Four track athletes who defied an international...

Four track athletes who defied an international ban against competing in South Africa, and who were given a reprieve last month because of a technicality, will have their hearing today.

The eligibility of discus throwers John Powell and Carol Cady, middle-distance runner Ruth Wysocki and 800-meter runner James Robinson will be discussed at a hearing in New York conducted by a panel of The Athletics Congress, the U.S. governing body for track and field.

TAC and the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the sport’s world governing body, do not allow athletes to compete in South Africa because of its policy of apartheid, or racial separation.

The case of Skip Robinson, track coach at Pasadena City College, also will be heard.

These cases were to have been judged Jan. 18, at a hearing when 12 other athletes and tour organizers received suspensions ranging from two to 12 years. Instead, however, Clark Leslie, an attorney for Powell and Cady, was given additional time to gather materials from the IAAF, so the panel postponed the hearing for all five.