U.S. Olympic Festival

The U.S. Olympic Festival was an amateur multi-sport event held in the United States by the United States Olympic Committee in the years between Olympic Games. Started in 1978 as an American counterpart to the communist Spartakiade – a similar event held on a quadrennial basis by the former Soviet Union and its former satellite in East Germany. As the competitive position of U.S. athletes in the Olympics slipped relative to that of the Soviets and East Germans, it was felt the U.S. needed some kind of multi-sports event to simulate the Olympic experience.[1] It was originally called the National Sports Festival and was the nation's largest amateur sporting event, before ending in 1995.[2]