Olympics

Senior officials of the South African Amateur Athletic Board said that it would be wrong for the country to participate in the 1992 Olympics because the political climate is not yet correct.

“We are excited about getting back into the Olympic movement, but the time is not right now,” William Legolie, a former sprinter and long jumper and now head of the SAAAB’s track and field coaches’ association, said at Columbia University in New York. “It is too fast.”

Cedric van Wyk, a one-time shotputter, discus thrower and javelin thrower and now a senior administrator of the SAAAB, agreed.

“We are categorically against South Africa getting back into international sports in the next five years because 90% of the population has been deprived of participation,” he said.

“Although we are relieved about the (recent) ruling (against apartheid), how do we know it’s going to be put into practice?”

Salt Lake City must maintain its integrity by completing planned Olympic facilities for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the head of Salt Lake’s Olympic bid committee said.

“If we don’t have the maturity to follow through with the commitment in that area, we’ll suffer in the future,” Thomas K. Welch said after returning from Birmingham, England, with about 80 members of the Utah delegation.

The International Olympic Committee last weekend picked Nagano, Japan, as the host city for the 1998 Winter Olympics. However, the U.S. Olympic Committee picked Salt Lake as the U.S. nominee for the 2002 games as well as the 1998 event.