WORLD SPORTS SCENE : Water Polo Competition Feels the Heat of Politics

The latest example of politics butting heads with sports occurred last week as U.S. Water Polo was preparing for a prestigious international tournament that starts today at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The six-team event lost some of its appeal when teams from Yugoslavia and Cuba were blocked from entering the country by the U.S. State Department. The State Department relented Friday on the Yugoslavs, but it was too late for some players to complete the required documentation.

Yugoslavia, a world power that has not participated in water polo internationally since a United Nations ban in the spring of 1992, hoped to make its debut as a two-republic country. But the tense situation last week in Bosnia-Herzegovina changed Yugoslavia’s travel plans.

The United States refused to grant visas because officials feared some players might defect if the fighting in the Balkans escalates.

Although sanctions in sports and arts were lifted last August, the situation intensified when Bosnian Serb rebels took scores of U.N. soldiers hostage and shot down a U.S. fighter.

“We want them here because we might face them in the Olympics,” said Bruce Wigo, executive director of U.S. Water Polo, the sport’s national governing body. “It is a distinct possibility we might go to Atlanta without [playing] them.”

But now that the visa situation has been resolved, there is a chance the Yugoslavs will accept an invitation to train for one month this summer with the U.S. team at Newport Beach and Long Beach.

Yugoslavia defeated the United States for the Olympic gold medal in 1984 and ‘88, and is expected to be one of the favorites in Atlanta, although it no longer draws on Croatian players. Croatia, which separated from Yugoslavia three years ago, was fourth at last year’s World Championships.

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Cuba’s situation was financial, the result of the Clinton administration’s tightening of a U.S. embargo against the country last summer. The State Department told U.S. Water Polo last week it would be fined if it helped defray some of Cuba’s travel costs, ending Cuba’s chances of competing in Fort Lauderdale.

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At the International Olympic Committee meetings in Budapest, Hungary, the executive board agreed Monday to use a pre-selection process in the bids for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Francois Carrard, director general, said the formula would be almost identical to the one used in January to cut the field of 2002 Winter Games candidates from nine cities to four.

Five months before the vote in September 1997, a special panel will submit a list of four or five finalists.

Twelve cities have expressed interest: Beijing; Brussels; Cape Town, South Africa; Istanbul, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro; Buenos Aires; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Seville, Spain; Rome; Lyon, Lille or Paris in France; St. Petersburg, Russia, and Stockholm.

The deadline for bids is next Jan. 10.

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In a letter to IOC members that was supposed to be confidential before it was leaked to everyone in the Olympic movement except Eddie the Eagle, President Juan Antonio Samaranch recently sought input on the committee’s age limit of 75.

That is a subject of particular interest to him because he will turn 75 in July. According to existing rules, he would have to retire when his third term as president expires in 1997.

He hasn’t revealed the responses, but, considering the advancing age of many members, speculation is that they will vote in Budapest--where they are also voting on the site of the 2002 Winter Games--to drop the mandatory retirement age and that Samaranch, who has been president since 1980, will be elected to serve until 2001.

Times staff writer Elliott Almond contributed to this story.