Killanin to step down after the Moscow games

Lord Killanin, president of the International Olympic Committee for the past eight years, said Tuesday he will step down from office after the Moscow games to permit a successor to work out the future of the troubled Olympic movement.

Meanwhile, Italy's National Olympic Committee, ignoring government support of the US-led boycott of the Moscow games, voted to send a team; Hong Kong's sports authorities voted not to send a team; and the New Zealand Olympic Committee, which previously voted to send a team, will reconsider its decision May 29. It was also decided this week that Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and Ireland would send teams.