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Inside Olympic Sports
The IOC is set to choose a host for 2008 and a new president By Brian Cazeneuve
Favorite Beijing. After losing to Sydney by two votes on its first try to host a Summer Games eight years ago, Beijing returns with a bid bolstered by strong public support in China, financial guarantees from the government and the feeling among many IOC members that the world's largest nation deserves to host the Olympics. In what the country's national news agency called "one of the largest construction projects in China since the Great Wall," the government is prepared to spend $20 billion to build a light rail system in Beijing and expand the city's 134 miles of expressways to 435 miles by 2008. "The big issue is whether we're ready to go to China," says IOC presidential candidate Richard Pound, alluding to the politically charged issue of China's human rights record. Expect the IOC to close its eyes, cringe at the thought of another Tiananmen Square and take the chance. Contenders Toronto. The city with the most impressive bid unfortunately also has a penchant for shooting itself in the foot. The aquatics center would seat a combined 40,000 spectators in separate swimming and diving halls, 25 of the 28 venues would be within a 3.5-mile radius and 10% of all tickets would be earmarked for children. Yet last August, Canada turned down visa requests by competitors from Belarus, Bulgaria and Russia shortly before the world marathon canoe championships in Nova Scotia. In March, 11 members of the IOC's site evaluation commission were trapped for 80 minutes in an elevator in a Toronto hotel. Finally, last month, before traveling to Mombasa, Kenya, to lobby African IOC delegates, Toronto mayor Mel Lastman told the Toronto Star, "What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa [for]?... I see myself in a pot of boiling water with all those natives dancing around me."
Paris. Plans to hold beach volleyball at the base of the Eiffel Tower and equestrian show jumping in front of the gold-domed Invalides chapel underscore the bid's romantic appeal. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, site of the 1998 World Cup final, would serve as the main stadium. Existing public housing would be converted to an Olympic Village that would be within a five-minute drive of competition sites for more than half the Games' athletes. IOC members who plan to vote for favorite Jacques Rogge of Belgium as the next IOC president, however, may not want to choose a European host city as well, especially with Games already scheduled for Athens in 2004 and Turin in 2006. What's more, Claude Bebear, the businessman who runs the Paris bid committee, was implicated in a money-laundering scandal in June, though he has denied any wrongdoing. Long Shots Osaka. The bid would entail building an athletes' village, a press center and six major sports venues on three man-made islands in Osaka Bay. The IOC fears traffic jams and costs that might exceed the projected $3.5 billion. Poor attendance at the East Asian Games in May confirmed the city's reputation for sporting apathy. Istanbul. Pick your concern: air pollution, terrorism, traffic or the unstable Turkish lira, which lost a third of its value in March. Look for the three-time bidder to be the first city eliminated.
Presidential
Vote At stake in the presidential race is not only an eight-year term as IOC boss, renewable once for four years, but also the chance to shape the 21st century Games. Favorite Jacques Rogge, 59, Belgium. An orthopedic surgeon and three-time Olympic yachtsman who speaks five languages, Rogge is viewed as Samaranch's preferred candidate. Supporters like his spotless record and statesmanship. Critics fear his indecisiveness and point to his struggle, as chairman of the commission overseeing the 2004 Athens Games, to whip Greek organizers into shape. Rogge believes an African city should soon host the Olympics and says he wants to shrink the Games to make hosting them less expensive, thereby courting votes from both Africa and Latin America. He is also the head of the association of national Olympic committees of Europe, the continent that has produced seven of the IOC's eight presidents and casts 58 of the 122 votes. Contenders Un Yong Kim, 70, South Korea. The politically savvy head of the World Taekwondo Federation and a former operative in South Korea's CIA, Kim lost Samaranch's support last April when he opposed a Samaranch-backed ban on IOC-member visits to bid cities. In 1999 Kim received a "most serious warning" from IOC after his son, John Kim, was indicted in the U.S. for allegedly trading his father's vote in the 2002 site selection for a job arranged by Salt Lake City organizers. (Both father and son have denied any wrongdoing.) A Kim victory could spook corporate sponsors, but he will get votes from sports-federation heads and from Eastern Europe. He donates money to Olympic Solidarity, an organization that directs sports aid to developing nations, many of whose members are expected to support him. Richard Pound, 59, Canada. The former IOC vice president, a Montreal tax lawyer and former Olympic swimmer, is the straightest shooter of the candidates. He negotiated most of the IOC's TV and sponsorship deals and is chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Pound has strong support from the IOC's 15 athlete members, but he has offended colleagues with his bluntness and his actions as chairman of the commission that expelled 10 IOC members in conjunction with the Salt Lake City bribery scandal. Kim says that in March he and Pound, an old nemesis, "reached an understanding"—interpreted by observers to mean that whichever of the two drops out of the voting first will urge his supporters to back the other in an attempt to defeat Rogge. Long Shots Anita Defrantz, 48, U.S. A tireless advocate for athletes' rights, the former Olympic rower ascended to IOC vice president, becoming the highest ranking African-American and woman in international sports. Many committee members, however, find the Los Angeles attorney aloof and are uncertain of what she stands for. Her candidacy will also be hurt by anti-American fallout from the Salt Lake City scandal and the poorly run Atlanta Games. Pal Schmitt, 59, Hungary. The only gold medalist among the candidates, he was Hungary's ambassador to Spain and Switzerland after retiring from fencing. Schmitt's platform of rotating the Games among continents will cost him the few anti-Rogge votes available in Western Europe. He'll be eliminated quickly. Issue date: July 16, 2001
For more Inside Olympic Sports see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, July 11. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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Rebounding from an Despite China's questionable human rights record, Beijing has a leg up on
the rest of the
field. Ng Han Guan/AP
