WORLD SPORTS SCENE : Samaranch Is a Gold Medalist in the Olympic Game of Politics

Anyone who can manipulate the International Olympic Committee the way Juan Antonio Samaranch does is not too old to run it.

Three days after the membership handed him a rare defeat in a vote against extending the age limit from 75, the IOC, after intensive campaigning by four prominent older members on behalf of themselves and Samaranch, reversed itself Sunday at a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, by overwhelmingly approving it.

The new retirement age is 80, allowing Samaranch, who turns 75 next month, to run for a fourth term as president in 1997 and possibly remain in office until 2001.

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U.S. Olympic Committee officials in Budapest returned home happy because of Salt Lake City’s victory in the vote for the site of the 2002 Winter Games, but they would have been happier if Samaranch had appointed a third U.S. IOC member to join Anita DeFrantz and James Easton.

They lobbied for Samaranch to use one of his 10 discretionary choices on George Killian of Colorado Springs, Colo., president of the international basketball federation. But Samaranch, perhaps fearing that it would appear as if he were giving too much influence to the United States, passed on Killian. Among those Samaranch appointed Sunday were two famous gold medalists, French skier Jean Claude Killy and Czech Republic gymnast Vera Caslavska.

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The USOC could have a new executive director by next weekend. A special executive committee meeting has been scheduled for Friday at Boston to discuss candidates, and it is possible that it could conclude with a vote. Former NCAA executive director Dick Schultz and former USA Gymnastics and U.S. Skiing President Mike Jacki appear to have the most support.

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Michael Johnson, who completed an almost unprecedented 200-400 double Sunday at the U.S. track championships and hopes to duplicate it at the World Championships in August in Sweden, probably will not try again in next summer’s Olympics at Atlanta.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs the sport, revised the schedule last week to make it easier for Johnson, so much easier that IAAF President Primo Nebiolo said Johnson “can do it backwards.”

But Johnson said he wants the schedule changed so that no rounds of the 200 and 400 are run on the same day. “Physically, I could do it,” he said. “But it’s a mental focus thing with me. If I can’t do both, I won’t be the only one disappointed. Whichever one I don’t run, it will be a joke.”

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L.A. track and field promoter Al Franken was at the national championships in an attempt to procure sponsors for next winter’s indoor meet at the Sports Arena, sponsored until recently by Sunkist.

But one obstacle could be the reluctance of some prominent athletes to commit to the indoor season in an Olympic year. One example is Jackie Joyner-Kersee, whose coach and husband, Bob Kersee, blames her injuries on the active schedule she had last winter.

“You’re not going to see us at the track next year until March,” he said.

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Agent Tony Campbell on sprint sensation Maurice Greene, who finished second in the 100 meters at the nationals: “He’s going to be the No. 1 guy in the world. In another year, they’ll be talking about him winning Atlanta.”

World Scene Notes

In her first meet since ending her 17-month retirement, swimmer Summer Sanders finished seventh in the 100-meter butterfly, tied for sixth in the 200 butterfly and finished fifth in the 200 individual medley this weekend in the Charlotte, N.C., UltraSwim. She was not too disappointed. “I felt like some of the old Summer was back,” she said. . . . Swimmer Amanda Beard, 13, of Irvine, is beginning to look like a serious candidate for 1996 Summer Olympics. U.S. coaches have been hesitant to include her among their prospects because she is so young, but she converted some with his easy victory in the 200 breaststroke over the weekend in the Mission Viejo Swim Meet of Champions. . . . Mattel Toys is marketing an Olympic edition Barbie for next year but has shelved plans for a Nancy Kerrigan doll. . . . After no U.S. television dollars were forthcoming for the Pan American Games earlier this year in Argentina, Fox is paying $11 million for the 1999 Games at Winnipeg. Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch also recently visited IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in Switzerland. Think he is angling for the broadcast rights for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney? Murdoch is an Australian native.

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Times staff writer Elliott Almond contributed to this story.