The International Olympic Committee has deferred a...
The International Olympic Committee has deferred a decision on allowing professional hockey and soccer players to compete in the 1988 Olympics, an official said.
The executive board, the power behind the 90-member organization, announced last February that professionals under age 23 could compete in those sports, as well as in tennis.
The new rule was to go into effect in time for the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta, when National Hockey League players under 23 would have been allowed to compete.
Raymond Gafner, the IOC member from Switzerland, told the Calgary Herald that an eligibility commission report to be presented at the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, recommends a continuation of the rules that were previously in effect.
Strong opposition from the Soviet Union and Latin America was said to have resulted in the IOC’s change in its stand.
A final decision will be made in December.
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