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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Jan. - 3 Feb. 1999 Issue No. 414 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Jan. - 3 Feb. 1999 Issue No. 414
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Focus Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Just a few rotten apples'
For 105 years the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been serving sports for amateurs worldwide, encouraging sportsmen to compete fairly. However, it seems that some IOC members have not been playing fair and square. The current bribery scandal, which triggered the biggest corruption crisis in the organisation's history, has already led to the resignation of three IOC delegates and the temporary removal of six members. Three others remain under investigation while a fourth was warned about his action by the ruling executive board.The affair has stunned the 78-year-old IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, who critics accused of failing to act when informed about corruption amongst members. But the former Spanish diplomat, who took over the presidency in 1980, vowed never to resign and would finish his term, which ends in two years, with the aim of reforming the IOC for his successor.
A six-man inquiry commission deliberated for two days in Lausanne, Switzerland, before concluding its inquiry. On Sunday, Samaranch announced the proposed expulsions and reforms of the Olympic site-selection process. "I apologise to the athletes, the people of Salt Lake City and Utah, the global Olympic family and the millions of citizens worldwide for the actions of a number of IOC members who breached their Olympic oath and violated the bidding process for the 2002 Winter Games," Samaranch said.
"I'm sure that the Olympic movement will emerge from the crisis stronger than ever and will end the ugliest chapter in the history of the world's biggest sports event which in the last two decades has also become a billion-dollar business," he added.
The IOC's Chateau de Vidy headquarters was turned into a fortress as the inquisition into the worst scandal in the movement's history got under way. Massive security was in place around the building on the banks of Lake Leman to keep away outsiders as accused IOC members defended themselves against corruption charges before the six-man investigative commission. In extraordinary scenes, barricades were set up outside the IOC headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva. Police and security guards kept a close watch on the scores of journalists gathered in front.
Members recommended for expulsion were Agustin Arroyo of Ecuador, Jean-Claude Ganga of the Republic of Congo, Zein Al-Abdin Ahmed Abdel-Gadir of Sudan, Lamine Keita of Mali, Charles Mukora of Kenya and Sergio Santader of Chile. Still under investigation are Louis Guirandou-N'Diaye of the Ivory Coast, Kim Un-yong of South Korea and Vitaly Smirnnov of Russia. Anton Geesink of the Netherlands was issued a warning. The expulsion of the six IOC members hinges upon a vote to be taken by the plenary IOC session in March in Lausanne.
"We are not saying that all the IOC members are corrupt, but out of the hundred odd members it is natural to have a few rotten apples," said Yalcin Aksoy, an official for Istanbul's failed bids for the 2000 and 2004 games.
So far 13 "rotten apples" have become embroiled in the Salt Lake City scandal. They were implicated in the IOC's investigation into cash payments, college scholarships, free medical treatment, lavish gifts and other inducements related to Salt Lake's winning bid for the 2002 Games. But even as the investigative commission was taking evidence, the tales of bribery and corruption had spread well beyond Salt Lake City's successful bid. Nagano, who hosted the 1998 Winter Games and Sydney, who host next year's Summer Games, have been caught up in the vote-buying scandal. So too has Amsterdam, which failed to land the 1992 Games, losing to Barcelona. Amsterdam officials have confirmed spending seven million dollars to woo IOC members, offering them diamonds and trips to the city's most exclusive brothels.
The IOC was rocked by new revelations from Australia. Sydney bidders said they made $70,000 inducements for two African votes the night before they won the Summer Games for 2000 -- by two votes. Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates released previously secret material from the Sydney bid to Australian news media. It contained data on annual $5,000 payments to Olympic committees in Kenya and Uganda from 1994 through 2000. He said the money was intended to help finance sports in Kenya and Uganda. He pledged the money because he felt Sydney's chances were "slipping away." Coates added that the payments were within the guidelines and were similar to plans used by bidding competitors from Beijing and Manchester, England.
The sordid affair began on 24 November 1998, when Salt Lake TV station KTVX reported that the Salt Lake Organising Committee (SLOC) paid for a "scholarship" for Sonia Essomba, daughter of the late IOC member Rene Essomba of Cameroon, to attend the American University in Washington. At first, some described the tuition assistance to IOC relatives as a "humanitarian effort" but denied it was a bribe. On 8 December, SLOC President Frank Joklik revealed that 13 individuals received a total of $393,871 in financial aid or scholarships from the committee. Six were relatives of IOC members. Former Sen. George Mitchell was named on 22 December to head a five-member investigating commission for the US Olympic Committee to look into bribery and corruption allegations. On 19 January Pirjo Haeggman of Finland resigned, the first IOC member to quit over the scandal. Her ex-husband reportedly worked briefly for the Salt Lake bid committee and for 20 months in an Ontario government job initiated by the Toronto committee bidding for the 1996 Summer Games.
Last week Samaranch accepted the resignation of a second IOC member, Bashir Mohamed Attarabusi of Libya, whose son reportedly received tuition to attend an English Language Centre at Brigham Young and a community college, plus $700 a month for expenses from Salt Lake bidders.
As the scope of the scandal widens, senior IOC members admitted that the weekend expulsions could just be the start. IOC Vice President Dick Pound, who heads the committee investigating the 13 members, admitted on Saturday that influence peddling within the Olympic movement goes back to the early 1980s. The Montreal lawyer even admitted that he had once been offered a million dollars for his vote in a television deal but he declined to give details.
Sunday's IOC executive board will continue its investigation. It will also form an ethics commission "that will introduce globally-accepted guidelines and procedures to ensure that the IOC conforms with the world's best practices in self-governance. It will be composed of outstanding senior persons, a majority of whom will be independent, outside members." In addition, the board decided to broaden its investigation to other cities involved for the bidding for the Olympic Games and recommended that major reforms to the host city bidding and election processes being instituted with respect to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and future games.
The effort is all part of a cleansing process but is it enough? Is it too late? Is this what sport has come to? Sports pages worldwide were used to writing stories about world records and gold medals and no more. The last few years, however, more and more coverage has gone to drugs and steroids and match-fixing. Now, as we near the end of the millennium, we enter the bad new world of bribes and corruption in what was supposedly the world's noblest sporting tournament in the world. Those rotten apples are now a dime a dozen.
Nashwa Abdel-Tawab and wire dispatches
