South Africa Rejoins the Fold

Black spectators and white spectators in Johannesburg cheered loudly Friday as international track and field returned to South Africa for the first time in 17 years in the African Unity Games.

The crowd of 20,000, about three-quarters of them white, applauded loudly for the winners and chanted in unison as long jumpers prepared to jump.

There were no protests at the start of the two-day meet. Some anti-apartheid groups have protested at previous events in South Africa’s return to international sports.

The meet was the first international competition in South Africa since a group of European athletes visited in 1975. The International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body for track and field, banned South Africa a year later because of apartheid.

South Africa has been readmitted to the African Amateur Athletics Confederation. Visiting IAAF President Primo Nebiolo said his organization would readmit the nation next month during a meeting at Toronto.

In a related matter, U.S.-born javelin thrower Tom Petranoff, now a South African citizen, has been barred from the second leg of the Unity Games. Nebiolo said that Petranoff was still under suspension for competing in South Africa in 1989.

Nebiolo said the former world record-holder might be allowed back into international competition once South Africa is formally readmitted to the IAAF.