Maree Is Suddenly Out of the Political Vice of Apartheid

In less than 54 weeks, a racially balanced South African delegation will march into the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

To people such as Sydney Maree and Andrew Young, it will be a spectacularly joyous moment.

“I will cry,” said Maree, the black South African distance runner deprived of years of international experience until he became a U.S. citizen in 1984 to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics. “It will really be a dream come true. It will be half the battle won just to see them there. It’s something I never thought--as much as I prayed and hoped--would happen in my time.”

Maree was the athlete caught in the political vise of apartheid, discriminated against in his own nation and unable to compete outside of it because the rest of the world wanted to punish South Africa. Young, the former U.N. ambassador under President Jimmy Carter and now co-chairman of the Atlanta committee organizing the 1996 Olympics, was an official who fought to free athletes such as Maree.

In the spring, Young was appointed to the International Olympic Committee’s Commission on Olympism and Apartheid, a group made up largely of black Africans and chaired by Judge Keba Mbaye of Senegal. That panel voted unanimously last week to recommend the return of South Africa to the Olympic movement because of progress in banishing apartheid and establishing mixed-race teams. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch gave the commission’s decision his blessing and made it official.

“I will really be thrilled,” Young said of the prospect of seeing South Africans march in the opening ceremonies. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they field teams that are more racially balanced than ours. They’ve got black swimmers. We don’t have any (at the top Olympic-caliber level). They’ve got black archers. We don’t have any. They’ve got black triathletes (not an Olympic sport). We don’t have any.

“It will be a team that represents all races and all continents.”

Some critics have said they believe things are moving too fast, that not enough change has been affected in South Africa for the momentous IOC decision to have been made.

Maree said the critics are wrong. “South Africa was given conditions to meet and they have met them,” he said. “Yes, life has not changed for the average South African, but the country has met the goals given to it by the IOC. Change has come. Have they released all political prisoners? No. But, at the same time, don’t hold athletes hostage for political problems.”

Said Young: “It was a very clear choice for the committee. The people who came asking for IOC recognition were many of the same people who led the boycott for so many years.”

Maree, 34, a New York public-relations man who competes in the 5,000 meters, said he knows of few Olympic-caliber South African athletes. He mentioned “two black sprinters.” Edward Nzibande, one of the two, is among the best in the nation, Maree believes, but he knows nothing more about him.

Soccer, he said, is the most popular sport in South Africa, luring many black children because it is so inexpensive to play. Track and field is not nearly as appealing.

“As far as color, it’s just the reverse of what happens in the United States,” Maree said. “In the U.S., most sprinters are African-American. In the longer distances, most are white. In South Africa, the sprinters are almost all white and the distance runners are almost all black.

“To be a sprinter, you need so much quality work, equipment and technical help. It costs money. Only the whites can do that. The blacks, all we did was put on a pair of shoes and run as far and as fast as you could.

“Wherever you find technical sports, you will not find blacks,” he said. “I started as a soccer player. We used to take a plastic bag and fill it up with newspapers to make a ball and then play in the street.”

Young hopes the return of South Africa to the international sports arena brings with it the development of “black and brown heroes” as role models for the nation.

“As far as racial balance, they’ve got to go some to beat us in some sports, but they will, simply because they will be working at it,” he said. “They can’t let things take their course. They must provide the resources to let those who were deprived catch up.”

South Africa has never been an Olympic powerhouse. When it was forced out of the Olympic movement after the 1960 Summer Games in Rome for failing to integrate its delegation, the nation had accumulated 16 gold medals, 15 silver and 21 bronze for a total of 52 medals, well below what the Soviet Union or United States win during a single Summer Olympics.

It has never won a Winter Olympic medal and might not field a team in Albertville, France, next February, IOC officials said.

In Barcelona, only individual South African athletes will be welcome. It is too late for any of their teams (such as soccer, basketball and volleyball) to qualify for the Olympics, according to officials.

The qualification process -- and even the Olympic performance -- of the South Africans seems unimportant right now, Maree said. He hopes to go back home soon to visit his family and friends for the first time in three years. He will remain a U.S. citizen and will compete for the United States in the future, he said. “I would love to compete for South Africa, but I cannot walk out on the United States,” Maree said. “The U.S. embraced me whan I needed it most.”

Although he became a victim, he supported the sports boycott.

“It showed us that the world had not forgotten us,” he said. “It showed us that somebody cared.”

But now, Maree said, “I prayed for this day, I wished for this day, I hoped for this day, when South African athletes could return to compete in the world.

“Now it has come. I am so happy.”