Eastern bloc countries were known for

skirting the edge of the rules by having

state-sponsored "full-time amateurs." Their
Olympic athletes were given everything
they needed to live and train, but were not
technically paid to do it, and all the money
came from the government. The Soviet
Union entered teams of athletes who were
all nominally students, soldiers, or working
in a profession, but many of whom were in
reality paid by the state to train on a full-
time basis. This put the self-financed
amateurs of the Western countries at a
disadvantage.[75][76] Near the end of the
1960s, the Canadian Amateur Hockey
Association (CAHA) felt their amateur
players could no longer be competitive
against the Soviet team's full-time athletes
and the other constantly improving
European teams. They pushed for the
ability to use professional players, but met
opposition from the IIHF and IOC;
Brundage was opposed to the idea of
amateurs and professionals competing
together. At the IIHF Congress in 1969, the
organization decided to allow Canada to
use nine non-NHL professional hockey
players[77] at the 1970 World Championships
in Montreal and Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada.[78] The decision was reversed in
January 1970 after Brundage said that ice
hockey's status as an Olympic sport would
be in jeopardy if the change was made.[77] In
response, Canada withdrew from
international ice hockey competition and
officials stated that they would not return
until "open competition" was instituted.[77]
[79]
 Günther Sabetzki became president of
the IIHF in 1975, after Brundage had left
the post of IOC president, and helped to
resolve the dispute with the CAHA. In 1976,
the IIHF agreed to allow "open competition"
between all players in the World
Championships. However, NHL players
were still not allowed to play in the
Olympics because of the IOC's amateur-
only policy.[80]