Budd Pieterse, Meyer Named to South African Olympic Team

Distance runners Zola Budd Pieterse and Elana Meyer head the list of South African athletes chosen Saturday to compete at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

The Games will be the first to include South Africa since 1960 and the first ever to include black South Africans. Most of the 96 athletes chosen are white, however, because for decades under apartheid, whites routinely had superior training opportunities.

Officials have reserved one spot on the team for American-born javelin thrower Tom Petranoff, a former world record-holder who has taken South African citizenship. Petranoff is waiting for the ban against competing in South Africa--levied when the nation was ostracized because of apartheid--to be lifted.

Pieterse gained worldwide notoriety in 1984 when she left South Africa to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics as a British citizen. She collided with Mary Decker in the 3,000-meter final, knocking her out of contention.

Meyer is considered a contender in the 10,000 meters.

South Africa initially wanted to send 125 athletes, but the International Olympic Committee said it had room for only 50. Negotiations led to the final figure of 97.

South Africa will send athletes in 18 sports, with the largest contingents in track and field (17), swimming and diving (13) and yachting (11).

The yachting and equestrian competitors are considered world class and capable of challenging for medals.

Also Saturday, South Africa’s track and field authority announced four athletes had tested positive for steroid use. None of the four was a contender for an Olympic berth, but the revelation was the latest in a series of disclosures of drug use by South African athletes.