IOC Still Fighting Itself at the Top

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Let’s hope no one in Hollywood is desperate enough to make a film about the International Olympic Committee’s extraordinary session here this week to deal with the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

But if there is to be a film, I have a couple of suggestions.

The title should be “IOC Ninja,” and Jackie Chan should star as Kim Un Yong.

It’s not a project for Bud Greenspan. These meetings can hardly be described as “Four Days of Glory.”

The most inglorious moment came near the end of the executive board’s morning session Tuesday.

Upset because he remains under suspicion by the ad hoc commission assigned to investigate the alleged corruption in Salt Lake City’s bid for the 2002 Winter Games, Kim, a former vice president from South Korea who remains on the executive board, confronted the IOC’s director general, Francois Carrard.

According to eyewitnesses, words were exchanged; Kim, the 67-year-old president of the World Taekwondo Federation, struck a martial-arts pose; and the 61-year-old Carrard ran from the room.

Kim turned his attention to Dick Pound, the 56-year-old vice president from Canada who presides over the internal investigation. Pound, who was standing at the dais next to 78-year-old IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, and Kim shouted words at each other, including some that are not included in the Olympic oath. Kim then advanced on Pound until Samaranch, forcefully according to the eyewitness, ordered him to calm down.

Kim wasn’t available for comment, although sources said he delivered apologetic letters Wednesday to Carrard and Pound. Pound called it a “brief incident, which is behind us now.” Carrard chose to joke, saying, “I’m physically very fit.” Even though that doesn’t appear to be the case, it must be because he reportedly made a very quick exit when confronted by Kim.

In retrospect, the matter was laughable. But it also leads to serious questions about the future leadership of the IOC.

The 91 IOC members at the Palais de Beaulieau on Wednesday presented a unified front. They gave Samaranch a vote of confidence with only two dissenters and two abstentions, expelled all six members who had been recommended for ouster by Pound’s commission and set the stage to adopt reforms during today’s meeting.

But that is only a front.

There has been consistent pressure since the scandal began to unfold in December for Samaranch to resign, particularly from the U.S. media, and so far he has resisted.

In a speech to members at the outset of Wednesday’s meeting, he accepted responsibility for the crisis but asked for a vote of confidence so that he could steer the organization through the storm. They complied almost unanimously.

Still, speculation persists among IOC insiders that Samaranch, 78, will resign before the end of his fourth term in 2001, perhaps after the ambitious reforms are adopted in December at another extraordinary session.

The most compelling argument against that, however, is that Samaranch can’t step down early because of concerns that the IOC as it is now constituted would not be able to withstand the chaos created in the rush to succeed him.

“I am 100% behind Mr. Samaranch because only he can guarantee leadership,” Italy’s Mario Pescante said this week. “Not less than 10 people are candidates [to succeed him]. That is too much. It is his duty to stay until 2001.”

If Samaranch required more evidence of the turmoil that could occur when he leaves, he was an eyewitness to it Tuesday.

Pound and Kim are among the names most often mentioned as potential presidential candidates, leading to charges by Kim that Pound’s investigation of him is politically motivated.

The South Korean has already received the “most serious of warnings,” which undoubtedly has damaged his presidential aspirations, and Pound has said repeatedly that Kim will be expelled if further evidence is uncovered.

Pound might have been expected to tone down that talk Wednesday in light of his confrontation with Kim the day before, but the outspoken Canadian did not budge one inch.

“We’ve had some evidence since we signed off,” he said of the ad hoc commission, which released its most recent report Friday. “But we haven’t got all we’ve asked for.”

During his heated exchange with Pound on Tuesday, Kim, according to eyewitnesses, said that perhaps the chairman of the international investigation also should be investigated. Investigator, investigate thyself.

If innuendo doesn’t do the job, perhaps a swift kick by a seventh-degree taekwondo black belt will.

Now you know the reason that the IOC was so eager to recognize ballroom dancing as sport. It’s not likely that the president of that federation will ever threaten an IOC member with a fox trot.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].