The Real IOC

Despite the temporary setback handed over by the Delhi High Court yesterday, Suresh Kalmadi is all set to attend the London Olympics in his private capacity and shake a leg with the members of the International Olympic Committee and officials of other assorted national sports federations.

But do you know what sort of company the IOA supremo will be keeping in London? Well, if the old adage — birds of a feather flock together — is true, the disgraced Pune-based sports organiser will be among a colourful gathering of his tribe!!!

If you’re interested to find out the sort of company that our Kalmadi will keep in London, do look up “Look Who’s Coming to London — Meet the Real International Olympic Committee”, a critical report put together by a group of Olympians, academics, athletes, journalists and researchers led by human rights lawywer and former Canadian Olympic swimmer Nikki Dryden and ace British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings.

Jennings has been featured on our site on a few earlier occasions for his exposes on the shenanigans of FIFA officials and had revealed the names of the recipients of kickbacks in the ISL bankruptcy case many moons ago before FIFA was forced to do so by the Swiss Supreme Court ruling.

In their study on the ‘Real IOC’, which was flagged off on the ‘Play the Game’ website, the authors claim that while athletes are threatened and punished for any violation of the Olympic code, the leaders of the Olympic Movement, the 106 secretly chosen IOC members, who will stay in the best hotels, claim lavish allowances and occupy the best seats in London, are held to a different standard. “In fact, it seems they are held to no standard at all. IOC members consistently violate the supposed Olympic ethics, Olympic Charter, and even international law”, they have stated. And they get away with the worst excesses by inviting a mere slap on the wrist, at worst.

While the IOC has inducted a few athletes onto their board, they are the only members with term limits. The rest of the pack, comprising powerful and phenomenally rich persons, bank on nepotism, cronyism and secret ballots to reign forever and ever — like Handel’s Messiah! The current IOC monolith mainly comprises progeny of previous alumni (former president and closet fascist Juan Antonio Samaranch’s son is now a member, for example), over a dozen princelings from Europe, Africa and Asia, representatives of sponsors (like Kun-Hee Lee of Samsung or Alex Gilady of NBC) and a few military personnel (like General Mounir Sabet, brother-in-law of deposed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak).

The blue bloods included princess Nora of Liechtenstein (whose family owned bank has been denounced by the US and Australian tax authorities for serious fraud), Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Anne (Great Britain), Grande Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Prince of Orange, Netherlands, the sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, Princess Haya (UAE), Prince Faisal (Jordan), Tunku Imran (Malaysia) and India’s only IOC representative, ‘Raja’ Randhir Singh, whose father Bhalendra was a member from 1947 till be died in 1992! Indeed, dynasty rules in international sports officialdom too, not only in Indian politics.

What is interesting is that several IOC members have either been convicted of crimes pertaining to their Olympic or sporting endeavours or their other lives (like France’s 1976 Montreal gold medallist Guy Drut or the aforementiond Kun-Hee Lee or Franco Carraro of Italy) or have faced serious allegations of malfeasance, conflict of interest, nepotism etc.

Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF and Issa Hayatou have both admitted that they received payments from the collapsed sports marketing firm ISL. Sepp Blatter, who presided over the cover-up at the FIFA mansion, is also an IOC member by virtue of being a member of an interntaional federation.

The “undemocratic” and male dominated ‘family’ also comprises two officials and mainstream politicians — Pal Schmitt (Hungary) and Dae Sung Moon (Korea) — who were accused of plaigarising their PhD theses!

The authors argue that little or no real change can occur until fundamental processes and values improve at the IOC. Term limits should be implemented for all, transparent and democratic elections need to be held, and their financial books must be opened publicly, they have suggested.

All those interested in getting to know the ‘Real IOC” can read or download the full report for free at www.transparencybooks.com.