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IOC Adopts Reforms
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.
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(Mar. 18, 1999)------ 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.
