The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, has promised that the organisation will act swiftly against any members found guilty of corrupt practices. His assurances come after repeated charges of alleged vote-buying during Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Two senior officials of the Salt Lake Olympic committee have already resigned after revelations involving cash payments and other benefits offered to IOC members.
Mr Samaranch, it must be said, is not best placed to act as a police officer in this affair, having accepted firearms from the Salt Lake committee in an apparent breach of the IOC's own guidelines. Allegations of misconduct have clung to Mr Samaranch during his troubled stewardship of the IOC. The organisation is wealthier and arguably more powerful than at any time in its history but it has been much less successful in combatting the scourge of drug abuse in sport and in removing the hint of scandal from its own door. In this regard, the confirmation from the IOC yesterday that Salt Lake City will retain the Winter Games, despite the bribery allegations, is hardly reassuring.
The latest allegations centring on the Salt Lake City bid are the most serious in its history. One IOC member is alleged to have received £30,000 to help him deal with the effects of civil strife in his country. Other `bribes ' included free scholarships, health care and sexual favours for IOC members and/or their relatives. A former member of the Salt Lake organising committee has said that he had a £330,000 fund available to provide an elaborate range of inducements to IOC members.
Perhaps we should not be unduly surprised at these allegations: the modern Olympic games have long since betrayed the high-minded idealism of their founders. Today's Olympics, both summer and winter, are bloated, unashamedly commercial affairs. And where there's brass, there's usually some muck.
Playing host to the modern Olympic Games represents a huge boon to the city involved. The Barcelona games were the catalyst for the regeneration of large swathes of the city; other cities have seized on the Games as an opportunity to forge a stronger sense of national pride. Indeed, the South African President, Nelson Mandela, made Capetown's (unsuccessful) bid for the 2004 Olympics something of a personal crusade, even travelling to Switzerland in an effort to sway IOC members.
But the political benefits are only part of the story. The modern Olympics also bring very substantial commercial and economic rewards. Buttressed by lucrative TV deals and support from the world's most powerful multi-nationals like Coca-Cola, the modern games are in Lord Thomson's phrase, "like having your own licence to print money".
Remarkably, the decision to award the Olympic franchise is still taken by the 150-odd members of the IOC who travel the world, inspect possible sites and award the games after a secret ballot. Of its nature, this secretive system is open to corruption by those with a mind for the quick buck. There has to be a better, more accountable and more transparent way of doing business. But is the IOC, at a time when it is mired in scandal, capable of introducing the kind of radical reform that is now required?