Record Number of Nations in Olympics : 144 of 161 Have Already Submitted Entry Lists to Compete at Seoul

Of the 161 countries that accepted invitations to attend the Olympic Games, 144 had submitted entry lists by Wednesday, Michelle Verdier, International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, said.

That guarantees that more countries will participate in the Olympics than ever before, breaking the record of 141 that sent athletes to the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Verdier said that she has no reason to believe that the 17 other countries that accepted invitations will not attend. Their deadline is Sept. 17, the day of the opening ceremonies.

Although it is not likely that any of the six countries that did not accept invitations will participate, Verdier said that only Nicaragua has notified the IOC that it definitely will not send athletes.

She said that Albania and the Seychelles have not responded to the invitations, and that North Korea, Cuba and Ethiopia have told the IOC that they will not attend under the present circumstances.

Cuba and Ethiopia are boycotting in support of North Korea, which wanted a significant role in the staging of the games. No further negotiations among North Korean and South Korean Olympic committees and the IOC are scheduled.

Park Seh Jik, president of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC), said last week that North Korean athletes will be welcome in Seoul at any time during the Olympics as long as they notify SLOOC of their desire to participate before the closing ceremonies Oct. 2.

Verdier said Wednesday that the IOC will consider sanctions against five of the six countries that are not expected to attend. Already, seven Cuban judges who had been assigned to participate in the Games have been told that their credentials will be withdrawn. No officials from the other countries received assignments here.

Other sanctions, Verdier said, might include withholding those countries’ shares of the $407 million in worldwide television rights fees that the Seoul Olympics have generated.

“That will be determined on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

She said that Nicaragua will escape sanctions because it notified the IOC before the Jan. 17 deadline that it would not participate, saying that it did not have the financial resources because of its war against the Contras.

One SLOOC official, who asked to remain unidentified, said that Nicaragua also decided not to participate in protest of South Korea’s financial contributions to the Contras through the U.S. government. That was revealed during the Iran-Contra hearings.