Senate tackles Olympics scandal

WASHINGTON A U.S. Senate panel is warning that Congress willconsider legislation that could reduce U.S. corporate sponsorship ofthe Olympics as well as donations unless the International OlympicCommittee enacts reforms to stem corruption within the organization.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) heldhearings last week in which both Republican and Democratic senatorssaid they may introduce bills to revoke the tax-exempt status forU.S. corporate or individual donations to the Olympics, make it acrime to bribe an Olympic official and end the IOC's control over thelucrative rights for Olympic broadcasts in the United States.

"I want to demonstrate to the IOC that we have the power inthis country to deny the IOC the one thing it really wants - money,"said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, an AlaskaRepublican.At least four groups, including the U.S. Justice Department,are investigating whether Salt Lake City officials paid OlympicCommittee officials more than $1 million in bribes to win the rightto host the 2002 Winter Olympics.The scandal is the worst in the history of the Olympiccommittee and many of the Games' corporate sponsors worry that theGames' reputation could be hurt, thus reducing the value of theirsponsorships.The Lausanne, Switzerland-based IOC has agreed to establish anethics panel to lead any inquiries into new bribery allegations, andanother study group, split between IOC members and outsiders, willrecommend changes at the IOC to prevent future scandals.Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, appointed by theU.S. Olympic Committee to head an independent group examining thebribery scandal, testified before McCain's panel that the IOC has sofar failed to correct the problems that led to the scandal."Unfortunately, the IOC has not fully accepted its share ofresponsibility" for the bribery scandal, Mitchell said. "Nor has theIOC expressed its commitment to enact the reforms necessary torestore the integrity of the Olympic movement."Still, Mitchell urged the U.S. Congress to delay any legislationuntil it assesses the IOC's reform efforts.McCain criticized the U.S. Olympic Committee and its president,William Hybl, for failing to properly monitor Salt Lake City's effortto win the 2002 Winter Olympics."Why did the USOC not exercise its oversight role here?" McCainasked Hybl, who was called to testify before the panel.Hybl admitted that the USOC had "fallen short" in overseeing theselection process, though he said it moved quickly once it learned ofthe allegations.Stevens and McCain have prepared bills that would revoke the taxbreaks U.S. citizens and corporations receive for donations to theOlympic committee. Stevens said he and McCain also would pushlegislation to insure that the U.S. Olympic committee - and not theIOC - has full U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics after thecurrent contract ends in 2002.