TRACK AND FIELD / JULIE CART : South Africans Are Kept Waiting Again

Clouds continue to gather over South Africa. Saturday’s nondecision by the International Amateur Athletics Federation again postponed South Africa’s return to international track and field until at least April 28, the time of the next scheduled IAAF meeting.

For those keeping score, it marks at least the third time the decision has been postponed. Six months ago IAAF President Primo Nebiolo promised that a South African team would be represented at the World Championships at Tokyo. After that fell through, the March 7 IAAF meeting was going to be the readmittance date. There was even some speculation about Zola Budd competing at the World Cross-Country Championships at Boston March 21.

All that ended with the IAAF’s failure to address the South African question at Saturday’s meeting in Switzerland.

From one point of view, it was an intelligent decision. March 17 is the South African referendum, when the nation’s whites will tell President Frederik W. de Klerk if they approve of the direction his reforms have taken. The strong white backlash to his power-sharing programs have led some observers to suggest de Klerk will be ousted.

A turn to the right will put South Africa back to square one in terms of any hope of giving the country’s black majority any say in government.

Imagine readmitting South Africa’s track and field federation only one week before this crucial vote.

The IAAF’s decision also set the stage for a more dramatic possibility. Next month, Nebiolo will lead an IAAF delegation to South Africa to confer with the sport’s leaders there. If the March 15 referendum supports de Klerk, look for Nebiolo to announce South Africa’s readmittance to the IAAF at a news conference in South Africa.

There is little suspense left. International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch has promised a South African team will be at this summer’s Barcelona Olympics.

How could he make such a promise? He knew that when he appointed Nebiolo to one of two plum at-large IOC seats, the IAAF chief would see to it that the South African issue would be resolved.

News item: Germany’s largest newspaper, the mass circulation Bild, declared in a front-page story that dramatic new evidence would be brought forward to prove that world champion sprinter Katrin Krabbe was innocent of tampering with drug tests. This goes with the paper’s daily campaign to clear Krabbe’s name.

Reaction: Think the fact that Bild pays Krabbe to write an exclusive column/diary for the paper has anything to do with the “news” story?

UCLA’s track team used the weekend to attempt to qualify athletes for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which begin Friday at Indianapolis.

Already qualified from the men’s team are shotputter John Godina, sprinter Tony Miller and triple jumper Charles Rogers.

Qualified from the women’s team are shotputters Dawn Dumble and Melisa Weis.

Godina, a redshirt freshman, is tied for third in the indoor rankings with a throw of 63 feet 1 1/2. Bruin throws coach Art Venegas has converted the former discus thrower to the spin technique in shotputting, and he said Godina has unlimited potential in the event.

Miller, a junior, has run 6.19 seconds at 55 meters. Rogers, a junior transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, has jumped 53-0 1/2 indoors, a personal best.

Dumble has the longest throw in the nation this season, 55-7 3/4. Weis is third at 53-2 1/4. Venegas said that if the two finish in that position at the national meet, he will consider it a success.

USC doesn’t compete indoors, but it got caught in a calendar conflict as it began its outdoor season at the end of February.

Coach Jim Bush played host to a meet on Feb. 29 and saw several performances that would have been qualifying times for the NCAA meet. In particular, sprinter Inger Miller ran qualifying times in both the 100 and 200.

However, because of a new rule that does not allow any mark before March 1 for outdoor qualifying consideration, the athletes will have to do it all again.

Bush was furious at the rule, which he said was pushed by eastern schools that feel at a disadvantage, not being able to compete outdoors as early as West Coast schools. He also noted the unfortunate scheduling problem--because of leap year there was a Feb. 29--in any other year the day would have fallen on March 1, and the marks would have counted for NCAA qualifying.

Track Notes

A change of strategy at the 13th annual Mobil St. Patrick’s Day 10 K Run For The Blind will bring some of the world’s best female middle distance runners to Torrance for the March 15 race. Race director Tim Murphy put his total $20,000 prize purse into the women’s race, for which he said he has been criticized. Included in the field are Cathy O’Brien and Janis Klecker, who have made the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon; Lisa Weidenbach, who was fourth at the marathon trials for the third time; Elly Van Hulst of the Netherlands and Russian Olga Markova, who was runner-up in the 1991 New York Marathon.