(3/18/99)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) _ By kicking out six members implicated in the
Olympic bribery scandal, the head of the IOC said today the panel had kept its
promise to "clean house" and is starting meaningful reforms _ with himself in
charge.
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch said the
unprecedented expulsions Wednesday, plus a series of measures aimed at
rebuilding the Olympics' structure, showed it was serious about not making the
same mistakes that led to the Salt Lake City bribery case.
"We promised to clean house. We did it. We promised reforms. We did it. We
promised an Olympics united. It's done," Samaranch said at a news conference
wrapping up an extraordinary two-day session.
Pledging cooperation with a Senate committee that will investigate the
scandal next month and telling "our friends, the sponsors" that their
multimillion-dollar investments in the Olympic Rings were secure, Samaranch
said the Sydney Games in 2000 "will make the world see that what has happened
in the last few months was only an incident."
"The world needs the Olympics Games," he said. "It is the most important
event in the world, not just in sports. The youth of the world deserve the
Olympic Games."
But Samaranch also made it clear that not all had changed.
Although critics have blamed him for the atmosphere that produced the
million-dollar gift-giving scandal, Samaranch said he would be the chairman and
pick the participants for the major reform vehicle _ IOC 2000, with a mandate
to change the committee for the next millennium.
"It is an IOC commission. I am the IOC president," he said when asked why he
should lead the effort.
Samaranch said he was pleased that the expulsions, the first in IOC history,
were followed quickly by adoption of the first parts of a package that would
create a "new structure" for the IOC by the end of the year.
He said he was uplifted by the near-unanimous vote of confidence from the
assembly Wednesday and planned to serve until the end of his term in 2001.
And he called this week's actions the first steps toward returning to "the
prestige the IOC enjoyed before these last months."
The reform panel was one of three planks adopted by the assembly today. It
also set up an ethics commission with, for the first time, a majority of
members from outside the IOC, and approved a plan to have the host city for the
2006 Winter Games chosen from two finalists decided by a 15-member selection
panel. The IOC members will retain their final vote, however.
No members were picked for either of the new panels.
At the same time, the IOC released an audit showing that the Olympics are,
indeed, in good financial health. Cash, bank deposits and television-rights
trust funds totaled $237 million at the end of 1998, and the committee finished
the year with a $40 million operating surplus on income of $86 million. The
IOC's net worth _ $136 million.
The IOC had not issued a unified audit in four years, although its records
were available to the public in various forms.
The financial report gave a peek at the lifestyle of IOC leadership.
It said the IOC paid $204,000 last year to cover the living expenses of
Samaranch, an unpaid president, when he was in Lausanne.
Thierry Sprunger, the IOC's comptroller, also said that each committee
member gets $150 or 150 Swiss francs a day for expenses other than room and
board during IOC meetings, including the games. Executive board members get
$1,000 expense checks for an entire meeting, with all other expenses paid for.
The committee also covers all airfares.
The IOC voted unanimously with one abstention to have a 15-member panel trim
the six hopefuls for 2006 down to a final pair, then immediately send that race
to the floor for a ballot.
The plan is designed only for the selection of the 2006 site, which
concludes June 19 in Seoul, South Korea. But the IOC has promised permanent
changes after more review.
The action marks a major shift from the traditional system of letting the
members choose from among all bidding cities, a system that became fraught with
gifts and freebies and led to the worst scandal in Olympic history.
But the change is not as radical as what was first proposed _ a total
stripping of the 2006 vote from the general membership. That plan produced an
uproar from delegates who said they would be punished for the corrupt acts of a
few colleagues.
The six cities _ Sion, Switzerland; Turin, Italy; Helsinki, Finland;
Zakopane, Poland; Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia; and Klagenfurt, Austria _ will have
50 minutes each to present their final reports to the full IOC on June 18 at
the general assembly in Seoul.
The next day, the selection panel will be appointed and will review the
candidacies and announce its choices. The full membership _ now 108 people _
will then vote in a secret ballot.
Rules imposed by Samaranch when the Salt Lake City scandal broke remain in
place, barring travel by members to cities or by city representatives to
members' hometowns.
Bidders and some IOC members have complained that the new rules and voting
procedure allowed too little chance to see and learn about various bids.
"For us and other cities bidding for the first time, it is a hard thing,"
said Evelina Christillin, the president of Turin's bid. She said her committee
would send videotapes and printed reports to members, and hope it doesn't
overwhelm them with plastic and paper.
That northern Italian city generally is considered the second choice behind
Sion, in the industrial south of Switzerland about 50 miles from the IOC's
headquarters.
Sion officials said whatever system the IOC imposed was fine with them, so
long as it helped clean up the mess of the scandal.
"We accept all solutions," said Jean-Daniel Mudry, the director general of
the Sion candidacy. "We hope only that the IOC finds solutions that allow
people to retain their respect for the IOC. That's what is important."
Walther Troeger, a German IOC member who abstained from voting, said he
disagreed with the principle of the change but did not want to make a major
issue of it.
