The Michigan Daily-Saturday, July 19, 1980-Page 11
MOSCOW GAMES OPEN TODAY
Americans visit Olympics

MOSCOW (AP) - Sue Walz didn't
boycott.
.She came from Utica - "just outside
Detroit" - for the Moscow Olympic
Games because she already had a
ticket and didn't want to waste the
money, she said yesterday.
DID SHE MIND being in the Soviet
capital after the American team
decided to boycott?
"Not at all. I'm just sorry for the
(American) athletes," she said.
The Moscow Olympics open today
with the traditional pomp and pagean-.
try. But many flags that normally fly

over the Games are missing this year
because of the boycott launched by
President Carter after the Soviets in-
tervened in Afghanistan.
ABOUT 6,000 athletes from 80 coun-
tries are to compete in the Games.
Seven fewer nations are taking part
'than the number that competed in the
Montreal Games four years ago, when
over 20 African nations boycotted
because of sports contacts between
New Zealand and Rhodesia.
Accoding to the U.S. State Depar-
tment, about 60 nations are staying
away, either because of the boycott or

for reasons of their own.
But for Walz and about 3,000 other
Americans, the politics didn't matter as
much as the thrill of the Olympics.
Besides, they had already paid for
tickets.
WALZ SAT IN the lobby of Moscow's
Ukraine Hotel yesterday, saying her
husband was busy trying to line up
"some excursions."
As dozens of other Americans milled
around - they had just arrived from
Leningrad - Walz excitedly ticked off
her itinerary. Her 34-person group will
visit Leningrad, Minsk, and Moscow

during their two-week visit ending July
26.
More than 3,000 Americans are ex-
pected in the Soviet Union between the
opening ceremony and the close on
Aug. 3.
AND DESPITE the boycott, the
American presence is felt at these
Games. There is a five-member
delegation from Puerto Rico, including
three boxers who plan to compete.
There also are athletes in other sports
who hold dual citizenships.
And there is a controversy over the
use of the American flag at the closing
ceremony. According to Olympic
tradition, the American flag is to be
hoisted because the 1984 Games will be
in Los Angeles. But Carter has
protested the plans.
One thousand of the American
tourists will be -here through tours
arranged by RTB-Olympic Travel Ltd.,
a U.S. company operating through the
Soviet travel agency Intourist.
THE OTHER 2,000 or so American
tourists will be young people using the
Anniversary Tours company which is
linked with the Soviet , youth travel
agency for foreigners, Sputnik.
Before the boycott effort began, RTB
President E. Wallace Lawrence said he
expected 18,500 Americans would opt
for tours. Most of them canceled, like
Esther Cole from Los Angeles.
But she came to Moscow anyway,
arriving Wednesday with a tour com-
pany from London. She said she was
here to see the Games. She's not missed
the Summer Olympics since she went to
the 1960 Games in Rome.
SHE SAID she lost $600 by canceling
with RTB and signing up with Cosmos
Tours in London. But she did get back
$1,900 from RTB.
She's staying at the Solnichny Hotel
far outside central Moscow.
"You should see the security. There's
a big fence all around the hotel and just
two gates. There are three guards at
each gate. Who are they protecting?"
she asked. "There aren't any athletes
there."
Cole'avoided answering questions
about how she felt coming to Moscow
despite the American-led boycott. She
made it clear, however, that she came
because she "is a sports fan."
Another American man at the hotel
who would not give his name or
hometown said:
"I'm here to see these Games. What's
happening in Afghanistan or anywhere
else has nothing to do with athletics."
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IN MOSCOW, THE show goes on as hundreds of Soviet girls practice a dance routine Thursday evening in Lenin Stadium.
The group was preparing for the opening ceremony todav of the 1950 summer Olympic games.
CLAIMS MORE THAN 1000 VICTIMS:


Heat wave sets records

By The Associated Press
The Dallas-Fort Wqrth area broke a
record of 25 consecutive days of 100-
degree temperatures yesterday as the
early-summer heat wave that refuses
to go away claimed more than 1,000
lives in 20 states.
Forecasters said there was no relief
in sight for Texas, and the National
Weather Service in Arkansas said the
heat wave affecting that state is expec-
ted to last until September, if not
longer, with an occasional day of cooler
temperatures. ,
"IF YOU WERE a gambler, a high
roller, you might see some suggestion
of a change in the pattern..." said
Fred Ostby, director of the National
Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kan-
sas City.
But there's only an "outside chance"
of relief, he added, and even if relief
comes, "there's no guarantee that it'd
be more than temporary."
There have been 1,012 deaths in 20
states, according to an unofficial count
by The Associated Press. Last Friday
there had been more than 330 fatalities.
MORE THAN 400 persons have died
of heat-related causes in the three
states whose governors have declared a
state of emergency - Alabaia.

Georgia, and Missouri.
. In comparison, Missouri state health
officials say they expect 10 heat-related
deaths in a normal year, but that state's
heat death toll by yesterday was 237.
In Washington, Dr. Julius Richmond,
the U.S. surgeon general, urged
Americans to use common sense to
avoid heat-related illnesses. Among
other measures, Richmond said people
should wear lightweight clothes and
drink plenty of water or non-alcoholic
liquids. -
THUNDERSHOWERS Thursday
night in parts of the South and cloudy
skies yesterday caused morning tem-
peratures to moderate, but afternoon
readings rose into the 90s.
Afternoon temperatures yesterday
ranged from 94 degrees in Bir-
mingham, Ala., to 102 in Little Rock,
Ark., to 103 in Oklahoma City.
In Wichita Falls - just 120 miles nor-
thwest of Dallas on the Oklahoma bor-
der - the early-afternoon reading was
106 degrees. Wichita Falls has been set-
ting its own all-time record; the
National Weather Service office there
has recorded 25 consecutive days with
temperatures of 106 degrees or higher.
THE'TENNESSEE Valley Authority,
the seven-state utility that-declared a

power emergency on Tuesday, said
yesterday it expected electrical con-
sumption to drop for the second day.
The TVA said, however, it would still
purchase power from other utilities to
meet high demand.
The TVA said lake levels near its 29
hydroelectric dams continued to fall
faster than normal because of large
power demands during the heat wave.
It said, however, that main streams
from which it draws water are at nor-
mal summer levels.
The heat wave has meant boom times
for motels on the North Carolina and
South Carolina coast, where
Carolinians were flocking to seek cool
coastal breezes.

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