U.S. Olympic Festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Maxim (talk | contribs) at 20:50, 12 January 2021 (Reverted edits by 185.213.212.242 (talk) to last version by 93.74.129.41). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The U.S. Olympic Festival was an amateur multi-sport event held in the United States by the United States Olympic Committee in the years between Olympic Games. Started in 1978 as an American counterpart to the communist Spartakiade – a similar event held on a quadrennial basis by the former Soviet Union and its former satellite in East Germany. As the competitive position of U.S. athletes in the Olympics slipped relative to that of the Soviets and East Germans, it was felt the U.S. needed some kind of multi-sports event to simulate the Olympic experience.[1] It was originally called the National Sports Festival and was the nation's largest amateur sporting event, before ending in 1995.[2]

Editions

References

  1. ^ Hersh, Philip. "Olympic Festival's Success May Cause Its Demise". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ Reid, Ron. "Olympic Festival Was A Big Hit In Oklahoma". philly.com.