NEXT STOP: ALBERTVILLE : Can the French Re-enlist Killy? : ’92 Games Will Present Some Difficult Logistical Problems

Even before the torch was lit for the 15th Olympic Winter Games here, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch made a subtle political move designed to improve the chances for success of the 16th Winter Games four years from now in Albertville, France. Subtle political moves are his forte, no doubt refined during his years as Spain’s ambassador to the Soviet Union.

He persuaded IOC members to award the prestigious Olympic Order to Jean-Claude Killy. Recognizing France’s greatest sports hero two nights before the opening of these Games, the 20-year anniversary of his three-gold medal performance in Alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, seemed like the perfect time to honor Killy.

But Samaranch had another agenda, using the Olympic Order to send a message to Killy and the Albertville organizing committee, known by its French acronym of COJO.

Killy was a vice president of Albertville’s bid committee when it was awarded the 1992 Games 16 months ago and later agreed to accept the presidency of the organizing committee. Sixteen days later, even before the organizing committee was formed, Killy resigned.

In presenting the Olympic Order to Killy, Samaranch was telling him that he remains a valued member of the Olympic family and that he is welcome to return to COJO. At the same time, Samaranch was telling COJO officials to make Killy feel welcome.

Michel Barnier, COJO chairman, insisted in a recent interview that he has left the door open for Killy ever since he resigned in January of 1987.

“My wish since the month of January has remained the same; that Jean-Claude Killy will come back into the organization of the Games,” Barnier said.

But Killy’s Gallic pride has been bruised.

“My presence here indicates my support (for Albertville),” he said in an interview the day after he accepted the Olympic Order. But “very slim” is how he described the chances that he might return to COJO.

“It’s always hard in life to come back to something you’ve left, not just for me but for anybody,” he said.

To understand Killy’s rift with COJO, one must first understand Albertville’s campaign for the Games. Actually, there was a conglomeration of 17 communities from France’s Savoy Region involved in the original bid, but the IOC Charter requires that the Games be awarded to one city. If that city wants to share them with neighbors, it is negotiable.

Albertville was chosen to carry the banner because it is the largest of the communities (population 17,537); its mayor was the first to suggest that the Games be brought to the region and, most importantly, it is a nondescript village in the foothills that, even with its newly discovered, worldwide name recognition, will not compete for future tourist dollars with the internationally known French Alps ski resorts such as Val d’Isere, Courcheval and Meribel.

Barnier said that before the IOC’s vote in October of 1986 “even most of France didn’t know where Albertville was.”

Before the vote, IOC members told Barnier that he would have to streamline the bid. They said that the Games would be too unwieldy if they were spread over 17 communities. It was Killy’s job, once the bid was won, to inform the mayors whose communities were left out. It would have been easier for him to ski backward on the downhill run that is named for him at Val d’Isere.

Having promised to bring the Olympics to their constituents, the jilted mayors screamed foul, accusing him of being as motivated by money as Peter Ueberroth. Killy expected that. He did not expect a demonstration they organized to be led by his close friend, Marielle Goitschel, a gold medalist in the 1968 slalom. She operates a ski school in Val Thorens, a ski resort that the organizers crossed off as an Olympic site.

“Our scope was too great,” Killy said in an interview with L’Equipe, the French sports newspaper. “One site represented a certain expense; two sites, twice as much; and four, an enormous investment involving transportation, security and work.

“I had a duty. I didn’t want to be the one who left an enormous financial hole in the entire valley, debts it would have taken the Savoyards years to pay back.

“I approached all the problems as a technical expert, an economist, a pragmatist. That was my mistake. I should have attacked them as a politician. I am neither a diplomat nor a political man.”

Barnier is the political man. He is the youngest member of the French national assembly and president of the Savoy general council.

Instead of supporting Killy, Barnier promised the mayors a compromise that would involve more of their communities.

“Shocked” and “shaken,” Killy resigned.

Now, an IOC source said, Barnier is under fire. Because of inflation and the fall of the U.S. dollar, COJO is having difficulty balancing its budget. The federal, regional and local governments have agreed to contribute more than they originally intended. But with a presidential election in store for next year, Barnier, the source said, has reason to wonder how long he can count on government support.

Barnier needs Killy, who would give COJO credibility not only in France but around the globe.

Killy is letting Barnier twist in the wind.

It could become windier. The IOC source speculated that if Killy returns to COJO it will not be until after the organizing committee completes its negotiations with U.S. television networks later this year.

In its original proposal to the IOC, the bid committee predicted it would generate $250 million in revenues from U.S. television. That seemed reasonable considering the $309 million ABC paid for the Calgary rights fees. But subsequently the U.S. television market slumped. ABC officials now predict that COJO will receive between $100 million and $150 million from a U.S. network.

It has not helped COJO’s bargaining position that the U.S. teams have been disappointing in Calgary. More damaging, Albertville is not in a time zone that lends itself to live television coverage in the United States. ABC’s tape-delayed coverage of the Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, four years ago resulted in low ratings.

Also, many of the sites are linked by narrow, two-lane mountain roads, which will present considerable production problems for a television network.

“Through the camera, this should be the most stunning Winter Olympics ever,” said Marv Bader, ABC’s Olympics operations chief, referring to the majestic French Alps and the Rhone River Valley. “Getting to those cameras could be a logistical nightmare.”

Claude Villain, COJO’s executive president, said he believes the difference should be covered by the European Broadcasting Union, which paid only $5 million for the Calgary rights.

“With the time difference between North America and Savoy, direct broadcasts won’t fall at such favorable times,” he said. “That is why we are trying to obtain broad participation from European TV networks. It should be noted that, up until now, these networks have never paid the real value of programming of Olympic events.

“Our approach may indeed be made easier with the changes in Europe’s audio-visual landscape and by the development of commercial TV here. But it’s simply not logical that Europe, which has more TV sets than the United States, pays 60 times less than the Americans for broadcast rights for the Calgary Games.”

Barnier has made an effort to calm fears that the Savoy will be left with a deficit after the Games, insisting that the extension of the high-speed TGV train from Paris to Albertville, the long-needed road construction and the new winter sports facilities will spur tourism for years to come.

“We have one problem, transportation, and two advantages,” he said. “This will be the Games with the soul of the mountain people and with events of the highest technical quality because of the mountains.”

The countdown is at 1,430 days.