‘Honeyboy’ Edwards
sings the blues
See Page 8
J: S
Tuesday, July 24, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 11
anel nixes single Olympic site
By Mike Duncan
Of the Emerald
A proposal to return the Olympic
Games to Greece met with opposition
from a panel of experts in a conference
held Saturday as part of the Olympic
Scientific Congress continuing in
Eugene this week.
George Papandreou, son of Greek
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou,
offered a site in Olympia as a perma
nent location for future Olympic
Games.
‘‘We are willing to discuss and ac
cept plans for the development of an
internationally-neutral zone in Olym
pia, the birth place of the Olympic
Games,” Papandreau said.
‘‘On behalf of the Grecian govern
ment, we think that having a perma
nent site for the Games would enhance
the possibility of the survival of the
Olympic Games and create a new
venue for the Olympic spirit,” he said.
But Papandreau’s view of the Olym
pic spirit clashed with the views of
other panel members.
Citing that the Olympics reflect the
state and dynamics of international
relations, Harry Edwards, from the
University of California, Berkeley, said
that politics and the Olympic games are
inseparable.
‘‘We must learn to effectively
manage that which we cannot
eliminate,” Edwards said. “A perma
nent site in Greece would not resolve
the basic difficulties that we are con
fronted with.”
Noting that the current and past
history of Greece is replete with con
flicts, Edwards argued against one per
manent site, whether it be in Greece,
the United States or the Soviet Union.
Instead, he said, five international
zones with an international organizing
committee would be best.
Photo by Michael Clapp
At a panel discussion Saturday, sociologist Harry Edwards criticized a pro
posal by the Greek government to hold all future Olympic Games in Greece.
“This way we would get around one
of the greatest impediments to a single
site, which is that no group of countries
would relish the idea of going every
four years to a country and bow down
to the cultural accoutrements of that
particular country,” Edwards said.
“Eight to nine-tenths of the world’s
population happens to be non-white.
non-European. A permanent site in
Europe would not accomodate these
peoples' needs,” he said.
Without organizational changes, the
Olympic Games’ future would soon be
split between the socialist and the
capitalist world with the third world
caught between, Edwards said.
“What we will have is an East-West,
athletic arms race for supremacy in the
international Olympic movement.”
Richard Mandel. two-time author on
the history of the Olympic Games, sees
the future of the games as “more of the
same.”
“There are powerful groups of peo
ple who have definite interest in seeing
the Games continue more or less as
they are,” Mandel said. “We’ll see
many sports establishments from other
countries that will attempt to
strengthen the Olympic Games as they
exist so that they're able to absorb all
this importance, this significance that
is placed upon the games.”
Biomechanics field takes giant strides
By Mike Duncan
Of the Emerald
Ten years ago, few people at the
University even knew what the word
“biomechanics” meant. Then came
Barry Bates, currently an associate
professor with the College of Human
Development and Performance.
A decade after Bates entered the
scene, his efforts have paid off in the
form of his own biomechanics com
pany. The operation is made up of a
collection of students and researchers
that Bates says “are the best in their
fields” and a laboratory that Celeste
Ulrich, dean of the College of Human
Development and Performance, calls
“the best in the whole North
American continent.”
Biomechanics is a science that uses
the principles of engineering and ap
plies them to the structure and move
ment of the human body, Bates says.
Utilizing sophisticated electronic
equipment combined with exacting
measurements and detailed analysis,
researchers can rate the performance
of an individual’s movement, identify
problems and suggest improvements.
“As a lab, our position is one of
looking at people interacting with the
environment,” Bates says. “We can
look at what somebody’s doing and
figure out what they’re doing wrong
and change it.”
A portion of Bates’ laboratory
equipment — recently donated by
Tektronix, a Beaverton-based, high
tech electronics industry — is on
display in Gerlinger Annex as part of
the Olympic Scientific Congress con
tinuing this week.
To understand the human body as a
machine required equipment that in
cludes a camera the* can photograph
at least 500 frames a second, Bates
says. Researchers also use electronic
“force plates’’ embedded in floors to
measure upward-downward,
foreward-backward and sideways mo
tion of runners, jumpers and
throwers, he says.
Sensors in systems called elec
trodynagrams measure force placed
on as many as 14 pressure points in
athletic shoes. Video cameras linked
to computers produce stick-figure
diagrams of people in motion that
may be graphed, analyzed and com
pared to ideal performance on a
display screen.
Following humiliating key defeats
in the 1976 Olympic games, coaches
arranged for assessment of their
athletes and the emerging science
made its debut.
One computer analysis predicted
that Tom Petranoff — a 20-year-oid
javelin thrower from San Deigo — had
the potential to throw 330 feet, which
—
was 20 feet greater than the world
record and 70 feet more than his per
sonal best.
And in May of 1983, with a throw
of 327 feet and 2 inches, Petranoff
broke the record.
Biomechanics has proven itself as
an aide to the athletically talented and
as a tool for companies that design
products for the elite as well as the
recreational athlete, Bates says.
Companies that make sportinR
goods ranging from running shoes to
baseball mitts have cashed in on the
developing field. As a consultant for
Asics Tiger Corp., a Japanese sporting
goods company, Bates influenced a
recent change in the design of athletic
shoes.
“About 80 percent of my research
over the last nine years has been in
the area of running with an initial em
phasis on running injury,” Bates
says.
According to Bates, Runner’s
World magazine began conducting
mechanical tests in the late 1970s on
running shoes instead of conducting
biomechanical tests involving
humans.
Consistent with the current
understanding of running-shoe per
formance, the magazine rated shoes
Continued on Page 2
Courtyard gets
extended lease
By Paul Ertelt
Of the Emerald
It appears that the businesses in The
Courtyard on 13th Avenue will be spared
from the wrecking ball, but no final
agreement has been reached between
Sacred Heart Hospital officials and the
business owners, many of whom feel bit
ter over the hospital's handling of the
situation.
With plans to use the hospital-owned
land for additional parking, Sacred Heart
officials told the business owners in June
that they would have to vacate by August
31. Now they say they have found alter
native parking and have written a new
lease allowing the businesses to stay un
til March 31, 1986.
“The ball is in their court as far as The
Courtyard is concerned,” says John
Hayward, associate administrator for the
hospital.
The hospital also ordered Sahalie’s
Natural Foods, 611 E. 13th Ave., and
The Eugene Trading Co., 651 E. 13th
Ave., to vacate. Sahalie’s is in the pro
cess of relocating to the building that
once housed Bob’s Superette, and The
Eugene Trading Company is still
negotiating with the hospital.
But Frank Mowreader, who owns the
Cycle Works shop and subleases to the
other Courtyard businesses, claims he
already holds a lease on the property and
says that the new lease has different pro
visions than the original one. He says he
plans to consult his lawyer and decide
how to respond to the hospital’s offer.
Mowreader’s original lease was for
three years with two two-year renewal
options. Mowreader did not renew the
option in writing, but says he had a ver
bal understanding with the hospital.
Hospital officials say they were forced
to make a move because of a severe park
ing shortage they say was aggravated by
the city’s new parking plan that took ef
fect in February. Hospital employees
who could no longer find parking spaces
began to compete for spaces with pa
tients on the hospital lots.
“Most patients come to the hospital in
private vehicles,” Hayward says. “If
you’re sick, you don’t come to the
hospital in a taxi or on a bike or on a city
bus.”
After negotiations, the city offered the
hospital between 20 and 40 parking per
mits at reduced prices for their
employees. According to Hayward,
removing the Courtyard would have on
ly given the hospital 22 spaces.
Even with these spaces and other park
ing options the hospital is investigating,
they still are far short of the 300 spaces
parking consultants say they need,
Hayward says. Mowreader, however,
thinks the hospital is exaggerating its
parking needs.
“Most businesses here can’t afford to
have employee parking,” he says. “The
hospital providing an employee parking
lot is an absolute luxury in this
neighborhood. ”
“When you have a small business and
only have one, two, three employees, it’s
a different scale than having 1,800
employees,” says Alan Yordy, com
munity relations manager for the
hospital. “The University provides park
ing spaces for its employees.”
“We spent a lot of time and a lot of
money to find a solution to this pro
blem,” Yordy says. “It’s unfortunate
that everyone in this whole story has suf
fered hardship.”