Restraint Is Urged by IOC Officials : Olympics: Sports federations cautioned against welcoming South Africa to world stage until all apartheid laws have been repealed.

Officials of the International Olympic Committee cautioned international sports federations against moving too hastily in welcoming South Africa back into the fold.

The process of South Africa’s return to the Olympic movement was the focus of Monday’s opening meeting of the IOC Executive Board. The full IOC session opens Wednesday.

With South Africa dismantling the last remaining pillars of apartheid, the IOC and other sports federations have begun laying the groundwork for the republic’s reinstatement.

But the IOC has stressed that the ban on South Africa should not be lifted until all apartheid laws have been repealed.

There has been worry in IOC circles that some federations, such as the International Amateur Athletic Federation, might be pushing too hard on South Africa.

“Our preoccupation is to maintain the realm of leadership” in the campaign to reinstate South Africa, IOC Vice President Kevan Gosper said. “Our responsibility is to retain that leadership and provide guidance to the federations. So far they have followed.

“This is not the time to see a breakdown in cohesion of behavior. We want the federations to stay behind us and not compromise this.”

The IAAF, the world governing body for track and field, has already taken steps toward South Africa’s rehabilitation.

Last month, it partially lifted its ban on South African athletes in international meets and said they could start competing again in Africa.

The IAAF said it would consider a broader lifting of the ban after a delegation studies the situation later this month.

IAAF President Primo Nebiolo, one of the most powerful figures in international sport, is eager to have South Africans make their return to the world stage at the World Track Championships in Tokyo in August.

But Nebiolo said his organization was not in a race against the others to be first to welcome South Africa back.

South Africa was expelled from the IOC in 1970 for its policies of racial segregation. The IAAF followed suit in 1976.

The IOC has set two main conditions for South Africa’s readmission: abolition of apartheid and unification of the country’s sports federations into non-racial bodies.

Many of the federations have already merged or announced plans to merge. President F.W. de Klerk has promised that all apartheid legislation will be repealed by the end of the month.

No formal action on readmitting South Africa is expected at this week’s IOC meetings.