International Athletics

President Juan Antonio Samaranch of the International Olympic Committee told a European Parliament committee meeting in Brussels he is optimistic that the South African government will soon come up with a proposal to ease the country back into the Olympic Games with a racially mixed team.

In 1970, the IOC banned South Africa from competing in the Olympics because of its apartheid policies. The nation has been a sporting outcast, but Samaranch said recent moves by South African President F.W. De Klerk to eradicate racial segregation are “spectacular steps forward” that can only help overcome the rift.