IOC member Marc Hodler continued to charge corruption
in the Olympic bid process yesterday and said that SLOC
Senior VP Dave Johnson has "given an IOC investigation
commission information verifying that IOC members accepted
payments illegal under IOC rules," according to Mike Gorrell
of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. For "the past five days, nobody
has been able to silence the 80-year-old Hodler, the IOC's
longest-serving member." Hodler: "I'm at the end of the
three worst days in my long career in sports. ... Salt Lake
was a victim of blackmail and villains ... the agents who
put cities in awkward positions." IOC President Juan
Antonio Samaranch said that the Salt Lake City bid is being
investigated, but that it could expand to other cities if
there is evidence (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 12/15). Samaranch:
"If we have proof on other cases, we will open another
inquiry as well" (Mike Dodd, USA TODAY, 12/15).
FIVE RING CIRCUS: In the wake of Hodler's comments,
many bid committee members commented on the process of
trying to secure the Games. Sydney Olympic bid officials
said they "channeled" A$2M of "left-over" money to the
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to "sway crucial wavering
African votes to win the 2000 Games." The AOC set up a
trust fund to administer an African Olympic Training Center,
a "political move openly credited with ensuring Sydney's bid
success" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 12/15). Former ACOG
President Billy Payne said Atlanta did not "buy" the '96
Games: "I never talked to those people; they never
approached me. It's legend in Olympic lore that there are
some influential people. But I couldn't name any of them
today. Nor did we hire anybody. Nor did we pay any IOC
members" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 12/15). Paul Henderson,
Chair of Toronto's bid for the '96 Games, said he was
approached by a "number" of agents from outside the IOC,
offering their services to secure votes: "Did they come
after us? Yeah. There were five or six that I knew of who
said they could influence (IOC) votes" (TORONTO SUN, 12/15).
One senior member of the Melbourne '96 bid committee said
that "about three" of the 70 IOC members who visited
Melbourne "dropped strong hints that they would like to be
given a car." One Melbourne member recalled, "It was said
in jest. But you could tell they were hoping you'd think it
was a request" (Melbourne AUSTRALIAN, 12/15).
MEDIA REAX: An ATLANTA CONSTITUTION editorial states it
"would be a surprise if a thorough investigation turned up
nothing else unethical. Why? The process for selecting
cities to host the Games invites corruption" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 12/15). The Montreal GAZETTE states that
"much of the entire process by which cities compete for the
members' favour reeks of bribery." It criticizes the IOC's
in-house probe into the allegations, calling it "no way to
restore public credibility. [The IOC] should name an
outsider to head this exercise" (GAZETTE, 12/15). In
Toronto, Stephen Brunt writes that Samaranch "has been
brilliant at stick-handling image problems in the past, at
filling the IOC's coffers while maintaining the veneer of
the Church of Sport. But he accomplished that with power,
with authority, by keeping a lid on things. The lid is now
open, and it's Pandora's box" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 12/15).