Conflicting Reports Shadow Budd Case

The International Amateur Athletic Federation on Sunday insisted it had not lifted its threat to ban British athletes from international competition on the day the British Amateur Athletic Board deferred a decision on Zola Budd’s eligibility.

John Holt, secretary of track’s world governing body, said the IAAF stood by the directive it issued last weekend that the British board should impose a 12-month ban on the South African-born Budd or risk being suspended itself from competition, including the Seoul Olympics in September.

“The matter will be considered under rule 11, which says that the IAAF has the power to caution, censure or suspend the British board,” Holt said from Lausanne, Switzerland where IAAF officials were attending the International Olympic Committee meetings.

Holt’s comment plunged Britain’s athletics crisis over Budd--whose eligibility is under question because she watched a cross-country race in Brakpan, South Africa--deeper into confusion.

Earlier in the day, IAAF President Primo Nebiolo had said: “We have never mentioned the idea of suspension of the British board. We will wait for the report of the committee and we will reflect. We have taken into consideration the eligibility of Zola Budd, not the eligibility of the British board.”

British board officials clearly thought the threat of a ban had been withdrawn. According to earlier reports, the IAAF had said the original version of the resolution had been altered because an “administrative error.”

Initially, part of the resolution had stated, “If . . . the BAAB has failed to take such action as is necessary, the Council will have to consider exercising its suspensive powers against the BAAB.”

But British officials learned Tuesday that the resolution had been revised to state, “The Council has decided that the BAAB be required to exercise its responsibility in this matter and take appropriate action.”

Meanwhile Sunday, the British board announced it would appoint a three-person panel to review Budd’s case, but little else was settled in a three-hour meeting of board officials in London.

The panel, which has yet to be appointed, will hear new evidence and report to the board May 21. In the meantime, the board has requested that Budd not compete in any foreign or domestic meets.

The British board has already conducted two hearings regarding Budd’s conduct and both times cleared her. Now, however, it must consider Budd’s actions in light of the IAAF’s new interpretation of the participation rule, which has been broadened to prohibit an athlete from watching a competition in South Africa rather than only prohibiting an athlete from competing there.

In addition, Bryant and Budd have been consulting attorneys and are not ruling out legal action. Meanwhile, a legal suit was filed on Budd’s behalf by the Assn. for Freedom, a right-wing group based in London.