Swimmer cleared

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 50

Swimmer cleared

NZPA-Reuter Seoul The East German defector, Jens-Peter Berndt, will be able to swim for West Germany at the Olympic Games following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (1.0. C. this week to ignore a protest from East Germany. The 1.0. C. vice-presi-dent, Richard Pound, told a news conference that a three-man panel heard representations from the National Olympic Committees of both countries. It decided not to change the July ruling that Berndt would t be eligible to compete for West Germany and the decision was unanimously confirmed by the 1.0. C. executive board. Berndt, a former 400 m medley world record holder, defected to the United States in January 1985 and then tried for more than two years to acquire U.S. citizenship. In August last year, he moved to West Germany, which grants automatic citizenship to East German defectors. Mr Pound said the issue was complicated by the nationality laws of the two Germanies. Under the terms of the Olympic Charter athletes wanting to compete for a new country within three years of changing nationality must first have the approval of the National Olympic Committee (N.0.C.) of their original country. However, West Germany automatically grants citizenship to East German defectors and Berndt had effectively’ changed nationality in 1985 and fell outside the three-year rule,' even though he had spent the intervening years trying for U.S. citizenship.