Athletes Can’t Go It Alone : Track and field: Sport’s governing body turns down request by South Africans to compete in world championships.

An application by some of South Africa’s best athletes to compete in this month’s track and field World Championships in Tokyo was rejected Tuesday by International Amateur Athletic Federation officials in London.

Jayne Pearce, a spokeswoman for the IAAF, the world governing body for track and field, said in a statement: “We can’t accept individual applications.”

Twenty-eight South Africans, including Zola (Budd) Pieterse and U.S.-born Tom Petranoff, wrote to IAAF president Primo Nebiolo after the South African Amateur Athletic Assn. decided to delay a reply to an invitation to compete in Tokyo starting Aug. 24.

The athletes, all of whom reached the qualification standard in their events, wrote that they were “being used and abused as political prisoners” in their own country.

Nebiolo has appealed to Nelson Mandela, president of the African National Congress, and President Frederik W. de Klerk to persuade South Africa’s athletic organizations to send a team to Japan, Mervin Karamitas, deputy chief sports editor of the Johannesberg Star said Tuesday night. Karamitas said the IAAF set an Aug. 14 deadline for a reply.

Petranoff said in a phone interview that the group, called the South African Athletes Committee, was organized in an effort to lobby domestic and international officials.

The letter, written by Fanie van Zyl, a former South African mile record-holder, called on Nebiolo to accept the athletes’ application. The South African Amateur Athletics Assn. earlier voted against sending a team to Tokyo.

“We as athletes are aware of our rights and obligations and we do believe that it is also our duty to take part at this very important athletics event,” wrote van Zyl, the athletes’ representative, in a statement issued in London.

“We also feel we are being used and abused as political prisoners in our country. Athletes cannot allow politicians to boycott Tokyo for their own reasons. We believe that you should not allow such blackmail . . . to happen against athletes.”

Most officials in South Africa have agreed that the country’s sports isolation should end, but disagree about the timing.

Some, including Sam Ramsamy, chairman of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa, want to wait until next year’s Olympics in Barcelona. Others say South African track and field has met the conditions for re-entry to international competition.

Still, the athletes believe they are facing the age-old dilemma of being used as pawns by myriad political factions inside and outside their country.

“It (the letter) was a last-ditch effort,” Petranoff said, adding that the athletes knew all along that they had little chance of going to Japan. The athletes have been left in the dark as to exactly what is going on. We’re tired of it. We decided to form our own body as a lobbying group to get this political nonsense over with.”

Petranoff said the ANC sees track and field as the last vestige of leverage left in their effort to gain international support. He said with countries dropping economic and other sanctions against South Africa the athletes have been thrown into the forefront of a divisive domestic battle.

Petranoff said the athletes also cannot compete as individuals in international meets other than the World Championships although many, particularly the blacks, have considered entering.

They are stopped by the fear of reprisals from ANC activists, Petranoff said. “They are afraid their houses will be burned down and their families hurt,” he said. “That’s the type of threat you have to take in Africa.”

The South African media criticized the IAAF’s policy Tuesday, citing invitations to individuals from Yugoslavia, a country that is threatening to break up because of ethnic differences among its republics.

Commentators pointed out that the IAAF will allow Serbs and Croats to compete without a flag, but will forbid South Africans from doing so.

“If that’s the case, Nebiolo will look pretty bad trying to single out South Africa,” Petranoff said.

Nebiolo could not be reached for comment.