IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch "won an
overwhelming vote of confidence" from IOC members today in
Lausanne, Switzerland, according to AROUND THE RINGS. The
vote was 82-2, with one abstention. The next step in the
meetings is to "consider the expulsion of six members
implicated in the Salt Lake City bribery scandal" (AROUND
THE RINGS, 3/17). The AP's Larry Siddons puts the vote at
86-2, with two abstentions, which is "a rousing vote of
confidence" for Samaranch. In his opening speech, Samaranch
said that he accepted responsibility for the development of
a "crisis of this magnitude" and that the IOC should take
some of the blame "even if some of the conduct by bidding
cities has itself been unethical." He said the committee
"must root out all forms of inappropriate or unethical
behavior among our membership," and he recommended the
expulsion of the six members. Samaranch, who received two
standing ovations during his speech, said, "Starting today,
our mandate is to heal the wounds inflicted by the
inappropriate actions of some members of the IOC and by
others outside of our organization, and return the prestige
to the entire Olympic movement" (AP, 3/17).
MEMBERS EXPELLED: The IOC expelled six members during a
secret vote today. The votes were as follow: Agustin Arroyo
of Ecuador (72-16); Zein El Abdin Ahmed Abdel Gadir of Sudan
(86-4); Jean-Claude Ganga of the Congo Republic (88-2);
Lamine Keita of Mali (72-16); Sergio Santander of Chile (76-
12) and Paul Wallwork of Samoa (67-19). At least 30 votes
were needed to avoid expulsion (AP, 3/17).
