Budd May Be Suspended; Boycotts Threatened

A suspension from competition for distance runner Zola Budd was being considered Monday by track officials fearful of anti-apartheid boycotts at this summer’s Olympics and other major meets.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation asked British track authorities to answer allegations that Budd, a South African native who moved to London four years ago, “associated herself” with at least two meets in her homeland last year.

Paul Frazer, an IAAF spokesman, said that the federation requested the response from the British Amateur Athletics Board after receiving information from the Supreme Council for sport in Africa.

The council is calling for action, including possible boycotts, of next week’s World Cross-Country Championships in Auckland, New Zealand, if Budd runs for Britain as planned. Zimbabwe already has announced it will boycott the meet if Budd competes, with Kenya and Zambia threatening to join.

Frazer said those involved in the investigation, conducted by federation president Primo Nebiolo and secretary general John Holt, are concerned about the “risks of boycotts” and would look beyond the Auckland meet to the Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Press Association, Britain’s domestic news agency, said the allegations concerned a cross-country meet in South Africa last June and Budd’s involvement in “giving and receiving prizes” at a South African race last New Year’s Eve.

Ward said Budd has acknowledged attending the cross-country meet with friends as a spectator shortly after taking a training run nearby, but has denied participating in or training at the meet itself.