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Caborn admits offering inducements
LONDON (AP) -- British Sports Minister Richard Caborn acknowledged Tuesday he offered inducements to IAAF officials in a bid to keep the 2005 World Championships in Britain. But Caborn said he did nothing wrong and defended the government's attempts to move the event from London to Sheffield. The government last week scrapped plans to stage the championships in London, saying the cost of a proposed new stadium was too high. It offered instead to hold the event at the existing stadium in Sheffield. But the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled out a switch, saying it had awarded the championships to London, not Britain. The IAAF said it would reopen the bidding, with Berlin among the leading contenders. Caborn confirmed reports that, in meetings with IAAF president Lamine Diack, he had made offers to persuade the world body to accept a move to Sheffield. Caborn said he offered scholarships for African athletes and sightseeing and shopping trips in London for spouses of IAAF officials. He said he sought to convince the IAAF it could still hold its annual congress in London on the eve of the championships. The government planned to put up IAAF delegates in top London hotels and give them first class travel to Sheffield for the competition. Caborn, who is a member of Parliament from Sheffield, said he offered to arrange shopping trips for spouses to Harrods and visits to the House of Commons and the prime minister's residence at No. 10 Downing Street. He also offered to set up a training center for African athletes in Britain. Diack rejected the offers. "What we are trying to do is fulfill our promise that we would give a first class venue for the championships and their prestigious congress," he told the London Evening Standard. "As far as I am concerned what we did was in good faith." Caborn said he was upset at allegations in British newspapers that he spoke to Diack, of Senegal, "like some colonial governor from the 19th century dealing with a man from Africa, thinking he was doing him a favor." The reports said Diack was deeply offended by Caborn's approach. "As a campaigner for equality in South Africa for over 30 years I was insulted by that," Caborn said. "In his conference speech last week, the Prime Minister challenged us all to forge closer links with African states, and that was why we made our offer of scholarships for young African athletes. "It is a great shame the IAAF felt free to dismiss this so readily and in such a lofty manner." The Guardian newspaper reported that Caborn has been ordered to appear before a House of Commons panel next Tuesday to explain his actions. "He will be asked to explain what has happened," said MP Derek Wyatt, a member of the committee. "We have got to be more politically aware. At the moment Britain is looked upon as a complete joke."
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