Olympics; Bradley's call for reform

Long before the current troubles surrounding the Moscow Olympics surfaced, some people warned of imminent difficulties for the games in general. One such person was US Sen. Bill Bradley, a former Rhodes scholar and New York Knicks basketball player.

Four years ago Bradley wrote an article for the New York Times that imagined a problem similar to the one the United States confronts.

Thus it's interesting that he called for the Olympics to be situated permanently in Greece as one means of defusing the games of politics. This proposal, suggested by others as well, is being looked at more seriously now.

Bradley's most interesting reform would call for every ahtlete in the Olympics to receive a participant's medal. Silver and bronze medals would be eliminated altogether, and gold medals awarded only to those who break Olympic records.