NOTES : Decision Helps Nebiolo’s Cause

In an action at least theoretically designed to add flexibility to the selection process, the International Olympic Committee voted Wednesday in La Lechere, France, to allow its president to choose two at-large members at his discretion without regard to country.

Previously, no country was allowed more than two representatives in the 93-member IOC.

“We knew we had to find some way around our procedures,” said Richard Pound, a former IOC vice president from Canada. “No more than two members from each country is a major limitation. I can think of lots of people from lots of countries who would be good additions.”

There, however, was only one person on the minds of most IOC members Wednesday.

Primo Nebiolo of Italy, the influential but controversial president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs track and field, has been aggressively campaigning for a seat on the IOC. But he has been blocked because Italy has two members, and although one is 86, there is no guarantee that Nebiolo would be elected by the IOC to eventually replace him.

A few IOC members have expressed resentment toward Nebiolo because they believe he has taken his campaign to extremes, even suggesting that his resistance to IAAF recognition for South Africa is part of it.

Wednesday, the IOC formally readmitted South Africa after a 21-year ban because of apartheid, or racial separation, in that country. But South Africa cannot compete in track and field in the 1992 Summer Olympics without the IAAF’s certification.

The prospect of South Africa competing at Barcelona without its world-class track and field athletes is known to be an aggravation to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain.

Samaranch has not named any candidates for the two at-large positions, which he is expected to fill during the next IOC session in July at Barcelona. But IOC members seem to accept that Nebiolo will be one.

“The smart money isn’t getting very long odds on at least one name,” Pound said. “It’s pretty clear, isn’t it?”

But Pound said he did not believe the IAAF’s position on South Africa was a factor.

“South Africa would not be that difficult to be reconciled,” he said. “It would have been reconciled either way.”

As for the other potential new member, early speculation centered on Jean-Claude Killy, the winner of three gold medals in skiing in the 1968 Winter Olympics and the co-president of the ’92 organizing committee.

Although he remains a sports hero in France, French Olympic committee officials have been hesitant to forward Killy’s name as a candidate for the IOC because he has lived for several years in Geneva, Switzerland.

Briefly

The IOC formally recognized the former Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as independent nations and gave provisional recognition to Croatia and Slovenia. The latter two, both former republics of Yugoslavia, can compete in the Winter Olympics but will not receive formal admission into the IOC until they have established independent Olympic committees.

The U.S. and French Olympic hockey teams “dropped their gloves and scuffled a bit” Tuesday at the conclusion of an exhibition game in Megeve, France. No disciplinary action was taken. Spokeswoman Anne Abicht said the spat began at the traditional postgame handshaking ceremony “when someone spit in someone else’s face.” She added: “It lasted a minute or two. There was no blood, no lost teeth, just unloading the heat of the evening. . . . When Dave (Peterson the Olympic team’s coach) was asked about it afterward, he said it was inconsequential.” The United States won that game, 6-3, and finished its pre-Olympic schedule Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over Sweden in Chamonix. The U.S. and French teams would not face each other again unless both qualify for the medal round.

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this story.