On Friday, the IOC Ethics Commission said that it "was
virtually giving an amnesty to any wrongdoing relating to
previous bids, and the tough new restrictions on receiving
gifts would not apply to" President Samaranch (SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD, 12/12). USA TODAY's Mike Dodd writes that
the ethics panel "sent a muddled message of its role ...
placing into question its intent and effectiveness" after
stating that it didn't plan to initiate investigations and
"probably would not take up any new cases that develop" out
of the Salt Lake City probe (USA TODAY, 12/13).
AT THE GATES: Microsoft's Bill Gates has purchased
premium priced tickets for the Sydney Games, obtaining them
through a broker. A spokesperson for Sydney Games sponsor
IBM said she did not know if the company had been approached
by SOCOG in relation to Gates' attendance, but said, "IBM
does consider its ticket program an extremely important part
of its sponsorship and would expect SOCOG to protect those
rights" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 12/10). IOC Senior VP Kevan
Gosper said that SOCOG "should have been more careful" in
allowing a competitor of IBM to secure the premium tickets
and hospitality services (AROUND THE RINGS, 12/11).
