OLYMPIC ROUNDUP : Petranoff Off South African Team; Zola to Run

American-born javelin thrower Tom Petranoff was left off the South African Olympic team Tuesday, prompting charges that he was the victim of political discrimination.

Petranoff, the former world record-holder, was not included on the list of entries submitted to the International Olympic Committee by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa.

“It doesn’t look like he’ll be cleared for these Games,” IOC spokeswoman Michele Verdier said.

Petranoff, who recently took South African citizenship, was in Helsinki, Finland, for a final warm-up meet before the Olympics begin Saturday.

Black officials reportedly object to Petranoff’s participation because, as an American, he took part in a “rebel” tour of South Africa in 1989 in defiance of an international sports moratorium to protest apartheid.

The IOC last year lifted a ban on South Africa, permitting it to return to Olympic competition for the first time in 32 years.

Reports from South Africa said the national track body, Athletics South Africa, was divided on racial lines on the question of Petranoff’s participation.

Controversial South African runner Zola Pieterse, in subpar form because of illness, will compete in the 3,000 meters in the Olympics, her manager said.

Brian Levine said Pieterse, who ran for Great Britain under her maiden name of Budd, told him her liver problem had improved and she would fly to Barcelona on Thursday.

NBC and Cablevision agreed to modify promotions for their pay-per-view coverage of the Olympics after the Department of Consumer Affairs in New York complained that their advertising was misleading.

Consumer Affairs contended that commercials for the TripleCast failed to explain how much of the coverage would be live and how much would be taped replay.

NBC and Cablevision, partners in the pay-per-view venture, said the commercials were accurate and that it was too late to alter them.

But to accommodate the concerns of Consumer Affairs, NBC and Cablevision reinserted information that was dropped four days ago from an 800 number mentioned in television commercials for the coverage.

The message now explicitly states that each day of the TripleCast will consist of 12 hours of live coverage followed by 12 hours of taped replay.

Women’s ice hockey was among six new sports or events added to the full medal lists for the Winter Olympics as the IOC opened its 99th Session in Barcelona.

The United States, with an estimated 8,000 female hockey players, is a power in the sport with silver medals at both world championships.

Men’s and women’s curling, aerials in freestyle skiing and the men’s 500-meter and women’s 1,000-meter races in short-track speedskating also were approved as medal sports.