Olympic Opportunity for South Africa : If De Klerk’s reforms proceed apace, athletes and sports fans should be punished no longer

South Africa has been excluded from the international playing field--and rightly so--for more than two decades. The black-majority nation has been forced to keep its athletes at home since it refused to field an integrated team at the 1964 Olympics. That could change in time for the Barcelona games next year if President Frederik W. de Klerk can deliver on his promises of reform.

De Klerk has promised the repeal of all apartheid laws before Parliament adjourns in June. If he meets that deadline--and integrates sports governing associations, athletic teams and facilities down to the level of ordinary athletes, South Africa would deserve a bid to the Olympics.

The incentives are strong. South Africa, like the United States and Great Britain, is a nation of sports fans. They root for rugby and cricket, which are not Olympic events, and for soccer. The ban by the International Olympics Committee, however, has effectively excluded the nation from all international competition. That prohibition limits black and white athletes to uninspiring competition at home. The chance to see their teams compete internationally might persuade some white hardliners to support progress.

The British government recently endorsed the removal of sports bans against South Africa, which would allow play to resume between what had been two fierce rivals. The International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body for track and field, also may allow South Africa to participate in world championships in Tokyo this August.

The IOC views the readmission of South Africa as an African problem, and is taking its cue from African leaders who want the stigma removed so their national champions can compete against South Africa’s best. An IOC vice president and Senegalese judge, Keba Mbaye, chaired the commission that set the conditions for South Africa’s readmission to the Olympics.

The IOC will rescind the punishing ban only if South Africa abolishes apartheid, unites sports bodies into non-racial groups and forms a multiracial umbrella sports organization to push for unity. Meeting those conditions would signal real reform.

South Africa deserved the scorn of the sports world when it refused to abolish apartheid, its legal form of segregation on and off the playing fields. But if De Klerk can truly level the playing field, athletes and sports fans should be punished no longer.