The Olympics’ dark secrets

Our country is now going through the quadrennial exercise of reprisals, threats and calls for investigations into the expected drought at the Athens Olympics. As usual, Congress has expressed its dismay over the state of affairs in Philippine sports, which is nothing new. Structurally, though, unless Sen. Dick Gordon or any other high government figure has any serious political will to make the change, it will all be bluster that falls to the ground and carpets the ground like leaves in the fall.

However, not to take anything away from the other countries or attack the International Olympic Committee itself, but the Games themselves are no longer the unstained bastion of sportsmanship or political disinterest that they once were believed to be. In fact, the past decade has revealed a shocking number of crucial judging scandals, parochial decisions and biases that have chipped the polished veneer of the world’s greatest display of unity.

In his new book "Inside the Olympics," former Olympic swimmer Dick Pound reveals the skeletons in the closet of the most venerable institution in all of sport. Pound, a Canadian swimmer in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, has been a high official of the International Olympic Committee for over a quarter of a century. He has served under the last three IOC presidents, and was founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the most powerful body in fighting the prevailing use of illegal substances to enhance athletic performance.

Pound is unabashed about what really went on behind the scenes at major decisions regarding the selection of host cities, the background of doping scandals (which he calls the singles biggest threat to the Olympic Movement), television negotiations, and even personal dealings with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) heads of certain countries.

One of the first stories that were told by Pound - who initiated investigations into the bribery controversy that rocked the Salt Lake City Winter Games–was how he faced the imminent (and seemingly orchestrated) selection of Athens for the 2004 Olympics with growing dread. On the surface, it was an emotional decision, and he saw the hand of then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch in trying to help Greece get the Games. But his own reasoning was against it. Athens had terrible pollution (which he said made Los Angeles smog look like a breath of fresh air), and even worse politics.

One of the most curious and overlooked sidelights about construction of the venues for the Athens Olympics was the constant discovery of archeological artifacts. Pound says that, each time a shovel struck earth, they would find something of historical value, which would bring in the bureaucrats and other old-school patriots to protect the find, delaying any progress made towards the completion of the venues. This blend of politics and misplaced nationalism led to Samaranch declaring that the organizers were not proceeding as scheduled, and that the Games themselves were under a yellow light, a stern and open warning, if there ever was one. Despite the fact that they were given seven years (the standard time to prepare for hosting the Olympics, take note), they had still not come together as promised.

After that, the Greeks did come together, and put their political differences aside, knowing that they all would have been embarrassed by any security or organizational problems in staging the events. In fact, one highlight of their newfound union was crushing the November 17 terrorist movement, so named after the date in 1973 when student protesters clashed with government forces. Quickly, officers of the organization were arrested and quickly tried. It seems that the threat of their disrupting the Games destroyed any tolerance or good will toward them by their countrymen.

The next issue that Pound tackled was that of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Pound clearly explained the problems in hosting the Games. In the initial round of voting for the 1998 Winter Games, everyone was encouraging the candidates, purely because nobody wanted to face the humiliation of being the first voted out. But Salt Lake City almost lost in the first round of voting, tying Aosta, Italy for the last place. Thanks to the realization that one of the most capable cities might be inadvertently left out, Salt Lake City gathered enough votes to eventually make it to the final round, losing to Nagano, Japan in the last round of voting.

However, the problem with the Olympics is that all members must vote, and in the case of Winter Olympics, not all countries experience this seasonal change. Therefore, not everyone really knows whether or not a city can successfully hold the competitions. So it is often up to the organizers to "persuade" them of their merits. This meant trips to the candidate city, lavish banquets, adventure tours, and many other perks, all to ensure that a majority would "choose" them. This was where Utah’s organizers went over the line.

Another problem facing the Olympics now is that growing commercialism, which this writer personally witnessed at its zenith in Atlanta in 1996. But, even prior to the Games, Atlanta already had its own problems. The city was allowing direct competitors of Olympic sponsors to set up tents and booths and vending machines at, around or near games venues themselves. As the organizing committee was trying hard to raise funds for the games, others not directly involved were making a quick buck just by being in the vicinity, playing off being in the host city.

Judging scandals, doping issues and more Olympic controversies on Monday.

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