Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International...

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, expressed hope Thursday that a multiracial South Africa would be represented in the 1992 Summer Olympics and moved to end a dispute with Third World nations over free lodging for all participants in the Barcelona games.

The Assn. of African National Olympic Committees has invited representatives of South African sports federations of all races to a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, in August to discuss returning South Africa to the Olympic movement.

Samaranch said he hoped the meeting would result “in something that would permit this.”

South Africa has been excluded from Olympic participation since 1960 because of its policy of apartheid, or racial segregation.

In the lodging controversy, Samaranch stood behind the original offer made by Barcelona organizers five years ago.

“There is no question the offer was for athletes only,” Samaranch said during a news conference.