Macdonald Asks Olympic Aid

Congressman Torbert H. Macdonald '40 (Dem.-Mass.) and former Harvard football captain will present a bill to congress this month proposing federal aid for the U.S. Summer Olympic Team.

Macdonald said yesterday that he was opposed to direct Government subsidization of athletics but he did feel that "Once our team is selected, it is our duty to pick up the tab for their living and training expenses until their departure.

"When an athlete makes the Olympic team," Macdonald said, "he is more than just an athlete. He becomes an ambassador of the country that selects him." Macdonald therefore proposes that the government subsidize athletic ambassadors as well as diplomatic envoys.

Macdonald cited the value of athletics in the propaganda world as "inestimable." "All over the world, sports are a common denominator between nations. Once the United States team is chosen, it represents our country and therefore should make as creditable a showing as possible."

What Macdonald proposes is that the government feed and house the Olympians and pay their transportation bills to Australia. "I am not proposing that we give these athletes salaries," he said, "rather I feel that we should get them together in some training site with weather similar to Australia's."

This year there will be a five-month lag between the team selections in June and the actual Olympic games in November. Macdonald suggests that, immediately following the trials, "the Olympic coaches should get the whole works together and set up a training camp in Florida or California. Otherwise, those selected might very easily get out of shape during the summer," he said.

"I don't see why this bill shouldn't go through," Macdonald said. "After all, there are quite a few athletes like myself in the government who feel very much the way I do."

Macdonald said that the publicly-appropriated Olympic fund would not be sufficient to cover all the team's expenses. "It is, therefore, the government's responsibility, for we owe it to our athletes and to ourselves to get the best possible results in Australia," he said.