The Olympic Games Affair The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, February 3rd, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** By Tom Pearson It was going to send shock waves around the world, but FBI special agent John MacDonald, stationed in Salt Lake City, was not aware of these consequences. He was focused on whether federal fraud, tax or public corruption statutes had been violated. The Salt Lake City 2002 winter Olympics bribery case: this was his job and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. The whole affair had come out of revelations about the bidding for the 2002 Winter Games, the winner -- Salt Lake City -- announced in the fall of 1995. This was December 1998, and outside MacDonald's office the big freeze had settled over the city skyline. Little did he know as he sat at his desk on that Nevada winter's day, that the Salt Lake 2002 file would open a Pandora's box of corruption, scandal, law suits, tax scams -- and God knows what else -- around the globe, from Europe to Australia, from the African continent to the Americas and Asia: the whole damned five-ring circus. The rottenness went right to the top. MacDonald could sense it. Unlike most FBI operatives he had an inkling that there were more things going on than could be found in the files on his desk. Already he wondered; who or what is behind this? Canberra The two men in dark suits facing the media in November 1998 were seated in front of the Sydney 2000 Olympic torch banner. The one on the left, short, with beady eyes and prominent eyebrows, was the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard; the jowly and carefully groomed man beside him, Sydney Olympics Minister, Michael Knight. Even as they accentuated the positive in announcing the route that the Olympic flame would take to Sydney, the powers that had ensnared the Sydney Olympic project were forced to show some of their cards. While the two suits were putting on their political front John Coates, President of the Australian Olympic Committee, was revealing he had secret agreements signed by the NSW Government Šthat gave him a veto over all appointments to the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. He nailed the whole thing down by saying the agreements could not be made public because they were "commercially sensitive". Salt Lake City Agent MacDonald tapped his pointer on the white board and turned to his operatives seated in front of him. "These are the names of the 13 IOC members we'll be sending letters requesting `please explain the bribes in Salt Lake City's bid'." On the board were listed the names of the IOC members from South Korea, Russia, Finland, Ecuador, Libya, Congo, Sudan, Netherlands, Mali, Kenya, Chile, Ivory Coast and Swaziland. "But let me tell you", said MacDonald in a low voice, leaning forward across his desk for emphasis, "this is, as they say, just the tip of the goddamn iceberg." He spun the white board around to reveal the name Prince Frederik von Sachsen-Lauenberg. "This guy is a real Prince, from Holland. He drove IOC members to Amsterdam brothels in a limo when Amsterdam was pushing for the '92 Games, and he made sure diamonds were conveniently left in their hotel rooms." He turned his back, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah", he muttered, "a real prince. "And then there's the IOC Geisha house tour in Nagano." Macdonald swung around to face his audience. "Ya know, they burnt all their Olympic documents in Nagano." "What's all that got to do with Salt Lake City, chief?", asked one of the operatives. "Oh, it's got to do with it, alright", MacDonald answered. "Someone, or something big, real big, is back of this." Once a fascist, always a fascist On January 25 it was announced that six of the IOC members were to be expelled and three were to resign. Of those in line for expulsion three were African delegates who immediately announced that they intend to fight against their removal. The member from the Congo, Jean-Claude Ganga, said the IOC was carrying out a witch-hunt, part of a power play as members jockied for position to take over from IOC President, the fascist Juan Antonio Samaranch. "They want to kick out all those influential people who are against them", said Ganga. "We will never, never resign because people will think we are guilty." Š Though no one was willing to came out and say so publicly, clearly some IOC members understood that the "once a fascist, always a fascist" tag applied to the IOC President, who'd been forced to admit to taking bribes, including a $28,000 samurai sword while on a visit to Nagano, and firearms courtesy of the Salt Lake City committee. Only Australian IOC executive member Kevan Gosper, with his future tied to Samaranch's, came publicly to his defence. Gosper even managed to get the rest of the executive members, who are similarly tied, to officially endorse Samaranch, who then told the accused IOC members: "Tender your resignations." Salt Lake City Agent MacDonald flung his copy of "The Washington Post" to the floor. He'd read an interview in which Samaranch said: "I am a normal person. I may be of nobility, but I am not a rich man." "That's rich", snorted MacDonald to his empty office, "after he's had 18 years of kick-backs. Just who's running this world anyhow?", he asked, as Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky stared out from the "Post's" front page. Sydney Kevan Gosper, responding to news that he and the other Australian IOC member, Phil Coles, had been subpoenaed by the FBI, told gathered media: "The FBI has a job to do", then denied any wrongdoing by himself. Meanwhile, Olympic Minister Knight refused to bow to calls to release the Sydney bid documents to the public, making Knight and John Coates the only barriers to their public release. Beijing The Chinese Olympic Committee President, He Zhenliang, was "furious" over the vote-buying by Australian officials. "The Olympic spirit has been tarnished", said He Zhenliang. "My personal feeling is that I would agree with the opinion put forward by some people of cancelling Sydney's host qualification in order to show the seriousness and fairness of the IOC." Meanwhile, Samaranch announced that he was quitting as chairman of one of Spain's biggest banks, the La Caixa de Pensions, so as not to "taint" the bank's reputation. Salt Lake City One of MacDonald's operatives burst into the office holding a piece of paper. "Chief, this just came through from our man in Sydney. It's strong stuff." ŠMacDonald took the message and read it out loud: "In August 1993, Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates went to Africa with ex-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to offer sports scholarships to IOC members. Once there Coates called home for more money from the Olympic pot. "The following month Coates wrote to the African IOC members and confirmed that the scholarships would be delivered, if Sydney won the 2000 Games bid. "The night before the IOC voted on the 2000 Games winner, Coates took African IOC members out to dinner and offered them an extra $56,000 each. Sydney won the bid by two votes." MacDonald smiled. "What's in the arrest sheet?" "Where?" The operative looked puzzled. "In Sydney, Australia." "There ain't none." "No arrests in Australia?" "No arrests anywhere, chief." MacDonald turned and stared out the window, cracking his knuckles. "This is big", he murmured, "real big. What's behind it?" "Maybe it's the system", suggested the operative. MacDonald wheeled around. "What's that?" "The system, ya know, the whole system." MacDonald's eyes narrowed. "That's commie talk, soldier." The operative lowered his eyes and moved uneasily toward the door. "Yes chief."
