Rumble on Mount Olympus

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Feb 1999 by Whitten, Phillip

There's been rumbling on Mount Olympus these past few months. Winter storm clouds are gathering over the hallowed abode of the gods of sport, but even in the darkest of storm clouds, a silver lining may be discerned.

Unless you've been off-planet this past year, you could not have missed the string of embarrassments and faux pas that have flustered even the haughty members of the International Olympic Committee.

First, there were doping scandals: the Chinese at the World Swimming Championships in Perth; the spectacle of Tour de France bicyclists being hauled off to jail on television; the convictions in a Berlin courtroom of former East German doctors and coaches for administering steroids to minors; a major doping scandal in Italy involving over 700 physicians which led to the resignation of the president of Italy's Olympic Committee.

Then there was the shameful, swift rejection of the petition by the USOC and others to award Olympic medals retroactively to swimmers cheated in the 1970s and '80s by East Germany's state-sponsored doping program.

Most recently, we've been regaled with the bribery scandal involving IOC members: one looselipped god spilled the beans and along came a flood of accusations that IOC members have solicited and accepted gifts, money, land deals, tuition aid and sexual favors.

The result of all this disharmony is that IOC sponsors are getting antsy. Both IBM and Texaco are terminating their long-time sponsorship of the Games. Even Coca-Cola is concerned. The corporate bigwigs speak a language the IOC understands: money. So the IOC is "investigating" the bribery revelations (as are various law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. and else where).

To deal with the doping crisis, Samaranch will convene an antidoping conference in Lausanne on Feb. 2-4.

He aims to create an "independent" super-anti-doping agency and bring all Olympic sports under the same rules. But the auguries are less than auspicious: the specifics reveal a proposal much weaker than current FINA regulations, and the conference looks to be yet another public relations ploy.

Strangely, there is a silver lining in the grey storm clouds. Swimming World has learned that FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui has lobbied hard behind the scenes to allow our sport to retain its current rules, procedures and penalties. The IOC reportedly has agreed. So instead of the IOC's proposed sixmonth penalty for a first doping penalty, FINA will retain its fouryear penalty.

In the past seven years, we have been among the strongest critics of FINA and its leadership-and rightly so.

In this case, where FINA appears to be taking firm steps in the right direction, Mr. Larfaoui has earned our praise and support.

Phil's e-mail: SwimPhii@AOL.com