Champions of Animation?
At the time, Fini expressed some disappointment with the way the event turned out. For instance, she did not really approve of the final selection of the 50 greatest animated films of all time selected (the "Champions of Animation")by an international committee of journalists, scholars, festival directors and scholars. She still dissents, feeling that the program lacked the balance and scope she originally envisioned. She recalled that, "We had two Fischingers and two by Alexeieff and Parker. [Most] were films that had recently been in the minds of people and not what we had considered the best films." She also disliked the addition of a special program, featuring "Walt Disney's Tribute to Sports Goofy."

Olympiad of Animation film, Sigmund, Bruno Bozetto, 1984.

Nevertheless, as I wrote at the time, the Olympiad was "a real morale booster for the local animation community, giving its members a chance, once again, to be proud of being called animation artists." (Remember, this was at a time when the industry seemed to be in a state of collapse, with great amounts of work being shipped off to studios in East Asia.) I further noted that, "The event's widespread publicity and critical acclaim seemed to carry over to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's "Enchanted Drawings" series; this history of Hollywood animation shorts has been consistently sold out, including the opening evening of silent films. ... After the opening night, a background man from Filmation came up to me glowing with pride, and said, 'Isn't it great, first the Olympiad and now this!' It was a comment that seemed to make the Olympiad worthwhile." And now, 12 years later, one must say that despite her misgivings, her effort was certainly very worthwhile.


The Spirit of the Olympics
The following is a list of the 32 finalists of films made for the Olympiad of Animation in "The Spirit of the Olympics." In retrospect, the film most people remember seems to be Bruno Bozzetto's Sigmund, which shows how a little Viennese boy is affected by watching the Olympics on television. At the time, I also commended Graeme Ross' 1...2...3, whose portrayal of what goes on in a high jumper's mind as he gets ready to do his stuff, had a funky wit all its own.

1. 1...2...3, Graeme Ross, Canada
2. Olympia--La Linea 114, Oswaldo Cavandoli, Italy
3. Sigmund, Bruno Bozzetto, Italy
4. Olympic Fire, V. Jiranek & Josef Hekrdla, Czechoslovakia
5. Games, Hans Bacher, West Germany
6. Olympia, Anna Maria Zoltan, Hungary
7. It's Not Whether You Win or Lose, Rastko iri , Yugoslavia
8. Olympiad I, Marija Dail, USA
9. Olympic Boulevard, Mark Hubley, USA
10. Victoria, Lehotay Zoltan, Hungary
11. The Spirit, Stephan Boeder, West Germany
12. Torch, Wendy Vanguard, USA
13. Hors-Jeu, Georges Schwisgebel, Switzerland
14. The Imagination of the Marathon Runners, Yuji Kuri, Japan
15. The Spirit of the Olympics, John Amitay, Canada
16. Animarathon, Raul Garcia-Sanz, Spain
17. Spitzensport, Any Coray, Switzerland
18. Blind Olympics, Nancy Bens, Belgium
19. My Olympic Heroes, Talent Barli, USA
20. Quitagulation, Gregory Burns, USA
21. Road to the Olympics, Rejean Bourdages & Shane Doyle, Canada
22. Olympics, Gert Vergauwe, Belgium
23. Breth of Seth, Melinda Littlejohn, USA
24. Olimpia Los Angeles 1984, Csaba Szorady, Hungary
25. Running In, Lesley Keen, Scotland
26. Alber-10, Anders Holt, Sweden
27. The Flight, Clara Basca & Gloria Canestrini, Italy
28. Rupert's Olympic Feet, Larry Luria, USA
29. The Gallop, Sandor Bekesi, Hungary
30. Torch Mural, Tom Lapsley, USA
31. Muybridge in Motion, Kenji Theil, USA
32. The Spirit of the Olympics, Miguel A. Fuertes, Spain