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Coles testifies before investigators
Posted: Wednesday June 02, 1999 07:44 PM
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- An Australian IOC member accused of abusing his position testified for a third time before Olympic investigators Wednesday. Phil Coles, who has resisted pressure to resign in the scandal, said he was convinced he'd proven his innocence to the special panel investigating charges of ethical misconduct. "I'm confident I got my message across," a smiling Coles said after more than 2 1/2 hours of questioning. "It was a very fair hearing. There were no real allegations. I had the opportunity to put all the facts on the table." International Olympic Committee vice presidents Anita DeFrantz and Keba M'baye, and executive committee member Marc Hodler will present their recommendations on Coles to the executive board at its next meeting June 14 in Seoul, South Korea. The panel could recommend that the case be dropped or that Coles be expelled. Any expulsion would have to go to the full IOC assembly for approval. Coles received a "most severe warning" from the IOC in March for accepting lavish travel and other incentives from Salt Lake bidders, and is now under investigation for further allegations of abusing his IOC status. His ex-wife told the IOC that the couple received jewelry valued at $6,000 from a businessman associated with the Athens bid for the 1996 Games. Coles appeared before IOC investigators on both of the previous disclosures. The latest hearing centered on more recent allegations that he had compiled secret dossiers on IOC members for Sydney's successful 2000 bid and passed them on to Salt Lake bidders. "It was purely about the matter at hand with the papers from the Sydney people," said Coles, who planned to return to Australia on Thursday. "There were no surprises, no traps sprung. "There was information, written and verbal, and I provided more evidence today. A lot of those facts weren't known. That worked both ways." Regardless of the "bad taste" left following the string of accusations, Coles said he has no intention of stepping down from his position as an IOC member or from the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games' board. "I'd have preferred not to have been through the hell I've been through over the past four to five months," he said. "I am a three-time Olympian and I want to be available to athletes to reach the dream I reached. I want to continue to do that with athletes all over Australia."
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