THE OLYMPICS: WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : IOC Might Limit Summer Entries : Samaranch: Group’s president says stricter qualifying standards for athletes are needed.

Concerned that Olympic organizers are becoming overwhelmed, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain said Friday that not all countries involved in the movement might be represented by athletes in future Summer Games.

Traditionally, all countries recognized by the IOC have been allowed to enter at least one athlete in each event in most individual sports, regardless of whether the athlete is considered world class.

But Samaranch said during a news conference on the eve of the opening ceremony for the 26th Winter Games that stricter qualifying standards might be in place before the 1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta.

“That means some small countries will not be able to send athletes to the Games,” he said. “We don’t want a situation where an athlete finishes five laps behind the leaders. The Olympic Games are for the most important athletes.”

That is a controversial statement in France, where nearly 100 years ago Baron Pierre de Coubertin announced his intention to revive the Olympic Games. It was his philosophy, guarded even today as if it were gospel by traditionalists, that the objective for an athlete should be not to win, but to take part.

But the IOC today is faced with a different reality, an unsettled one in which the map is undergoing constant change because of ethnic and political divisions in once-established countries. The IOC has grown from 167 countries two years ago to 172, a trend that is expected to accelerate after 12 former republics of the Soviet Union compete for the last time as a unified team during this summer’s Olympics at Barcelona.

“Maybe in Atlanta, we will have more than 190 Olympic committees taking part in the Games, maybe 200,” Samaranch said. But he said it will be impossible for future organizers to accommodate more than the 10,000 to 10,500 athletes who are expected to participate at Barcelona.

Another possible solution, he said, could result from his attempt later this year to persuade officials from swimming and track and field, sports that have large numbers of competitors in the Summer Olympics, to accept limitations.

He is not expected to meet resistance from the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs track and field, because its president, Primo Nebiolo of Italy, apparently has succeeded in his efforts to become an IOC member. The IOC this week granted Samaranch the power to choose two at-large members, at least one of whom will be chosen this summer.

When a reporter attempted to coax Samaranch into revealing his choices, noting that everyone from Nebiolo to the King of Spain has been mentioned, Samaranch was coy.

“It will not be the King of Spain,” he said.

In return for his appointment, Nebiolo is expected to make certain concessions, including one particularly important to Samaranch that would allow South Africa to compete at Barcelona in track and field. Nebiolo has almost single-handedly been responsible for the IAAF’s failure to formally recognize South Africa.

“I can assure you that South Africa will take part at Barcelona, and I can assure you that South Africa will take part in (track and field),” Samaranch said.

Asked how he could be so sure considering that the IAAF rejected South Africa only two weeks ago in a meeting at Mexico City, Samaranch smiled and said: “It’s very easy to explain. I am a very optimistic man.”