Uncertain future
No obvious successor in line for IOC presidency
Posted: Saturday February 27, 1999 05:14 PM
| |
Big brother is watching: Juan Antonio Samaranch appears to have enough support to keep is job. John Gichigi/Allsport |
LONDON (AP) -- With the Olympics mired in crisis, IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch appears more determined than ever to stay in
office.
But the questions remain: Can he hold on? For how long? Who
might succeed him?
The answers to all three are anyone's guess.
As the International Olympic Committee prepares for a watershed
meeting March 17-18 to deal with its worst corruption scandal, no
obvious successor to Samaranch has emerged from among a half-dozen
leading candidates.
Samaranch has come under tremendous pressure since the scandal
broke late last year over cash and other inducements received by
IOC members from Salt Lake City and other Olympic bidders. Calls
for his resignation have mounted.
Still, Samaranch appears to have widespread support from his
main constituency -- the IOC members from whom he will seek a vote
of confidence next month.
Recent interviews with a cross section of IOC members elicited
the same general response: Samaranch is the only one who can lead
the committee out of the crisis and he should see through his final
term until 2001.
With no obvious successor in place, Olympic officials say
Samaranch's departure could trigger a vicious internal battle that
would only drag the IOC deeper into crisis.
"This is not the time to be debating your leadership," said
Australian executive board member Kevan Gosper. "It's the time to
rally around your leadership. If the ship's in a storm, you don't
throw the captain overboard."
Samaranch received a rousing endorsement this week from NBC
sports chief Dick Ebersol, whose network is paying $3.5 billion for
U.S. television rights to five Olympics through 2008.
"I think it would be crazy" for Samaranch to leave, Ebersol
said in an Australian TV interview. "Since 1980, he brought so
many positive things to the [Olympic] movement. ... And he was
totally responsible for creating the vast business success that
they've had. On top of that, he is a man of incredible personal
integrity."
At the IOC's marble headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, a
sort of siege mentality has set in. Samaranch has stopped doing
interviews and made no public appearances or statements in recent
weeks.
But Samaranch has kept busy, conferring with his aides and IOC
members, laying the groundwork for the March session, the most
crucial meeting in his 19 years as president. Aides say Samaranch,
who appeared tired and disheartened a month ago, is more upbeat and
more determined to fight on and save his legacy.
The outcome of the March meeting should help determine
Samaranch's fate.
If the IOC fails to expel members and push through major
reforms, Samaranch's position will become untenable. Even if
Samaranch comes out stronger and the crisis dies down, his future
remains a matter of conjecture.
There is speculation he might decide to step down in calmer
circumstances before the end of his term, possibly after next
year's Sydney Olympics.
The timing of any early departure is crucial and could be part
of the reckoning to determine a successor.
Under the Olympic Charter, if the IOC president leaves before
the end of his mandate, the first vice president -- there are four
VPs -- takes over until an election at the next general assembly.
So, if Samaranch were to resign in March, Pal Schmitt of Hungary
would step in as president, pending an election at the IOC session
in June.
If Samaranch waited until June, Schmitt's VP term will have
expired by then, and Canada's Dick Pound would take control. In
2000, Anita DeFrantz of the United States would be next in line.
Regardless of whether Samaranch makes it to the end of his term,
there is no obvious long-term heir.
Leading contenders are executive board members Pound, Gosper,
DeFrantz, Jacques Rogge of Belgium and Thomas Bach of Germany.
South Korean board member Kim Un-yong was a serious presidential
hopeful but he is among those under investigation in the Salt Lake
scandal. Even if Kim escapes without expulsion, his chances have
been severely hurt, if not killed.
Pound, who has been the IOC's chief negotiator of TV and
sponsorship deals, has been put in a difficult position as head of
the commission investigating ethical misconduct of members in the
Salt Lake case.
While some feel Pound's stock has risen, several members say his
presidential chances have been compromised. By giving Pound the
high-profile job of prosecuting IOC members, Samaranch may have --
wittingly or unwittingly -- ruined his ambitions.
Gosper, head of the IOC's press commission, has become
increasingly active as Australia prepares to stage the 2000 Games,
but his age -- 65, nine years older than Pound -- is a disadvantage.
DeFrantz, the first woman to reach the IOC vice presidency, is a
prominent advocate for athletes' rights and the advancement of
women. But some members believe it's too early for DeFrantz, only
46, to be considered a serious candidate.
In a strong position is Rogge, an orthopedic surgeon who has
made a rapid rise to the IOC's inner circle. Rogge holds
influential roles as head of the European Olympic Committees, and
as the IOC's point man for the Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens
Games.
Another name mentioned in IOC circles is Jean-Claude Killy, the
French skier who won three gold medals at the 1968 Grenoble Games.
Killy, an IOC member since 1995, has not been a major player.
But he's a favorite of Samaranch, has name recognition and has not
been dragged into the scandal or internal politics. Whether he has
the desire to be president is unclear.
The name of Britain's Princess Anne also has come up. Robert
Helmick, the former IOC member from the United States who resigned
in 1991 amid conflict-of-interest allegations, suggested in a
newspaper column that she should take charge as "interim
administrator."
Anne, an IOC member since 1988, has been held up as an example
of unimpeachable integrity for refusing gifts from bid cities. But
her royal duties leave her little spare time for the IOC (she will
miss the March session due to previous commitments).
"I don't believe right now there's anyone who is clearly ready
to take [Samaranch's] place," Ebersol said. "Hopefully, the
meeting in March will be a success and over the next two years
they'll be doubly diligent, and by the time they vote in 2001,
there'll be someone clearly ready to succeed Samaranch's
position."
| Leading contenders to succeed Samaranch |
Thomas Bach
Age: 45
Nationality: German
Profession: lawyer
Sporting career: fencing, gold medal in team foil event at 1976
Montreal Games; member of 1976 and 1978 world champion fencing foil
team.
Sports administration: IOC member since 1991; executive board
member since 1996; chairman of the evaluation commission for the
2002 Winter Games and 2004 Summer Games.
Advantages: a vanguard of new generation.
Disadvantages: uncertain power base.
Anita DeFrantz
Age: 46
Nationality: American
Profession: president, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los
Angeles
Sporting career: rower, bronze medalist, 1976 Montreal Games;
silver medalist, 1978 world championships.
Sports administration: vice president, organizing committee of
1984 Los Angeles Olympics; IOC member since 1986; member of the
executive board since 1992; vice president (first woman) since
1997; member of U.S. Olympic Committee executive board.
Advantages: role model and symbol as woman and African-American;
advocate for athletes and women.
Disadvantages: may be considered too young; IOC members
reluctant to have an American president, especially after scandal
in Salt Lake City.
Kevan Gosper
Age: 65
Nationality: Australian
Profession: retired chairman and chief executive of Shell
Australia.
Sporting career: track and field, semifinalist, 400 meters at
1956 and 1960 Olympics; silver medalist, 4-by-400 relay, 1956
Commonwealth Games.
Sports administration: IOC member since 1977; executive board
member since 1986; vice president, 1990-94; chairman of press
commission since 1989; board member of 2000 Sydney organizing
committee.
Advantages: corporate background, longtime executive board
experience, role with Sydney Games, relations with media.
Disadvantages: age.
Jean-Claude Killy
Age: 55
Nationality: French
Profession: sports administration and business executive.
Sporting career: skiing, triple gold medalist, 1968 Grenoble
Olympics; three-time world skiing champion (1966-68).
Sports administration: co-organizer of the 1992 Albertville
Winter Games; IOC member since 1995; member of coordination
commission for 2002 Games.
Advantages: world reknown as Olympic champion.
Disadvantages: no sign of great popularity among IOC members.
Richard Pound
Age: 56
Nationality: Canadian
Profession: lawyer
Sporting career: swimmer, finalist in 100-meter freestyle
(sixth) and 4-by-400 medley relay (fourth) at 1960 Rome Olympics;
gold medalist, 110-yard freestyle, 1962 Commonwealth Games.
Sports administration: IOC member since 1978; member of
executive board since 1983; IOC vice president since 1997; chief
negotiator of Olympic television and sponsorship deals; head of IOC
panel investigating Salt Lake City scandal; president, Canadian
Olympic Association, 1977-82.
Advantages: Age, experience with Olympic marketing, respect of
corporate sponsors, ability to deal with media.
Disadvantages: has enemies within IOC; role as head of Salt Lake
investigation could be poison chalice.
Jacques Rogge
Age: 56
Nationality: Belgian
Profession: orthopedic surgeon
Sporting career: yachting, competed in 1968, 1972 and 1976
Olympics; former member of Belgian national rugby team.
Sports administration: IOC member since 1991; executive board
member since 1998; chairman of IOC coordination commission for 2000
Sydney Games and 2004 Athens Games; vice chairman of medical
commission; president, European Olympic Committees; president,
Belgian Olympic Committee, 1989-92.
Advantages: age, speaks five languages, European support, no
perceivable enemies.
Disadvantages: uncertain support base outside Europe.
Kim Un-yong
Age: 67
Nationality: South Korean
Profession: sports administration
Sporting career: practiced taekwondo, judo and track and field.
Sports administration: IOC member since 1986; executive board
member since 1988; vice president, 1992-96; chairman, IOC radio and
television commission; vice president of the organizing committee,
1988 Seoul Olympics; president, World Taekwondo Federation;
president, General Association of Sports Federations.
Advantages: major power broker; can mobilize voting blocs.
Disadvantages: presidential chances severely hurt by his
implication in Salt Lake City scandal; expulsion has not been ruled
out.
|
|
|
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
