Olympic Scandal Spreads To Sydney

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 22, 1999 / 4:11 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

The Olympic corruption scandal grew dramatically Friday when an Australian official said he had offered $70,000 in inducements to two African IOC members the night before Sydney won the 2000 Games by two votes.

Australia's senior IOC member, who said he was not involved in the offer, acknowleged the inducement could be seen as a bribe and bring demands for Sydney to be stripped of the games.

The latest development in the growing corruption crisis came on the same day that a Libyan delegate became the second IOC member to resign amid vote-buying allegations in Salt Lake City's selection as host of the 2002 Winter Games.

Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi gave his resignation to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, one day before a special IOC commission concludes its inquiry into the Salt Lake scandal.

Samaranch did not rule out other resignations this weekend. He said seven other IOC members face possible expulsion in the Salt Lake case.

Later in the day, Samaranch learned of the damaging news from Sydney.

John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee and a leader of the 2000 Sydney bid, said he had offered the $35,000 inducements apiece to the national Olympic committees of Kenya and Uganda, according to Australian news reports.

The offer was made to IOC members Charles Mukora of Kenya and Maj. Gen. Francis Nyangweso of Uganda at a dinner in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on Sept. 22, 1993, the night before Sydney beat Beijing by two votes for the right to stage the 2000 Games, according to Coates.

"I thought it was necessary for us to show our commitment to those NOC's with a view to winning those votes," Coates was quoted as saying in Saturday's editions of the Sydney Morning Herald. "My view was it might encourage them to consider their votes for Sydney."

Sydney won 45-43 on the final ballot.

Coates denied the money was a bribe and said it would go toward helping sport in Kenya and Uganda.

Details of the offer were contained in a package of previously confidential Sydney bid documents released to Australian news media by Coates, who was in Australia and not immediately available for comment.

IOC director general Francois Carrard announces the resignation of Libyan IOC member Bashir Mohamed Attarabulsi. (AP)

The documents also disclosed that Coates had written to Mukora and Nyangweso a month before the vote, offering to put them up at Sydney's expense at the luxury Dorchester Hotel in London on their way to Monaco.

In Lausanne, Kevan Gosper, an IOexecutive board member from Australia, commented on the reports by saying the inducements offered by Coates went "beyond good will."

It was not clear if Gosper had seen the documents.

"It seems that John's decision was intended to influence the IOC members' thinking," Gosper told The Associated Press. "The perception may not match John's intention, the event having taken place the night before the vote.

"I can see this being viewed as questionable conduct. The perception will be quite damaging to Sydney. It's a very serious revelation. I think a lot of people will be destabilized."

Gosper, a former head of the AOC, was a senior official in the Sydney bid. But he said he was unaware of the offers made by Coates until a journalist called him Friday.

Gosper said he immediately brought the matter to Samaranch's attention. He described Samaranch's reaction as "one of serious concern."

Gosper said the revelations were serious enough to raise the issue of whether Sydney should keep the games.

"I can't rule it out that some may call for the games not to proceed in Sydney," he said, indicating that even some IOC officials might feel that way. "I think the Chinese reaction will be important. There were really only two cities in the race."

Gosper said he would urge the IOC this weekend to endorse the 1993 vote awarding the games to Sydney.

He also called for all of Sydney's documents to be made public and said the IOC should consider opening a full-scale inquiry into the city's bid.

Gosper didn't out rule that Coates would resign over the matter. He said he had not spoken to Coates directly, but defended him as an "extremely competent" and "first rate" Olympic chief.