The President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, and member of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Pat Hickey, has defended the IOC president, Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, over his handling of the crisis involving corruption and bribes in the Olympic movement.
Mr Hickey also said that neither he nor Dr Kevin O'Flanagan, an honorary member of the IOC, had ever been offered a bribe in their capacity as Olympic members.
The Olympic movement is in turmoil over allegations that Salt Lake City officials bribed IOC members when the Utah venue successfully bid for the 2002 winter Olympics. The FBI is investigating the allegations.
A number of Salt Lake officials involved in bringing the winter games to the Mormon city have re signed amid allegations of payments of as much as $70,000, lavish gifts, including full education for IOC members' children, and the use of the Salt Lake organising committee's credit cards to buy sexual favours for IOC dignitaries.
The former head of the Salt lake organising committee, Mr Tom Welch, admitted he had a fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars for financial offerings to Olympic personnel, but said he never bribed anyone. "We never bought a vote." "I've never been offered a bribe," Mr Hickey said yesterday. "Kevin O'Flanagan has also told me that in all his years as a member he has never once been offered a bribe. I suppose it is a general opinion that western Europeans wouldn't be into that scene, but I can say I was never offered a bribe."
Mr Hickey also stressed that no Irish Olympic officials was involved in the current investigations.
Mr Samaranch, speaking in Warsaw, promised to punish any IOC members implicated in the scandal. "We are going to act very fast. If it turns out the behaviour of some IOC members was reprehensible, they will have to bear the consequences," he said.
