BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 2, 2000 ISSUE
BOOKS Foul Play Redux THE GREAT OLYMPIC SWINDLE When the World Wanted Its Games Back By Andrew Jennings Simon & Schuster -- 390pp -- $25 It shouldn't have been a surprise when corruption charges rocked last year's International Olympic Committee. Almost a decade ago, English author Andrew Jennings investigated the Francoist past of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and corruption at his organization. But few read Jennings' books, The Lords of the Rings and The New Lords of the Rings. Now, just in time for the Sydney Olympics, Jennings is out with a new book, The Great Olympic Swindle. In it, he asserts that Samaranch's effort to clean up the IOC represents mere window dressing. He also uncovers FBI and Russian police files that point the finger at a top-ranking Olympic boxing official, Gafur Rakhimov from Uzbekistan, as a heroin drug king. (On Sept. 8, Australia denied entry to Rakhimov. Samaranch responded with a letter to Australian Prime Minister John Howard demanding that all Olympic officials be allowed entry, but to no effect.) Jennings also shows how Salt Lake City's illegal bribes of IOC members were not isolated incidents. For example, IOC delegates have demanded that bidding cities such as Berlin and Stockholm provide everything from first-class plane tickets to prostitutes. The stories are lurid--and deserve to be taken seriously. After all, the Olympics generates upwards of a billion dollars in revenue every four years. And Samaranch and the IOC decide how that money should be used. Jennings was on to the rot before anybody else, and his first two books broke much new ground. But he hurts his case by writing more like an angry crusader than an objective, reasoned critic. His prose often verges on the purple, and he never makes the slightest attempt to see the other side. Bear in mind, the IOC did kick out 10 of its own members who took money from Salt Lake organizers, and Samaranch has agreed to step down after the Sydney Games. His legacy isn't totally dark, either. When the Spaniard took over the Olympics in 1980, the Games were bankrupt and torn by political bickering. He brought in corporate sponsors and made sure, even at the height of the cold war, that the Americans and Russians continued to attend and not play politics with the Games. In many ways, The Great Olympic Swindle reads like a retread. In particular, most of the material about Salt Lake has already appeared in newspaper articles. And the work lacks a strong narrative. All the same, Jennings' crusade should not be ignored. Even after the disturbing news from Salt Lake, not one American corporate sponsor has broken its ties with the Olympics. Counting each time a person switches on, the Atlanta Olympics generated a cumulative global TV audience of about 20 billion, making it a golden advertising opportunity. And now that the flame is lit and the competition is under way, the networks and sponsors believe that everyone will forget the committee's untoward behavior. That would be a shame. By WILLIAM ECHIKSON _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Foul Play Redux PHOTO: Cover, ``The Great Olympic Swindle'' INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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