TAC Suspends Four California Athletes : Penalties Stem From Participation in Series of South Africa Meets

The Athletics Congress, which governs track and field in the United States, suspended four more athletes Friday for participating last October in a series of unsanctioned meets in South Africa.

Most severely penalized was 4-time Olympian John Powell, a discus thrower from Cupertino, Calif., who was suspended for 6 years. Suspended for 4 years were Californians Carol Cady, a discus thrower from Stanford; Ruth Wysocki, a middle-distance runner from Canyon Lake, and James Robinson, a half-miler from Oakland.

San Francisco attorney Rich Nichols, a member of the 3-man panel appointed by The Athletics Congress to conduct hearings regarding the South African tour, said that Powell’s suspension was longer because he is a coach. Cady is one of the athletes instructed by Powell.

“For one who is looked up to by athletes to take an action that flies in the face of the sport’s rules and regulations is a serious offense,” Nichols said.

In reaching its decision after a 2-hour meeting, the panel rejected a claim forwarded at an earlier hearing by Clark Leslie, a San Mateo attorney who represents Powell and Cady, that the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the governing body for the sport, has not legally suspended South Africa’s membership.

Leslie argued that the IAAF’s initial move to suspend South Africa in 1976 required a two-thirds vote but received only a simple majority

Although TAC’s representative, Alvin Chriss, acknowledged that the IAAF acted improperly when it suspended South Africa in 1976, he said that the IAAF subsequently corrected the error with a unanimous vote in 1981. The action was taken because of South Africa’s official policy of racial separation.

Neither Leslie nor any of the athletes attended Friday’s hearing, the fourth since November. All 14 U.S. athletes who competed in South Africa have been suspended, as have two administrators. The panel will conduct a hearing in Los Angeles March 30 for the third administrator, Pasadena City College Coach Skip Robinson.

Leslie said that he will have no comment until he sees a copy of the decision. But he indicated that Powell and Cady will appeal. Others who have notified TAC of their plans to appeal are the U.S. group’s organizer, Dick Tomlinson, and athletes Tom Petranoff, Tom Hintnaus, Ray Wicksell and Tyrus Jefferson. TAC’s Board of Directors will hear the appeals March 12 in Indianapolis.

Wysocki, a 1984 Olympian in the 800 and the 1,500, said that she is not sure of her next step.

“I think we all intend to keep fighting this,” she said. “We should have the right to compete. I don’t feel we’ve done something wrong.”

She said that she will return to South Africa for another series of meets in April.

After that?

“I don’t know,” she said. “It will be interesting to be at home in the summer and do what normal people do.”