IOC has done 'nothing'
Manchester bid member wants IOC compensation
Posted: Saturday January 23, 1999 12:04 PM
MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- A member of Manchester's failed
effort to land the 2000 Olympics has asked the IOC for compensation
in light of the reported corruption surrounding Sydney's winning
bid.
Graham Stringer, a member of parliament and a key member of the
Manchester bid team, also suggested the IOC should compensate other
losing cities.
"They (various bid committees) paid out good money and they
should be paid compensation" he said. "The IOC have sat back and
done nothing when they were in a position to clean the whole thing
up."
The northern English city finished a distant third behind Sydney
and Beijing and also failed in a bid for the 1996 Olympics.
Sydney bid committee members have revealed they made $70,000
inducements for two African votes the night before they won the
Summer Games for 2000 -- by two votes.
Kevan Gosper, the Australian executive board member from
Australia, said he couldn't "rule out" that some might call for
Sydney to lose the Games.
Reports suggest Manchester spent about $12 million on its
bid.
"You only have to be within the confines of the Olympic
movement for five minutes to realize that things are not
straightforward, that there has been corruption," Stringer said.
"That doesn't mean you can prove it," he added. "What has
happened recently is that proof has come out that Salt Lake City
and Sydney used bribery and improper practices to get their
nominations.
"We always said we were a clean bid and were not indulging in
bribery and we thought that was a positive asset. We have played by
the rules
"I don't know if we would have won. There were other
geophysical reasons involved. But we will never know."
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