South African Barred From Boston Race

Mark Plaatjes, a native of South Africa, was ruled ineligible today for Monday’s Boston Marathon because of an international rule forbidding athletes from his country from competing.

“The rules are clear,” said Alvin Chriss, special assistant to the executive director of the Athletics Congress, the national governing body for track and field, in a telephone interview from Indianapolis.

“He’s a South African, and the International Amateur Athletic Federation (the world sanctioning body for the sport) has banned South Africans from international competition.

“Therefore, he’s ineligible.”

Plaatjes, a former student at the University of Georgia, holds the school record for 10,000 meters, with a time of 29 minutes, 22 seconds in 1982.

Plaatjes had no immediate comment on the Boston ruling, but he has indicated that if he is not eligible to run, he will return to South Africa for a race there.