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Pound under fire for sniping at Sydney

Sponsor accusses IOC VP of making 'malicious statements'

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Posted: Tuesday May 18, 1999 10:21 AM

Dick Pound: "Sydney is not without its own controversy there. Frankly, given the results, arguably far more so than Salt Lake." AP

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- International Olympic committee vice-president Richard Pound has been accused by a 2000 Olympics sponsor of making malicious statements about Sydney, motivated by personal rivalry.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper, a major sponsor of the 2000 Olympics, said Pound's criticism of Sydney's bid for the games was "motivated by self-interest -- with a touch of malice thrown in."

"At best, Mr. Pound's snipe at the quality of Sydney's bid documentation is puzzling," the paper said in its main editorial Tuesday.

The paper reported Monday that Pound said Sydney's tactics to secure the Olympics were more dubious than those used by bribe-tainted Salt Lake City.

Pound, a key figure in the investigation into Salt Lake's bid which removed 10 IOC members, said Sydney had escaped the same level of scrutiny as the host of the 2002 Winter Games.

Pound said Sydney bid organizers kept secret the cool weather conditions there during September, failed to disclose problems with the city's transport system and made "awkward" last-minute cash grants to African officials on the eve of the vote.

"What is suspect is the choice of the host city," Pound told the paper. "Sydney is not without its own controversy there. Frankly, given the results, arguably far more so than Salt Lake."

Sydney edged Beijing by two votes in the 1993 count, while Pound said "Salt Lake was going to win anyway."

"There were a lot of things kept secret from the voters with Sydney's bid," Pound said. "One is the temperature. The other is the road system."

A spokesman for Sydney Olympics Minister Michael Knight said Tuesday Pound was probably still upset that Sydney beat Beijing.

"I don't think Dick Pound has ever got over Beijing losing," the spokesman said.

The Daily Telegraph, in its editorial, said Pound may have spoken out because of a rivalry with Belgian Jacques Rogge in the jostling to replace Juan Antonio Samaranch when the Spaniard retires as Olympics chief.

"It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Mr. Pound's attack on the Sydney Games is merely part of a self-serving game of internal IOC politics," the paper said.

 

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