Page 144 - Olympism in Socialism

yachting regatta). The first gold medal will be
awarded at the Olympic shooting range in
Mytishchi near Moscow on July 20, exactly 20
hours after the grand opening of the Games in
Luzhniki, the main venue of the Olympiad-80.
According to the latest data available, out of
1.5 million tickets for the Moscow Olympics
meant for foreign tourists, over 1.3 million, or 87
per cent, have already been sold out. According
to the existing Olympic tradition, about 30
percent of all tickets are allocated for foreign
tourists. In all, about 5.8 million tickets for the
competitions of the 22nd Summer Olympics will
be sold, a far greater number of tickets than at
the previous Montreal Olympics.
Moscow already had 65 per cent of all the
required Olympic facilities when it was selected
as host of the 1980 Games five years ago.
However, a rather extensive construction
programme was drawn up for whose
implementation considerable effort was needed.
Twenty-two sports arenas had to be built or
modernized for the Olympic Games. And all of
them are ready.
The following have been modernized at the
Luzhniki centre: the Main Arena of the Lenin
Central Stadium (venue of the opening and
closing ceremonies of the Games, track-and-field
events, football finals, and Grand Prix des
Nations equestrian event); Sports Palace
(gymnastics and judo); Small Sports Arena
(volleyball), and pool (swimming, diving, water-
polo). There is a new indoor multipurpose
stadium, called Druzhba (Friendship), for 1,500
to 4,000 spectators, in the Luzhniki area (for
volleyball, basketball, handball, gymnastics,
fencing, wrestling, boxing and five other sports).
Other new facilities, given a trial in the

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