Soviet Athletes Stuck in 'Dangerous' Position : Politics: Participation in hockey's Canada Cup and track championships up in the air.

By JERRY CROWE

Aug. 20, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The ouster of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has left athletes in that country wondering about their futures.

Soviet athletes mostly kept to themselves Monday at several international competitions, including the cycling world championships at Stuttgart, Germany; the rowing world championships at Vienna, and the European swimming championships at Athens.

The Canada Cup hockey tournament made plans for a possible Soviet withdrawal from the six-team competition even after being told that the Soviets would still participate, and a Soviet track and field official questioned whether his team would make it to the World Championships in Tokyo.

At least one Soviet athlete applauded the coup.

“I don’t like this situation, it is very dangerous,” said Yuri Vaulin, a Soviet boxer who lives and trains in Queens, N.Y. “But all the Gorbachev government did was talk too much. What did they do? There is no food, no bread, no nothing. It was time for a change.”

Others weren’t certain what to make of the situation.

At the OTB International Tennis Open at Schenectady, N.Y., three Soviet players spent the day watching television while trying to sort out the events back home.

“None of them are talking to the press,” said Lauren Goldenberg, communications manager for the Assn. of Tennis Professionals. “They are just trying to get calls home.”

Alexander Volkov was unable to place a call to his parents in Kalingrad, Goldenberg said. The other two Soviets playing in the tournament are Dmitri Poliakov and Andrei Cherkasov.

Sergei Artemiev of Leningrad, who boxes professionally out of New York, also was unable to reach his family by phone.

“I’ve tried to call all day, but I can’t get through,” he said. “The line’s busy. I don’t know what to think. It’s awful. I’m very worried, of course. It’s awful.”

One Soviet athlete who was able to get through, Viktor Losev of the Dynamo Moscow soccer team that is currently playing exhibition games in Italy, told the Associated Press that he talked to friends in Moscow and was assured that they were safe.

“We are scheduled to return home by the end of the week and will see then what has happened,” Losev was quoted as saying. “What can I say? Life continues.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. soccer team was relieved to watch the events in Moscow unfold on television in Innsbruck, Austria, where it is scheduled to play this week, after flying out of the Soviet capital on Sunday. The U.S. team played the Soviets on Saturday night at Moscow’s Lenin Stadium.

“We were totally surprised and shocked here to find out what had happened,” midfielder Paul Caligiuri told the Associated Press in Innsbruck. “We were in Red Square and the Kremlin taking photos and everything yesterday.”

Caligiuri, who played at UCLA, bought a KGB hat on the streets of Moscow only 24 hours earlier.

Alan Rothenberg, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, stayed behind in Moscow, sending a fax to his office in Los Angeles.

“He just said everything was OK and for me to call the family and reassure everyone,” spokeswoman Sheryl Duane said.

Rothenberg was scheduled to fly out of Moscow today to attend a tournament in Italy.

Later this week, the Soviet track and field team is scheduled to fly to Tokyo for the World Championships, which begin this weekend.

Most of the team has been training in Vladivostok in the far eastern part of the country, but pole vaulter Sergei Bubka and three others were still in Moscow.

Coach Vadim Zelichenok was worried that they might not get out before the weekend.

“I have been in phone contact with Moscow and I understand the situation is very serious,” the Associated Press quoted Zelichenok as saying.

In Toronto, Canada Cup chairman Alan Eagleson said that Canada was prepared to enter a second team in the competition if the Soviets pulled out, but later said he had been assured that the Soviets still planned to attend.

The tournament starts Aug. 31.

Worrying about her family in Soviet Georgia did not prevent Leila Meskhi from advancing to the second round of the Virginia Slims of Washington tennis tournament.

Meskhi, seeded seventh, was leading Italy’s Linda Ferrando, 6-3, 4-4, when Ferrando retired because of heat exhaustion.

“I’m nervous, because I don’t know what’s going on yet,” Meskhi, 23, told AP. “I tried to reach my parents on the phone, but it’s very difficult to get through. You keep getting a busy signal. I’m going to try again tonight.”

Meskhi said she was home in Tbilisi two weeks ago. “Everything was fine then. This is very strange,” she said.

“Its much better in Georgia than in Moscow. I’d be worrying now if they were in Moscow.”

Meskhi is scheduled to play in the U.S. Open next week.

“After the Open, I’m going home,” she said. “Bad or good situation, I have to go home, because my whole family is there.”

Meskhi’s parents and older sister live in Soviet Georgia, while her husband of two years is traveling with her in the United States.

Meskhi is one of two Soviets playing singles. The other, Natalia Zvereva, played in the doubles final in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles on Sunday and was expected to play singles in Washington today.

“When I’m playing, all I think about is tennis,” Meskhi said.

Times staff writers Earl Gustkey, Thomas Bonk and Rich Roberts contributed to this story.