Censure For Two In IOC Scandal

IOC investigators will recommend severe censure for the highest-ranking member implicated in the corruption scandal and a high-profile delegate from the next Olympic host country, Olympic sources said Friday.

Kim Un-yong, an executive board member from South Korea and a powerful leader of international sports, and Phil Coles, a longtime IOC member from Australia, barely escaped a recommendation that they be expelled, the sources said.

A third leading member, former vice president Vitaly Smirnov of Russia, also will be recommended for a severe warning, said the sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified.

They also said Kim's case remained open on one front and raised the possibility of the recommendation being upgraded from censure to expulsion "if what's alleged turns out to be true."

Only one new member, Seiuli Paul Wallwork of Western Samoa, will be recommended for expulsion by the six-man panel, according to the sources.

Less severe warnings were proposed for Louis Guirandou-N'Diaye of the Ivory Coast, Willi Kaltschmitt of Guatemala, Shagdarjav Magvan of Mongolia, Anani Matthia of Togo, Austin Sealy of Barbados and Mohamed Zerguini of Algeria, the sources said.

Three others, they said, would be exonerated: Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope of Nigeria, Ashwini Kumar of India and Ram Ruhee of Mauritius.

The IOC was scheduled to announce the recommendations Friday.

Nine IOC members already have resigned or been expelled in the worst corruption scandal in the Olympics' 105 years, a million-dollar vote-buying scheme surrounding Salt Lake City's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

The internal investigation dealt with 14 members in its first phase and reconvened to consider another 16 members implicated last month in a Utah ethics board report.

Kim is president of both the international Taekwondo federation and the confederation of Olympic sports bodies, and has been considered a possible successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch as IOC president.

His case was one of three left open under the initial phase of the inquiry, and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He also has promised to use lots of ammunition to fight any action against him.

The Salt Lake report and the IOC's initial investigation alleged that Kim used his Olympic position to help land lucrative jobs for his two children. The investigation on those charges remains open.

Coles, who resigned early Friday from his paid position with the Australian Olympic Committee, was cited by the Utah ethics panel for accepting some $60,000 in travel to ski resorts and the Super Bowl from Salt Lake bidders.

One of the best-liked members in the clubby IOC, Coles has repeatedly denied wrongdoing but conceded he had been "careless" in handling the lavish perks.

Smirnov, who was head of the Soviet Union's sports machine and served as an IOC vice president during thCold War, was cited by the Salt Lake report for involvement in a scholarship award at the University of Utah for the daughter of the head of a leading Russian recording company.