Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 8

ID DETROIT FREE PRESS Wednesday, July 28, 76 Not Much Going Right For Embarrassed Soviets An unexpected 89-84 loss to Yugoslavia Monday left the Russians playing Canada Tuesday in a preliminary game for third place before the Yugoslavians and the Americans battle for the gold medal. In its most impressive game of the competition, the United States crushed Canada, 95-77, Monday night in the other semifinal. The basketball final, scheduled for 9 p.m., was the highlight of an extremely light day. There was no track and field competition, and the five quarterfinal boxing matches involving U.S. entries also were at night After nine days of competiton, the Russians, who won 50 gold medals at Munich, had only 27.

East Germany, a country no bigger than Ohio, had the same total, and the United States had 21. SOVIET PROBLEMS began the second day when Boris Onischenko, a world champion in modern pentathlon, was discovered using a doctored epee during the fencing portion of that competition. He was fencing Jeremy Fox of Britain and as MONTREAL (UPI) The Olympics can't end soon enough for the Soviet Union. It has been little more than one embarrassment after another for the Russians during the first week and a half of this athletic festival. There was the disqualification of a fencer for cheating, the censure of the water polo team for forfeiting, the loss of the women's gymnastics all-around to a 14-year-old Romanian, the loss of the glamorous track sprints and a series of unexpected setbacks in boxing.

All of this has created an atmosphere in which there have been allegations of attempts to influence scoring in diving and gymnastics, and even an absurd rumor that Valery Borzov was on the verge of defecting to the west The latest and perhaps biggest blow to Soviet prestige was the loss of the Olympic basketball championship even if, as United States officials still believe, the Americans were cheated out of the title four years ago at soon as Onischenko lunged at Fox, Fox backed off. A light went on, indicating Onischenko had regis tered a hit even though the two men never got closer than four feet apart. "Someone had wired it in such a way that it would score a winning hit without ever making contact with anything," an official said after the sword had been examined. At first the Russians claimed that the weapon had been borrowed. But Onischenko was thrown out of the Olympics costing the Soviets a chance to repeat their team gold medal triumph of 1972 and the next day the Soviet Sports Federation officially condemned him.

The water polo incident came three days later. The Russians had also been the defending champions in that sport, but they lost their first game here, tied their second and had no chance to win the gold medal again. When they did not show up for a game against Cuba, claiming their players were Please turn to Page 4D, Column 1 m.MWw-jpjpfl.' 1 'j I -J 4 U.S. Coaeh Proves Cage Sage: We May Not Face Soviets iritmnirT ifirrwmr Canada Makes Games A Smashing Success mm MONTREAL (AP) For a week, coach Dean Smith of the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team steadfastly refused to talk about the Russians.

"We don't even know if we'll play them," said Smith. Listeners would chuckle. Why, everybody knew that the Olympic tournament would wind down to a rematch between the Soviets and the Americans, with the gold medal hanging in the balance. It would have all the elements of a sports drama East against West, Communist kingpin against its ideological opposite, a chance for the 'Americans to gain revenge for what they thought was a raw deal at Munich in 1972. WELL, SMITH turned out to be right.

The United States kept its date for a shot at retrieving the basketball gold Tuesday night, but the other side of the court was occupied by Yugoslavia, upset conquerors of the Soviets in Monday's semifinal. Dragan Kicanovic's 27 points and 20 by former Brigham Young star Kresimir Cosic carried the Yugoslavs to a stunning 89-84 decision over the Soviets. The victory was considered an upset by Olympic observers even though Yugoslavia had defeated the Soviets five straight times over the past three years. Russia bounced back Tuesday to win the bronze medal by beating Canada, 100-72, but the victory did little to help them save face. Because Russia was the defending champion, because Yugoslavia had to get into the Games through the back door in a qualifying tournament, because Russia had looked so awesome in the Games so far for all these reasons, Yugoslavia went into the game as the underdog.

THE UNITED STATES, meantime, advanced with an impressive 95-77 romp over Canada as Scott May pumped in 22 points to lead a balanced American attack. That set up the Yugoslavia-United States finale, a rematch of one of the qualifying round games. That was won rather easily by the United States, 112-93, last Wednesday. Nonetheless, Smith approached the finale warily. "I think if we were playing Russia, we would have the psychological edge," he said, AP Photo Darrell Pace, 19, of Cincinnati, the current world archery champion, takes a Frisbee break prior to the beginning of Olympic archery competition in Montreal Tuesday.

The young Air Force technician took an early lead in the men's 90-meter event admitting that although they have denied It consistently, his players do occasionally think about 1972 and the gold that got away. "Yugoslavia won a super game against the Russians and I think that will give them the mental advantage." The victory over the Soviets was the second straight emotional triumph for the Yugosla vian team. They had made it to the semifinals' by wiping out a 16-point halftime deficit to overtake Italy on a last-second victory last week. "Yes," that helped us," saidMirkoNovosel, the emotional attorney who coaches the Yugoslavian team. "Momentum always plays a part." MONTREAL The day passed without incident.

Almost without notice. This was Tuesday the second Tuesday of the Olympic Games. Traditionally a day of rest. Competition is over in such events as cycling, gymnastics, rowing, shooting and swimming and these athletes are getting their gear together for the return trip home. They have a few days of sightseeing as they wait for their teammates to finish their competition.

It is a whole day off for the track and field athletes. A time to allow aching muscles to mend. was on this day almost four years ago the second Tuesday of the Olvmoic-, supposedly a quiet day that the shooting started in Munich. It was the darkest day in the history of sports a day when the Irsaeli team would be wiped out by the guns of the Black Septemberists who went in shooting through the door at Connol-lystrasse 31. Now they've got five days left four days of competition plus the closing ceremonies Sunday night and you find yourself counting off the hours, hoping they make it all the way.

So far these Games have been a smashing success. A spectacular success. The world has been dazzled by the pictures from Montreal. Never has sport seemed so alive so exciting as at these Olympics. Yes, there's been some trouble.

It is impossible to put 7,000 athletes, 8,000 media and more than a million visitors in one place.and not expect some difficulty. Two newsmen were arrested when they squabbled with police over just where they were allowed to go at the events. Scalpers and pickpockets have been pulled off the streets and put into jail. One athlete Canadian sprinter Robert Martin was even expelled when he was caught sneaking a buddy into the Olympic Village. These incidents have been minor trifling when compared to what happened at Munich and also at Mexico City where police gunned down students in a protest riot at the Olympic Stadium.

The Security Has Been Fantastic All of this is a tribute to the Canadian government the same people who took such a terrible beating before the Games ever got started when everyone was complaining about the heavy security. The guys in my business didn't have much to write at the time and so we seized upon the "blanket of security" that was going to cover the entire city of Montreal. We guessed badly. Sure, there's been security here but it's been quiet, unobtrusive, and certainly not intimidating. Brewers Find Ben Anything But Gentle The.

writers were told there would be 16,000 troops in town for the Olympics and so we said the place would become an armed camp. MILWAUKEE A year ago, Ben Oglivie almost became a Milwaukee Brewer. The deal was all set. The Tigers were prepared to trade Oglivie, then a seldom-used outfielder, to the Brewers for pitcher Jim Colborn. But at the last minute, Brewers owner Bud Selig stepped in and squelched the trade.

That was last spring. And Ben Oglivie has been beating the Brewers ever since. HE DID IT AGAIN Monday evening, smackng his fourth single of the game to bring Rusty Staub home from second base in the 13th inning and give the Tigers a pulsating 4-3 victory over the Brewers in a ball game that was rather strange. Ironically, the starting pitcher in Monday's game was Jim Colborn, who departed after 11 innings with the score tied. Oglivie has been absolutely incredible against the Brewers this season.

He has personally beaten them four times three times with home It's getting so that Milwaukee manager Alex Grammas hates to see the slender Tiger outfielder, who hasn't played regularly against anybody since the end of last year, step up to the plate. In nine games against Milwaukee this season, Oglivie is hitting .461 compared with approximately .200 against everybody else. Or a police state. That was a nice phrase. One aimed to catch the eye.

I've been here for almost two weeks now and nobody has inhibited me, nobody has kept me from doing my job, nobody has given me the feeling I am being watched at all times. In truth, the security has been fantastic. They keep us away from the athletes they don't allow us in their rooms at the Olympic Village or in their dressing No wonder Brewer general manager Jim Baumer cringes every time he thinks of the trade he almost made. A kA WA ti4TkrJB 3 ft i I fiCTf XZ 'v it's jftfw WfY rooms after the games. That's something we're not accustomed to in the United States.

A sports writer can go just about where he pleases in our country. Here, they've tried to protect the athletes by keeping us out of their living quarters and dressing quarters and it has worked out fine. We can request athletes be brought to us and, almost without fail, they have obliged us. Who could ask for more? 30 Absent Nations Hardly Missed The Canadians have every right to be proud of the way these Games have been run. Thirty nations pulled out at the start and while that was an unfortunate circumstance, it was still a peaceful protest.

Nobody got hurt by it except the athletes themselves, the ones who worked so long and so hard to get here. They were the only losers. The games have gone on without these 30 countries as if they did not even exist. Not only are the troops doing a tremendous jobs, so are the officials of the games the ones who conduct these events. I happened to get out' early to the boxing the other day.

It was about two hours before they were to start. In that moment, they had called all the ushers and guards together for a meeting in the middle of the arena going over the rules to service the people and the press and protecfthe fighters. We've been staying at the University of Montreal, where, on Monday, they held the 180-kilometer cycling road race. They set up tents for the bikes, stands for the fans and even an entire press box complete with TV sets at every position for the media. By Tuesday, it was all gone dismantled, packed away, and "returned to where they were rented.

That takes organization. Well-planned, completely-thought-out In other words, they've put a lot of time, money and effort into staging these Games and they've done a first class job of it They've even kept the ladies of the night off the Montreal streets. And speaking of streets, what a pleasure it is to wander about town any part of town and feel safe and secure. It's how life used to be in our city. Thank you, Canada.

Ben Oglivie MEANWHILE, Oglivie continues to make it difficult for Ralph Houk to keep him sitting on the bench. Under the circumstances, the Tigers were happy to escape with a victory Monday night They spotted Milwaukee two runs, when rookie Frank MacCormack and reliveer Jim Crawford walked five Brewers in the bottom half of the first. Then they watched Crawford pitch the game of his holding Milwaukee hitless until George Scott led off the last of the ninth with a single to center. By then, the Tigers has caught up. But after Staub put then back out in front with his eighth home run of the year in the 11th inning, the Brewers rallied to tie things up themselves, i So everyone had to wait until the lucky 13th when Staub, Jason Thompson and, of course, Oglivie all singled off Danny Frisella.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Tigers, matching their longest winning streak of the season. Detroit Printers Stay Unbeaten In Tourney, 6-3 Spsclal to tht Fret Prest ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Detroit one of three undefeated teams in the double-elimination Printers Union Baseball Tournament, dumped defending champion Chicago. 6-3, Tuesday.

Detroit, now 2-0 in the tournament, meets St. Louis, which is also unbeateA, in Wednesday's third round 'frYf-pWT --ni -1 n-rmi-n irmrtmfi frtrw WMmmMiT -i rf- mr rf rr 1. i rt 1.