or1980v2pt1

The Express Computerised
Printing System
Based on the data supplied by
ACS "Olympiad", the Express system
published a daily bulletin called Starts
and Results which contained start
lists for the day and the previous day's
results. It also printed the "Participants"
and "Results" brochures.
The system was developed and
operated by the Novosti Press Agency
(APN). As a result of studies, conducted
jointly by the APN, State Committee
of the USSR Council of Ministers
for Publishing, Printing and Book
Trade, the Minpribor, and the OCOG-
80, the Pagitron hardware and software
were selected for the system.
They were supplied by Helprint of
Finland and Optronics International of
the USA on a contractual basis.
The Pagitron system was designed
for automatic performance of main
editing and printing operations,
such as entry of data from magnetic
tape, typesetting with any
fonts, make-up and layout of texts
and illustrations in a wide range of
page formants, and transfer of composed
pages on film to produce printing
plates.
In order to produce the publications
on schedule, the Klimsch Expressa
photocopiers were used.
A special service was set up by the
APN to operate the Express system.
The information about the results
of competitions for the day to be used
in the daily bulletin and brochures
was accumulated by ACS "Olympiad"
and was compiled on magnetic tape
and printouts in the required sequence
and formats. The printouts of the
results lists in Russian and in a
combined English-French version
were handed over to representatives
of the APN daily at 12.00 p.m.
The operating service of the APN
had the printouts checked and delivered
to the APN printer where makeup
pages were produced. After that,
the pages were used to produce printing
plates with the aid of the Klimsch
Expressa photocopying complex. The
filmplates were then sent to the printer
of the Starts and Results bulletin.
A total of 225,000 copies of 15
issues of the bulletin were printed
from July 19 through August 3, 1980
(each issue was produced in 5,000
Russian copies and 1,000 English-
French copies). The edition was
delivered before 7.00 a.m. to competition
sites, the Main Press Centre, the
Olympic Village, hotels, and the ACS
"Olympiad" building.
On the day when the Olympic
Games were opened, the users received
10,476 sets of the "Particip-
151
ants" brochures (22 in each set) in
Russian and 12,995 sets in English
and French, totalling 515,482 copies.
On the day when the Games were
closed, before 6.00 p.m. the users
received 12,957 sets of the "Results"
brochures (21 in each set) in English
and French and 9,756 sets of
brochures in Russian, 476,973 copies
in all.
There were no breakdowns, no
slowdowns, or reduction of data traffic
to the users owing to full supply of all
equipment, smooth operation of the
hardware and software services.
As compared to the results system
of the Games of the XXI Olympiad,
ACS "Olympiad" had considerably
greater capabilities. The functions included
processing of entries for technical
officials and horses, a wider
variety of information materials, issue
of original statistics about competitors,
and creation of data interface
with local results processing systems.
The entry of information for 13
sports was much more automated.
The data was printed out in three
languages—Russian, English, and
French.
The system made it possible to list
and distribute partial results without
waiting for the end of long competitions
and to send out unofficial results
without waiting for their official approval.
During the Games of the XXII
Olympiad radically new for a results
service were the high-speed reports
about medal winners and record
breakers as well as automatic tabulating
of record-holders, medal-winners
and champions, by sport, in particular.
An effective innovation of the system
was an automatic translation of
sports terminology or parts of the text
to generate multilanguage documents
with a single-language input.
Here are some comments on the
operation of the computerised results
service during the Games of the XXII
Olympiad.
The Washington Post wrote that
the Games were well organised. There
were no technical problems with the
holding and coverage of the competitions,
predicted after the US and
some other countries had refused to
export equipment for the Olympics. A
sophisticated computerised information
system was perfect.
Thomas Kent, the chief of the
Associated Press bureau in Moscow:
"The Associated Press would like to
express its gratitude for the fine
SIMTA-80 results service which was
produced by TASS for the Moscow
Olympics."