Behind the smiles, the glossy brochures and self important swagger of International Olympic Committee (IOC) chiefs, the knives were out yesterday in Lausanne and the rumour machines working full time as the countdown to tomorrow's decision on the city to host the 2004 Olympic Games gathered momentum. Recent bombings of sports facilities in Stockholm, designed to destabilise the Swedes' bid, have been quickly followed by accusations that Stockholm was involved in activities that "were not in compliance with IOC regulations."
Unwilling to explain exactly what the Stockholm bidding team were up to when they took IOC voting members to a furniture store, the IOC have nonetheless decided to take a benign view.
"They immediately obliged when we informed them that they were not complying with the regulations. We have never doubted the good faith and intent of Stockholm. The matter is over," said IOC director general Francois Carrard yesterday at a press briefing.
"There are always insinuations, plots, rumours, innuendos. If there are facts, we act. If there are not, we don't act."
Since IOC members in the past were offered and often gratefully accepted lavish gifts by bidding cities, rules now govern such activities.
Where the decision makers have often required of the public to suspend belief and accept that favours were never offered or sought after, they are now limited to gifts of up to $200.
But Stockholm is not the only transgressors of regulations.
South Africa, too, have had to have their exuberance to please curtailed without drawing any sanctions from the IOC. Having flown the wives of three African IOC members to Switzerland, their plea of not knowing that first-class tickets are in contravention of IOC regulations has been accepted. Paying for a wives' junket is not, according to Carrard, "likely to influence voting." One wonders then why it is against the regulations.
Having lined up Namibian Olympic athlete Frankie Fredericks to deliver the emotional South African message around the halls of Lausanne's Palais de Beaulieu in an atmosphere of deal making, back stabbing, invention, chicanery and misinformation, Frederick's soft focus opinions were a jarring counterpoint.
"They say that the IOC is a world-wide organisation. Africa is the only continent that has not held an Olympic Games. If they really mean what they say, then the vote should go to Africa," said the athlete.
Even Rome's bid, backed by International Amateur Athletic Federation president Primo Nebiolo, who has attempted to undermine the bids of both Athens and Stockholm before even setting a foot in Lausanne, is beset by strife.
Journalist and member of the Italian senate Jas Gawronski has characterised Rome as a city bereft of the basic infrastructure and and has questioned the cosy relationship between Italian politicians and the construction industry which will clearly benefit most from a successful bid.
"The report (Italian bid document) speaks of 91 hospitals, of which it would be interesting to know the names and addresses; of an Olympic village for 18,000 people that would be converted into a campus for Rome's three universities, which have declared that they don't need it; of sleeping room for 600,000 visitors when respectable estimates count a maximum of 180,000 and of the possibility of travelling from Fiumicino airport to central Rome in 23 minutes when everyone knows that perhaps Michael Schumacher would be able to accomplish such a feat, but only at night and with no traffic."
Gawronski also points to the construction work undertaken for the 1990 World Cup, which subsequently became a major scandal, revealing a shameful waste of resources.
"The more than $200 million earmarked for the building and renovation of 12 stadia in 12 cities hardly sufficed to build two. One of these, in Turin, may soon be demolished because of its poor construction and extremely high running costs.
"Hence the suspicion arises of the existence of a close relationship between the construction lobby, which wants to take advantage of Olympic business at the expense of the state, and politicians who want the benefits of publicity."
Meanwhile, the chairman of the IOC Medical Commission, Prince Alexandre de Merode, pointed out yesterday that blood testing at future games would not become an option until further information was available with regard to its detection.
"Research into the growth hormone is ongoing at the moment. Blood tests cannot detect the hormone, so it is pointless to introduce them until a reliable test has been developed."
