Ready for Breaking

If everybody lives up to the letter of the law, the 1968 Olympics will be a very exclusive affair. The law is spelled out in the International Olympic Committee's new amateur pledge, which went out to all nations last week. Barred from the Olympics are athletes who 1) have ever accepted a prize valued at more than $50, 2) have received scholarships for purely athletic abilities, or 3) have spent more than four weeks a year in training camp. Since the International Amateur Athletic Federation allows prizes of up to $70 to be awarded at track meets, Rule No. 1 would bar practically anybody who has ever won an event at any major meet any where in the world. No. 2 ought to take care of most of whatever U.S. competitors are left, and No. 3 should rule out the Russians, who regularly train year-round while drawing pay checks from their obliging employer -- the state.

Naturally, as Willi Daume, president of the German Olympic Committee ob served last week, "nobody will pay any attention to the rules."

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