on cornering all the gold in Mexico City--and the silver and bronze as well. The medal score told the story: by week's end, with only a handful of events still to go, the U.S. had collected 42 gold, 26 silver and 30 bronze for a total of 98 medals, compared with Runner-up Russia's 65, only 21 of which were gold.

The Americans dominated track and field, winning 15 events, as 15 world records were broken and two others tied. Curiously, the stiffest competition came not from the Russians, who proved unaccountably weak, but from three African nations--Kenya, Ethiopia and Tunisia--which among them won every running event from the 1,500 meters to the traditional 26-mile 385-yd. Greek marathon. Kansas' Jim Ryun, the 1,500-meter world record holder, could only moan, "My God, how it hurts," after losing to Kipchoge Keino, who ran it in 3 min. 34.9 sec.--second fastest time ever recorded for the metric mile. The thin air may have been a boon to Oregon's Dick Fosbury, whose unorthodox, over-the-bar-backwards, high-jumping style propelled him to an Olympic record height of 7 ft. 41 in. It certainly did nothing to slow down Bill Toomey, whose speed afoot was the major factor in his decathlon victory.

Money in the Shoes? No Olympics would be complete without a scandal, and this time the rhubarb involved alleged under-the-table payments to U.S. and foreign athletes by rival German track-shoe manufacturers. Rumor piled on rumor: stories told of payoffs ranging as high as $6,500; officials were said to have canceled checks to prove that bribes were paid; several U.S. medal-winners were reported guilty. But rumors the stories remained after the U.S. Olympic Committee investigated and announced that it could find "nothing to substantiate" them.

Apart from the payola controversy, the big news of the week was the almost monotonous parade of Americans to the victory pedestal. There were elev en boxing weight classes in Mexico City, and U.S. boxers won medals in seven of them. In yachting. New Orleans' Buddy Friedrichs and San Diego's Lowell North won gold medals. In shooting, Nebraska's Gary Anderson, a 29-year-old Army lieutenant, scored 1,157 out of a possible 1,200 points to win the free-rifle competition and break his own world record. Competing in his fourth Olympics, Connecticut's Bill Steinkraus, a 43-year-old book editor, earned the U.S. its first equestrian gold medal in 20 years when he piloted a borrowed, gimpy-legged, nine-year-old gelding named Snowbound to victory in the Grand Prix jumping event.

Supernumerary Stars. Nowhere were the stunning strength and depth of the U.S. team more evident than in swim ming. Even the supernumeraries turned into stars. California's Mark Spitz, who had been favored to win as many as five gold medals, managed only two--both in relays--and finished dead last in his specialty, the 200-meter butterfly. Pennsylvania's Carl Robie did his job for him, beating Britain's Martyn Wood-roffe to the touch board by two yards.

Australia's Mike Wenden surprised everyone by splashing to victory in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints. And Felipe Munoz, an unsung, 17-year-old prep-schooler from Mexico City, gave the host nation its first gold medal of the Games when he edged out Russia's world record holder, Vladimir Kosinsky, in the 200-meter breaststroke. Yet Debbie Meyer, a 16-year-old from Sacramento, Calif., singlehandedly balanced out those losses by winning the women's 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyles, despite a strained ankle and a bad case of the notorious turistas that almost forced her to with draw from the competition. By week's end, in the most lopsided Olympic swimming meet ever, the U.S. had won 23 of the 33 events, finished one-two-three in five of them, and collected 58 out of all 99 swimming medals in the Olympic trophy case.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.