Out in the cold: sliding sports and the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 |
| |
| Authors: | Wanda Ellen Wakefield |
| |
| Institution: | 1. SUNY College , Brockport wwakefie@brockport.edu |
| |
| Abstract: | For decades American athletes in less-popular – or ‘minor’– sports suffered from a lack of institutional and practical support from their sports' governing bodies. The AAU, in particular, failed to provide the funds necessary for athletes in the sliding sports of luge and bobsled to obtain proper training and opportunities to compete. By the early 1970s, the American Olympic effort was in chaos as athletes from the Eastern Bloc, taking advantage of their nations' determination to field the best possible teams, began to excel at both the summer and winter Olympic Games. In response, Congress authorized a presidential commission to study the situation and make recommendations about how best to improve amateur sports in the United States. The result of the commission's work, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, reorganized governance of amateur sports to the benefit, particularly, of athletes in sports such as luge and bobsled. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
