Samaranch’s Plea for Coe Rejected

British athletic officials Saturday rejected a request from Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee, to add Sebastian Coe to the British Olympic team.

Samaranch sent a letter to Ewan Murray, chairman of the British Amateur Athletic Board, urging that a place be found for Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion.

BAAB spokesman Tony Ward, calling the request “extraordinary,” said the board couldn’t grant Samaranch’s request because all the places in the 800 and 1,500 meters have been filled.

“They were decided not on sentiment but what happened on the track,” he said.

Samaranch wrote in his letter: “Sebastian Coe is a great Olympic champion, having won the 1,500 meters title twice and made many other contributions to the Olympic movement.

“I know that many British people, as well as others from other countries, want to see him run in Seoul, so I decided to write and ask that the question be considered again.”

Coe failed to reach the final of Britain’s 1,500 trials. His failure to qualify was blamed on a chest infection he picked up during training in Switzerland.