The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 30

THE OBSERVER, SUNDAY 20 APRIL 1980 SPORT1THE OLYMPIC DEBATE We want to go: British hopefuls train on towards their Olympic goal 30 Going in style BY THE time, your marmalade drips, on thi column today Bristol City may know or not they have been relegated. Unless, they beat Manchester. City, at Maine i 1 Road yesterday afternoon the club's players, supporters and board of directors "will now be picking bits of the First Division floorboards out of their hair. Should this be the case there will be predictable reactions, ranging from huge relief, at the aforesaid Manchester City, phis arid Stoke, potential candidates for the drop, to yawning bore-. dom from those, who.Jeel, that asme only, serious contenders in' First.

Division can be fe.Uifc fate a cbmparatively lsniaB impectmious. few hunrtrpri iriilps aiuav'is deeDlV Photographs: by. EAMON McCABE count for nothing? European lightweight judo champion Neil Ao ams, swimming star Sharron Davies and Great Britain hockey goalkeeper Ian Taylor 'hockey not a that leads to fame in our country. It's not promoted properly here, but they haven't had a lot fp on. An Olympic now, that might make all the difference.

RQAD-CYCLING star Bob Downs was pretty peeved he wasn't for -the, Mon-; treal team. Now he is rated a certainty for Moscow-and if that doesn't come off he'll be 'f WittitheirlieljRbfsa1 from the Sports Aid Foundation, cash fr om his employers, in Basildon, Essex, and his own savings; he has been able devote all his time this year to. cycling. Constant corripefi-j tionis the; best form of train- your mind is the thought that, it's all going to be wasted, be-; cause the Amateur Swimming. Association haven't, made up their minds yet about going to Moscow.

i. I 'It wouldn't be wasted, because there arc the world championship's year the Gaines in: 1982- but you can't deny that the Olympic Games is what matters And there 'won't be another. for me. In 1982 I shall be 20 arid that' will be NOTHING: ihthe'iwliole Olympic mess is -more distasteful than "the'de'dsibri of the. Great Britain Hockey Board to pull out, despite the fact' that all 24 members of the Olympic squad the down the Derby Baths in Blackpool this weekend.

There would not be much opposition to her contention that there is no harder sport to train for than swimming. I don't know if they are the best years of your life, but you lose them 10 to 20 they are given, to swimming. On an average week in full training I'm the water fcr 20 hours and swim perhaps 70,000 metres? 'Three times a week: do weight trainirigrf or an hour or an hour and. a half, and four times, a week I'm on isokinetics; that's of. simulated swimming on dry' land against' a machine that resistance.

'I do ay best not to worry about but. in the bade of o'clock, the morning after a competition. There's no way we're going to let this go to waste, HI tell you. We're putting everything into it and if there is an Olympic meeting at all, we shall be there no matter what the politicians say. Judo a masochistic pastime and to make things even harder for himself, Adams has been competing this year one category above his" own weight.

In theory, his return to in Moscow will come as a pleasant relief but there are a lot of unpleasant lightweights about ready to upset that theory. A P. DAVIES, -Britain's t-k vtn swimmer, is thrashing up and sacrifice liSjSuAJ CHRISTOPHER BRASHER finds the marathon men plodding on regardless. irrelevant. There win also be a.

lot or noisy a largish groupr 'ftt Bristol City' supporters' who 'believe that the club neds its cur- rent manager 'Alan' Dicks the Arctic' needs' cold storage plant. 1 Over the pat few 'months, thse bellows mainly been aimed at a gentleman, named Stephen "Mr: Kew earns his crust a West -Country solicitor but is better-kriown as Bristol City's cbairriian, an occupation which may fit times have its euphoric moments which right nowerisures that its incumbent1 is a hate object from Bedminster to Fill. Particularly1 around this time of the season, Stephen Kew's problem will be famjliar to the chairman of certain other inabjnty to go.up, stay or riere'S do, anything but -jog alorigiunremark-ably in the middle of the heap is a.lsignal for the- crowd to demand that the manager -he put forthwith btf his bike repla'ce'd by Brian Cloiigh; Where IWr -Kew' differs rslightly from some of his confreres-, is that as far as he 3s coricerried Alan Dicks will remain-in -bis dub's employment and if the rest of- its directors disagree men tney. win nua inemstuves only one manager but one chairman as wen; A lot of chairmen-. lik'e.

being terribly popular'' Stephen" Kew, arid that means appeasing the crowd. Or at least "the noisy- minority of the" crowd -which 'calls for the manager's head. It's question- of nerves, really; I believe-in stability 'in football and th'e tragedy, is' that when chairmen give to crowd pressure you haven't got it. It's i like a', happy ij familyj-. sorriefhingv goes you- don't desert Alari points out, has been a good and Jpyal employee of the club: is also capable of sitting in a board meeting and discussing things other than what goes oh between-ttuxe o'clock arid four forty-five Saturdays, because he is an intelligerit and well-read man with a lot of business ability.

help each. other with vthe newspaper too. If you want my philosophy of management, 1 believe the -chairman and manager should be.fripnds. they, should be on the same wavelength ana the manager i shouldn't have 'stand- to- attention' and. call the.chainnaniSif.

'ryv forget, either; that Alari Dicks got; us into-the First Iri' the tost Unlike some other people, I can't dissociate myself from what has gone be-fore. Anyway, who would I have if I didn't 'have him There aren't many of his quality It may be felt, course, that while Stephen Kew's sentiments are entirely proper they are also disastrously out of place considering that, in football anything hut sus. tained or the promise of iti will have supporters deserting'. ft club with an. urgency approaching the defection from the Titanic.

This is rather a since in a game where', supporters of Fourth Divlstop sides are encouraged to. hallucinate about playing Liverpool seasons hence. Vhere clubs have only to win pro- vm'otidn' for the aboard to start thumbing through travel r'c about Europearid where managers arc consistently their -livelihood, for. failing con-; vert these't'-dretcfltts. into reality; Bristol -tyoiight to be "enshrined "'ks'- one of- the Football few.

re-' mainlng bastions of Those celebrating the success ot-the England rugby team in bringing off the rand Slam will be delighted to know that they can purchase a tie commemorating ih'c achievement. True however, had better snip the label off. It says. MADE 1 WALES. Another'';" strong, -collection ot football this week thank you; and stlll keep sending them in.

They pay their nioney they're entitled to criticise (D. G. Round), i-t- The town is hungry for success (B. C. Reed) We only look as far ahead as Hie next match' (Aldan Senunens) Football is a universal game.

Anyone can understand great goals (T. We're basically a young team and we're going to get better 1 (Jeremy. Atfdnson) It's a nice problciri- 'to have' (James Hannlng)- The only place to learn First Division football- Is in the First Division (J. R. Water-field, quoting Jock "Wallace) We shall- be going' there lo attack (E.

A. Lcteye). Will all the training BRITAIN'S Olympic judo squad are devoting themselves to their business with frightening intensity. For more than two months already a dozen of them have been' resident at Crystal Palace, between competitions, and they will be there until 1 Every day they do three-and-a-half hours' -work, inthe morning, one hour in the afternoon and two in the evening. That represents the sort of day's work that few men could stand.

We're absolutely shattered every says Neil Adams, our European lightweight champion. 'I don't think Tve been so especially when we're at it here at 9 THE threatening clouds that hang over the Olympics should not prevent us looking- ahead .13 tfays to the year's first Olympic trial in British athletics a race over 26 miles 385 yards of rolling roads in. Milton Keynes on Saturday week. It is a race I would hate to' but I shall love to watch. There are over 350 runners taking part and at' least-two dozen of these men have been' dreaming throughout the winter of winning a place-; in Britain's Olympic team.

But only three, maybe only two of them, will. win. that The doubt about whether two or three runners will be selected from, the race is because the income tax: man from Aldershot, Bernie'Jordi is symbolically resting on the laurels of his race in Japan last December, when he recorded 2 hrs 10 mins 51 sees in the Fukuoka In effect, he is challenging men lo beat that f-eion Saturday week and if they fail to do so, will, he "is saying to the selectors Take me. I have the fastest' thtie of any" British -marathon runner, in the past MOST of us played our early table tennis with, bats that had peeling rubber oh; one side ahd barefaced plywood' oh the bther John Hilton's bat is a bit more sophisticated. It is all-black with two smooth and seeriiingly.

identical' surf aces. But one has a slow defensive rubber designed to kill the opponent's top-spin; the reverse is offensive and made to create spin. 'And during the says Hilton, 'I twiddle the bat thats the important thing. z--By so twiddling at Berne last Sunday, and bV deploying a great deal of craft and.experir: ence beside, Hilton became the first Briton to win the European, men's table tennis title. In its wake comes a jeroboain of Mumm.

cbampagne as 'the ObserverMumm sports personality ot the week. A gregarious extrovert who sells' insurance near bis home at Flixton, Manf. Chester, Hilton will, -have --no trouble findins friends to share it with. Since table tennis is really the most basic of the leading players tend to become a bit obsessive' about details, boning the finer points of technique and that small; essential piece of personal equipment, the bat. When a party of them, including Hilton, toured China twoi-and-a-balf years ago, I remember that they were far less interested in.

seeing the Forbidden City or Mao's birth-pTace than in obtaining some sheets of the dimpled rubber that helped to make the Chinese world-beaters. Once the sample was in their hands, they fondled and examined it: as though it would solve the riddle of their universe. Still, as Hilton recognised; it wasn't so mncb the cgmppsjtion TABLE EMMIS I ing through the racing season, but out of it a cyclist's physical needs may seem surprising. do a lot of weight train- ihgr in; the gym, building up the upper body. Your legs get very strong anyway, just with the -cycling; but- for climbing you: get most of 'the power -from your lower' back; For sprinting you need strength in your chest arid arms.

'T go running twice a week to help my breathing, and I play squash and go swimming. Underwater swimming is very good, that expands the lungs. There's more to cycling than you. inight.suppose, if all you i do is trundle off to the railway station once in a David' HunH Tiie second point is that sportsmen and are a remarkaWy i self-sufficient group. Nobody feather-beds them.

I Indeed last week one party of athletes from' tranning in Kenya ana an.oraer: ircu.iy.?:tci.iL I for a camp in the; allspaidifor bv- the- athletes' own efforts Their club, the: Iriter-natiohal Atbletes Club, with the aid of the customer's-; of Chef, and Brewer pubs throughout the touritey, have iraised.i35,uuO. s. So may. we now have a res-'pite' frbtri propaganda and especially from personal attacks on offidals who are doing their proper a-respite until -'the -time when the Government decides-tliat mva.sibn-of -Afartistan is apfrressor." Then- the ment will find that spprtsnjeri pared ta-make thetr ChristdpKer. Brasher is slaving programme.

In the' case of the young Spa riiard all these-r involve disputes, over percentage's and' releases are fuel for his wilK All'his'life he has been arusadeKiiAs a -caddie-he- crusaded against, prejudice 'Pe'dre'ne wh ich' for bade h'im jto play on the course: He. crusaded' againstf th whole world of professional eolf, iricluding his own elder bro-- thers, in' pursuing iiis -own ought. played. V' i as 'S' ri ri -dividual 'i'io6lByj) terms. Th e.

Masters and championships, -plus 23 oiher fburnariieri't victories worldwidei1 are' hb'rio'urs'of his campaigns. Along way he is attacked for his stubbornness and selfishness. There is substance in both accusations. for tliere.nevei'. was a great champion Who was pliable and unselfish, but once he has-won hisvpriyate" battle against the restrictions which tie golfers to individual circuits then others will be liberated to charge through' the shattered walls.

-One day the world of professional golf will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Ballesteros, in the way that Arnold Palmer is recognised as1 a pioneer of-tournament golf as a major spectator sport. Meanwhile, will be privileged Ballesteros channel liberating zeal into 'more exciting charges on the golf course. More victories. More championships. At.

the age of 23 the, lad is only just getting into stride. to follow that comprise half an hour's general, body-strehkth exercises, a nne-and- a-half "hour physical training session '(weights and runs) and a one-hour 'skill; training session with stick and Goallie Taylor works mostly on. reaction reflex exer-; cises, but even for- him endurance' cannot be byer-' If you.have to face twpor three short corners in quick succession you'know all about it. You're sprinting 10 yards each time with 20 lb of equipment round your 1 An outstanding amateur. goalkeeper i Taylor realised1 that his only chance of playing for England lay in' the sport of THE Government's- piib: licity men'-really are a bunch p'f clowns.

On the; 'day that Prime' Mini- srer--j puis in a-iiasLy ci uii- alised: attack, on Sir Denis iFbl'ldWSithe chairman theritisli announced they will no longer firik- Russian-dis- Xillea yodKa i uo tney realiy expect athletes, to take' them i-l did hope that all this Olympic: boycott nuuapaioo was behind us at the erid of March the BOA, having listened 'to all the-arguments 1 decided that it would abide by the Olympic' Charter which says that the pic cbhihiittee must resist all pressure of any- Isind what-: of a political.) religious -or i'ecbriomic riatiirei Buti how the Government renew their, saying th at the situation has changed iOympcjiCommitteevh i about' surprising number of votes in-' the TJSQC for sending a team in February, d.iiririg. the WiriteftOlympics in Lake Placid! were; that, is likely' tb'J endure indefinitely, As. Open champion, augmented by h'is'-'incrieasedv vailii as Masters, champion, Balleteros'is erititleditb: seek appearance money for his a ri cbiritriitme nts. When he sees British sponsors paying up to to import a star American player with rib1: better playing-'-, record than own, would be less than human if he did chafe' the thought getting about a quarter of that amount; It 'is'" no secret that the a.n Tournament Players Division want ban appearance money altogether. After his Masters win Ballesteros said that he proposed to continue playing most of his golf in Europe for as long as the.

people liked him. That sentimental thought must be decoded, much as the bland utterances of politicians have be scru-r tinised to detect the meaning behind the words. In this case," the word 'like' was Dobereiner lonely five officials to go. Who are these, people who make the decisions, tne'players ask, and on whose behalf An 'emergency meeting is to be held on. 11 May, the players hope will 'force the Board to reverse the decision.

The British goalkeeper, Ian has played a "leading part in the revolt. A schoolmaster from Caterham, he says the sauad are ahead full blast withtheir training schedule anyway. Moscow is the best chance we've ever? had. We are -ranked and after Pakistan you could decide the order, with, "atoss: of 1 coin; To choose not to go is! just 1 I AH the squad have indivi-l dual; daily fitness programmes BILL BUTCHER' is too narrow, means; an over-fast start) too undulating. Indeed it Is a fpityi'that'BritainVitH'ei'i'b'urit ithat iriverited' Vthis- -terrible distance of' :26 '385 i has fast course 'sirice'ltra'fSc corigestiori' stop- ped- -the of the-.

classic Windsor-" Castle to! Chiswick. i As multiple champion, Ballesterbs 'has how success-; fuHy.cotripleted-allthe stages' in the fessional from egg to in 'the of golfers -Ji'lif e- offers rhore' at-, this stage a.j chance' to fly. briefly i the sunshine, to mate 'and to die. i The question we may now' ask is how iriariy more of the four' classic ships- will fall Spani-! ard's swashbuckling rgblf Is he, mari tb: prove that tlie. grand slam is impossible dream We no ,1 onger have to analyse 1 his technique and probe his temperament for the- ariswers to those ques- tions.

He has proved himself to be -amply equipped to dominate the strongest fields that world golf can muster. The only doubt is whether his; ambitious programme will allow hiin to approach the classics in: the best state of preparation. For the inime'diate' 'future Ballesterqsjlplaiis- to lay mo st of his golf in Britain and Etxropei partly because he" is. at loggerheads-: with the American PGAf their rules for. foreign, players and partly because be prefers the fami 1 iarity an friendsh ip European, golf.

we should not that rthe pleasure of a convivial life with his iriates on the European; circuit is an overwhelming consideration ''to Ballesteros, outweighing-uiiref usable cash offers. He is, after: all, in golf to make his1 fortune. He is losing money by his decision to play in Europe and ftflLg agairist goirig; Vto almost" to a 1 to some. British riiatanri'iurinirsSwjdB Kgriging aetrbngWivinterjs; training tb'b atmatae- is: wen by Plain who has nin (rir w-tlof in twn rjinimon- wealth Games J-' Jf .1. come through- the, trial and -tnat will.

be a lot '-tougher thin' the rtlwrnmi- I will-go to: Moscow. My tuue trading with iBUssia-r'stipply-; ing xnem -cheap If: they slopped all tradevthen its a different ci-niatin anA 'don't think ih at any amlete would The- Government- -should -reriiember those words arid also think on two things. Knnr i VllltTla'TI SPtHitV with a setof m.KUTtr -Thiaf IS whv there isVso 'inuch res'erif- amongst; sportsmen when, the Goveriimerit asks" theifiOA.to ibreafc-thejrmes; of the! Olympic moyement at a time when: die Government atr.wbuld-v Russian' willnp' longer pirss its lips. used as; shbitharid 'to' messagefi'-VAs long as spbnsors-. wr.ite realistic figures bri their As soon as bah1 their players frorii.

Peeking appearance SVwioriey Balle-5t(ro wvtil leave for America'; By that time, he' Hopes, he' have American PG A to allow, 'him; releases from American tournamerits whenever he; fancies atrip to Eurbpet Th will have' the besfof both' in America -arid the- chance to: exploit his status' as a rnulr' tiple champion its proper hj'arket' valiie''. In. the 'the scheme'. being scouted by Peter Thomson world circuit is making quiet pro? gress arid in now the administrators of -all the main golf circuits rii ay thinking- order, to- accbm-. Ballesterbs ribw Holds tivo truirips- hand and' he knows better than; anyone that if he could draw an American.

Open charripibnship; but ofthe p'ack, and. perhaps Van" American PGA championship Vas he would be able to aictate-his own terms without quibble. This background, is-, import tant to the way Ballesteros plays golf. Many players be-, come distracted by the commercial' xorivrilutibn's of their lives that their game suffers. Tony Jacklin was a prime example tor a time, in the- period when he allowed cash considerations to govern least 15 men who could get one of the first three places, i -There are old-timers like Trevor W.right, Bernie Plain, Greg Hannon and Dave Cannon.

supremely fit after second to Dick Quax in the Auckland marathon in February. And there are new', speed merchants' like Dave Blacks-Andy: Holderi, Ian: Stewart arid Tony rf cords on th You could perm the winner froin any of these nine names but 1 would add Steve Kenyon who has run only 'two niarathbris' before: 18: mins in-1973 and 2 hrs 13 mins. in .1979) and Ian Ray, only 22i' years' -old and the winner of his first'-riiarathon' run at Harlow last. year. -It wfauld: not surprise: me if I had', still not named the winner I will always remember the 1973 trial for the Commonwealth Games which woriVb'y a man "whom had heard One thirig: '-I-' do know iBerriie Ford' rcari be icqrifi-.

dent th at his of -urider, 2 hrs 11 mins last Deceinb.er will not be beaten day The Milton Keynes course is not fast it CHAMPIONS have 'to; believe in themselves with unswerving faithi 'Muham-. mad Ali is talking to him-' self as much as to the world when he proclaims I am; the -Most pipns keep that thbught; to; themselves but the moment, they begin to. doubt ie truth of it they cease to be champions. 7 i Today, after Severiano Ballesterbs Has taken his title with "Ms. victory- at- the- Masters, -the, likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and LecTrevino must: be getting some replies as they demand Mirror, mirror on.

the who is the greatest of them all? Even the most sycophantic looking glass could hardly go; further than: Well, you are terrific, of course. You- have ao.tremehdous You-earn more money. But I have to admit that when he is on his' game that Severiano Ballesterbs is the best. If you are on song and he has.an off-week have your moment of being the greatest. But cheer tip.

Console yourself with -the thought that his back problem might slow him As: 'to that; famous rspinal column, I watched Ballesteros' at Augusta exercise on a portable trapeze which he takes everywhere for daily torture. He hangs upside dotvn and then arches his h'eaving his full weight- into, horizontal position 40 tiihes': per session; and the.veryi'sigbt-of it gave me a severe twinge in lumbar-five. If his back can stand that kind of treatment then suspect it will take the strain of his golf swing for many years to come. Thompson, will be running in. Milton Keynes.

Before the .1976 Olympics his record was i medal? in the 1974 Commonwealth Games with a time of 2r hrs, 9 mins 5.6 sees (the second fastest time ever, recorded in the world) ahii, a. gold medal in that year's European Championships. Despite acknowledged as the greatest marathoner'of-the tifne-he had to run in the 1976 Olympic trial arid 4 1 will no forget that day when he -led the field for 20 miles and i then dropped iback' to seventh 1 'suffering without a fthe-'after effects or a fever. So he has never yet competed in the Olympic Games and although he may not be quite the same man as he was in 1974 heis. still aoriipejti tor who is, 'feared by fiis' rivals.

1 If you arid ask to name the winner of this Olympic trial, they iVrill that -is impossible. They estimate that there are at; surface and the Impact he is able to confuse the player- at. the other end of the table. as decisively as he did the Czech Jorief Dvoracck in the'European final. Hilton had never dreamt it Would come to that.

At 32, and as Britain's third-ranking player, be was selected mainly. for the championship team event. He thought if-; he won a couple of individual matches it would Just be a bonus. But while his; work normally allows him only a couple of days' practice before, a big tournament; this time he spent 10 days -at the British training camp. For the first time I was able to go through nil the things I had developed over the years and put my game He admits that' he is vulnerable to players whose main attriT bote is control Biit fortunately most of the Europeans, are winners powerful players who build up to the one killing sl'ot.

They didn't know what to make of Hilton, it's mental with them. Psychologically they think of me as defensive player because I. use tliat bat, but theyfre wrong. It's only in stages of the rally, if my attacking ploys don't come off, that I have to go on to 'There was some muttering in the wings at Berne, where some thought his bat played too big a part in But it's t.o said Hilton. The bat has been in' the market for years and you can buy it in any spedalist In fact anyone could do what Hilton did providing be was as Physically St, as temperamentally sound, had the same cat-like reflexes, and refined technique with lie bat- for seven years; Geoffrey Nicholson He is taking a gamble because the selectors could well'say that times mean little in the marathon, and what fhey are looking for is a winner and that Bernie has never yet-won a' marathon he was second to Greg Hannon Tin year's.

AAA Championship and fourth in Fukuoka which has long been established- as one of the fastest marathon 'course's in the world. However, I am glad to see Jternie such a stand because I am amongst, those-, who believe that one of the reason s-why no British runner" has ever won' the "Olympic'-marathon is because the competitive edge is blunted in the furnace of the British trial race. We have had great marathon- winners before who have een to Id by the selectors 'thar their past record 7-gold. medals and all meaiis nothing and that if they want place' in the Olympic team they m'u st win it in a sudden death trial. One of those winners, lan SPORTS PEES0MLITY OF TEE WEEK John Hilton Extrovert of the dimples that mattered as learniag get- results from them.

He decided to stick with the combination which some Chinese also used and with which, he has now played for seven years. But it was only two years ago, in Australia, that he began to exploit the defensive side of the bat in attack. The oniv v-av you. can readily distinguish one. side from the other is by bouncing a ball with the same force against each.

But af he plays, Hilton can also detect the tacky, slow.side with his free fingerr-which is where the twiddling comes in. By spin-, nipg the bat arquqd tp vary the.