The IOC announced yesterday that its Exec Board
unanimously recommended that six IOC members be expelled for
taking payoffs and gifts in connection with the Salt Lake
City bid for the 2002 Games, while three other members are
still under investigation. The IOC has also 1) prohibited
IOC members from visiting or accepting visits from any city
bidding for the 2006 Games; 2) created a 15-member election
committee -- with only nine IOC members -- who will chose
the 2006 site; 3) decided to establish an ethics commission
made up primarily of outside members. The IOC's Exec Board
said it will continue to investigate "inappropriate conduct"
involving the Olympic Games from '96 through 2006, but that
it remained committed to holding the 2000 Games in Sydney
and the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. In addition, the Exec
Board gave IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch a "unanimous
vote of confidence" (John Powers, BOSTON GLOBE, 1/25).
Samaranch: "We are resolute in our determination to root out
the improprieties and to ensure that this never happens
again. ... This is the beginning, not the end, of our work.
I am certain that the Olympic Movement will emerge from this
crisis stronger than ever. I take personal responsibility
for seeing these reforms enacted." Samaranch said he would
ask for a vote of confidence at an IOC special session in
Switzerland this March (Mult., 1/25). In all, 14 IOC
members have resigned, or face expulsion, a warning or
further IOC investigation into their actions (Mult., 1/25).
IOC Exec VP Dick Pound, who led the investigation, said the
actions were not criminal. Pound: "I think what we saw in
most cases was an exercise of bad judgement that amounted in
a sense to an abuse of their position" (ABC, 1/24).
MEDIA REAX: In N.Y., Jere Longman writes that the IOC
was "taking unprecedented disciplinary action," but by
expanding its investigation to other bid cites, it "is
almost certain to be embarrassed by more revelations of
untoward behavior" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/25). NBC's George Lewis
reported that with further investigations, "the tarnish on
the Olympic rings could last for some time" (NBC, 1/24). In
Boston, John Powers writes the IOC "moved decisively to
purge itself and radically reform the bidding process"
(BOSTON GLOBE, 1/25). In ABC's lead report, Carol Simpson
said the IOC "played rough today" ("World News Tonight,"
ABC, 1/24). In N.Y., George Vecsey writes the IOC made a
"minimal effort to purge itself," as the moves are "a start,
a token, a gesture." Vecsey adds that sponsors could force
a leadership change or a possible lawsuit from Beijing for
the controversial vote surrounding the 2000 Summer Games
(N.Y. TIMES, 1/25). Pound: "I'm confident we've taken the
first big step, but I don't think it's the last step."
Pound, regarding public credibility: "Maybe we got ourselves
back to neutral at this point" (TORONTO STAR, 1/25).
