Efforts to save the running career of...

Efforts to save the running career of South African-born Zola Budd intensified as the athlete’s coach and British track officials announced that they were seeking legal advice.

The government also intervened, sports minister Colin Moynihan saying that he would be willing to help study ways of keeping Budd on the team without opening the door to an African boycott of the Summer Olympics.

Budd, now a British subject, faces a year’s suspension if the British Amateur Athletic Board acts upon a recommendation by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. The IAAF wants Budd barred from competition for having watched a cross-country race in South Africa, which itself is prohibited from international competition because of its racial segregation policies.

The BAAB will decide Sunday whether to ban Budd or risk the entire British track and field team’s being barred from the Seoul Olympics.