IOC Says Soviets Will Field Olympic Team

The collapse of the state sport committee should not stop the Soviet Union from sending teams to the 1992 Winter and Summer Games, Olympic officials said Saturday at Lausanne, Switzerland.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, and Vitaly Smirnov, chief of the Soviet Olympic Committee, expressed confidence that Soviet athletes will compete at Albertville, France, and Barcelona.

“There will be no problem,” Smirnov said. “I am absolutely convinced.”

Doubts over Soviet participation were raised after the closure Friday of Gossport, the government agency that funded and controlled Soviet sports.

Samaranch noted that the Soviet Olympic Committee, a separate body from Gossport, is coordinating Olympic plans.