Yugoslav athletes will enter the Olympic Games as individuals and compete under the neutral Olympic flag and anthem.
The formula was accepted Friday by the Yugoslav Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, Barcelona organizers and the Spanish government."This solution is the victory of the sports and the Olympic spirit over political violence," Aleksandar Bakocevic, president of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee, said.
IOC director-general Francois Carrard said Yugoslav Olympic officials met a Friday deadline for replying to the plan.
"It's confirmed," Carrard said at IOC headquarters at Lausanne, Switzerland. "The Yugoslav athletes will participate at the Barcelona Games."
The arrangement ended weeks of uncertainty caused by United Nations sanctions against Yugoslavia, a former six-republic federation now consisting of only Serbia and Montenegro. The sanctions, designed to punish Serbia for fomenting violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, included a sports boycott of Yugoslavia.
But under the terms brokered by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Yugoslav athletes will not be representing Yugoslavia. They will be represented by the Olympic flag and be known as the Independent Team.
Carrard said the IOC wants to ensure that other parts of ex-Yugoslavia not yet recognized by the Olympic movement - Bosnia-Herzegovina, specifically - can also send athletes to Barcelona.
Bosnian competitors would be affiliated with the Independent Team, he said.
IOC executives are to consider Bosnia-Herzegovina's membership bid at meetings late next week, but this way its athletes would be sure of participating regardless of the IOC's ruling on the application.
Yugoslav Olympic officials, who met with Samaranch at IOC headquarters Wednesday, decided Friday to accept those conditions. The Games begin July 25.
"We are all convinced that our delegation did a good job in Lausanne and that every single Yugoslav athlete will be delighted not to miss every sportsman's dream - the Olympics," Caslav Veljic, a general secretary of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee, said.
"Athletes should not suffer for something they have nothing to do with," Miljan Miljanic, the Yugoslav soccer team manager, said. "It is a patriotism to go to Barcelona and participate in the Olympics."
Spanish officials, who had previously said they would not permit entry of Yugoslav athletes because of the sanctions, Friday said they supported the formula for their participation.