At Spartakiad, a lesson was as good as a win
They journeyed to Moscow for the same reasons the first astronauts went to space, to test an alien environment and pave the way for more important missions ahead. Under these trying conditions, a team of largely unknown U.S. athletes performed creditably, though not often winningly, at Spartakiad, the Soviet Union's quadrennial games. They also learned some lessons that should pay handsome dividends when it really counts: at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The two-week competition was billed as a dress rehearsal for next year's 22nd Olympiad, but it quickly became clear that most of the visitors' roles would be played by understudies. Though some 2,500 outsiders were on hand to vie for medals with 10,000 Soviets, many foreign stars chose either to remain home or compete elsewhere. The U.S. track and field team, for example, arrived without such mainstays as Hurdler Edwin Moses, Miler Francie Larrieu, High Jumper Franklin Jacobs and Middle Distance Runner Steve Scott. Even the East Germans seemed to have better things to do, preferring to concentrate on this week's European Cup track competition in Turin.
Track and field, the traditional centerpiece of Olympic festivities, showed Spartakiad at its comic worst and competitive best. In the heats of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, two runners from Guinea-Bissau came face-to-face with hurdles for the first time. The hurdles won. One of the Africans clambered over several hurdles using both hands but balked at a second encounter with the water obstacle. With the crowd egging him on, he stared at it for a moment, shook his head and walked away.
If the steeplechase was ridiculous, last week's marathon was sublime. This hellish race, 26 miles and 385 yds., usually ends with one man running alone into a stadium, basking in the cheers of a crowd saluting his solitary achievement. This time five runners burst in together, bunched as tightly as they had been when they started 2 hr. 12 min. earlier. The marathoners were kicking like milers; indeed, they were moving nearly as fast as the 1,500-meter finishers had an hour before. With about ten meters to go, Leonid Moseyev, 27, the Soviet and European champion, shot into first place on his final two strides. His winning time of 2:13:20 was equaled by the next two finishers; hundredths of seconds separated them, but the marathon clock could only break seconds into tenths.
With many of their betters competing at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, the U.S. track and field team felt like cannon fodder. Yet the 35-member team brought back America's seven gold medals, including all three in the sprint relays. Gloated Benn Fields, silver-medalist in the high jump: "I'm tired of hearing what dogs we are."