MISSING IN ACTION : Outstanding Track and Field Team Could Be Formed from Athletes Left Home

What if they held an Olympics without track and field stars Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Greg Foster, Zola Budd, Abdi Bile, Renaldo Nehemiah and Pierre Quinon?

Or Steve Jones, Billy Konchellah, Javier Sotomayor, Danny Harris, Ana Quirot, Priscilla Welch, Michael Conley, Belaine Densimo and Jose Luis Gonzalez?

That’s exactly what’s happening. The absent athletes, large in numbers and talent, could form a magnificent Olympic team of their own.

Even though the competition that got under way Friday will feature some of the sport’s greatest athletes--Carl Lewis, Ben Johnson, Edwin Moses, Sergei Bubka, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Butch Reynolds--many top competitors are absent.

Coe, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 1,500 meters and silver medalist in the 800 meters, was left off the British team this year after running poorly during the trials.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, suggested that Coe, because of his accomplishments, be given a “wild card” entry into the Games. His idea was rejected by British track and field officials.

Budd, the native South African who became a British citizen in 1984 and got entangled with Mary Decker Slaney of the United States in the women’s 3,000-meter final in the most celebrated collision of the Los Angeles Games, returned to her homeland this year after much political pressure.

The pressure was applied by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body of the sport, after Budd was seen watching a race in South Africa.

South Africans are barred by the IAAF from competing internationally because of the country’s racial policy of apartheid, and it was ruled that Budd had tainted herself by her involvement with the sport in South Africa, no matter how slight the offense.

She then decided to return to South Africa, and announced she was quitting the sport.

Ovett, the third high-profile member of the 1984 British team who is missing this year, also ran below par during the trials and was not chosen to the squad. He was the 1980 gold medalist in 800 meters and the 1984 bronze medalist in the 1,500.

Samuelson, winner of the first women’s Olympic marathon in 1984, missed the U.S. trials this year because of injuries. Four years ago, she won the trials, only 17 days after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

There has been speculation that she could have run in the trials again this year, but skirted them because of her fear of coming to Seoul, due to the city’s political unrest.

Foster, the 1983 and 1987 world champion in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and the 1984 Olympic silver medalist, suffered a broken arm during a workout July 4 near his California home. With his arm heavily taped during the trials, he got through the first two rounds, but was eliminated in the semifinals.

Nehemiah, the world record-holder in the 110 hurdles, reached the final at the U.S. trials, but failed to finish after slamming into the first few hurdles. He has not regained his form since returning to track in 1986 following four years of pro football.

Bile, the 1987 world champion in the men’s 1,500 meters--the first world championship medalist in any sport from Somalia--will miss the Games because of a stress fracture of the left foot.

Quinon, the 1984 Olympic champion in the pole vault and the former world record-holder, failed to make the French team during this year’s trials.

Failure to perform well at their country’s trials also were costly to Jones and Geoff Smith, two of Britain’s top marathoners, and Americans Harris, the 400-meter intermediate hurdler who ended Moses’ 122-race winning streak last year, and Conley, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the triple jump.

Among the other notables who failed to qualify for the Olympic team during the U.S. trials were: John Powell, the 1976 and 1984 Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s discus; Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic champion in the triple jump; Benita Fitzgerald-Brown, the 1984 Olympic champion in the women’s 100 hurdles; Tom McCants and Jerome Carter, co-American record-holders in the men’s high jump; Joe Dial, the national record-holder in the pole vault; Mike Tully, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the pole vault; and Ron Brown, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter relay.

Also, Ben Plucknett, American record-holder in the men’s discus; Judui Brown-King, Olympic silver medalist in the women’s 400 hurdles; Jane Frederick, bronze medalist in the heptathlon at the 1987 World Championships; Dwight Stones, two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s high jump; Antonio McKay, 1984 Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s 400 meters; Mark Nenow, American record-holder at 10,000 meters, and Jim Spivey, bronze medalist in the men’s 1,500 at last year’s World Championships.

While the U.S. team’s problem was an abundance of talent, Kenya’s was too many illnesses and injuries.

Konchellah, the 1987 world champion at 800 meters, is not at the Games because of tuberculosis. Paul Kipkoech, the world champion at 10,000 meters, is missing because of malaria. And Julius Korir, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 3,000 meters, is absent because of a foot injury.

Boycotts have robbed the Games of the top Cuban and Ethiopian athletes. The absent Cubans include Sotomayor, world record holder in the high jump; Quirot, the 1987 Pan American Games champion in the women’s 400 and 800; and Luis Delis, the 1980 Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s discus.

Belaine Densimo, the fastest marathoner in history, heads the absent Ethiopian group.

Lack of fitness or injuries have claimed Welch, the 43-year-old Briton who was the first woman’s finisher in last year’s New York City Marathon; Spain’s Gonzalez, one of the world’s premier 1,500-meter runners; French pole vaulter Ferenc Salbrt; U.S. shot putter John Brenner; and sprinter Marian Woronin and high jumper Jacek Wszola of Poland.

Others missing include British pole vaulter Jeff Gutteridge, barred for testing positive for drugs; Romanian women’s discus thrower Daniela Costian, who took political asylum in Turkey; Soviet women’s 400-meter runner Tatyana Slaninova, who recently returned to competition after maternity leave; and Wolfgang Schmidt of West Germany, former world record-holder in the men’s discus who left East Germany after being imprisoned for his political beliefs.