(5/4/99)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) _ The case against the highest-ranking Olympic
official implicated in the Salt Lake scandal was dropped today, while IOC
leadership said it needed more time to investigate the case against a member
from Australia.
Both Kim Un-Yong, an executive board member from South Korea, and Phil
Coles, a leader of Sydney's organization for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney,
already had received severe warnings for their roles in the corruption case,
the worst in Olympic history.
In a separate decision, International Olympic Committee president Juan
Antonio Samaranch said that 80 people would be involved with a new reform
panel, almost four times the number originally planned.
When it was established in March, the commission, IOC 2000, was supposed to
have 20-24 members to help the committee rebuild from the scandal, in which 10
IOC members resigned or were kicked out.
IOC vice president Keba Mbaye said the executive board had found no new
evidence on Kim to justify going beyond its previous warning.
Kim, one of the IOC's inner circle who once had hopes of succeeding
Samaranch, had faced expulsion if it was proved he knew that the Salt Lake
Olympic bidders helped pay for his son's salary at a telecommunications
company.
Mbaye said that he and two other senior members _ Anita DeFrantz of the
United States and Switzerland's Marc Hodler _ would carry out further
investigations into Coles and report back by the IOC's June session in Seoul.
Coles, a former Olympic canoeist, is one of the IOC's most popular members.
He was cited for accepting travel and accommodation perks from Salt Lake
City, and was under renewed scrutiny since his ex-wife claimed that
representatives of Athens' unsuccessful bid for the 1996 Olympics gave the
couple jewelry worth $6,000.
He has consistently denied the claims and refused to resign.
New evidence emerged today when Australian media said that Salt Lake City
had obtained confidential briefing notes by Coles on how other IOC members
could be trusted to vote.
The mandate of the IOC 2000 panel, which includes former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger and Los Angeles Olympic organizer Peter Ueberroth, is to study
the restructuring of the IOC, including how members are appointed, age and term
limits, and changes to the host city selection process.
Members of Congress have harshly criticized the IOC and threatened to impose
sanctions unless the committee adopts certain reforms.
Samaranch and other IOC officials have responded by accusing the United
States of "political interference."
