IOC Cracking Down on Members’ Free Trips

In a dramatic step to combat the worst ethics scandal in IOC history, committee members have been banned from visiting cities bidding to be Olympic hosts.

The move was announced Monday by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who also called a special executive board meeting for next month to act on the Salt Lake City bribery scandal and consider changes in the system for selecting Olympic host cities.

Samaranch didn’t elaborate, but the visits by International Olympic Committee members to bidding cities have long been considered fraught with the dangers of corruption.

The members fly first class, stay in the best hotels and are wined and dined--all in an attempt to win their vote.

The IOC visits have come under scrutiny in the wake of alleged misconduct surrounding Salt Lake City’s successful bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, former IOC member Robert Helmick said that some members are willing to turn over blocks of votes in return for “extravagant gifts and favors” from cities seeking to stage the Olympics.

Helmick, who resigned from the IOC and as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1991 amid conflict-of-interest charges, said the gifts could range from fur coats to shopping sprees for members’ wives where thousands of dollars were spent on clothing.

He blamed Samaranch for failing to pay enough attention when allegations of corruption first surfaced 10 years ago.

Baseball

Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball--one of the most sought-after in baseball history--and Hank Aaron’s 755th home run will be among those auctioned off Jan. 12 at the Guernsey’s Auction House in New York. . . . Angel left-hander Allen Watson was among 39 players who became free agents when their teams failed to offer them 1999 contracts by the Dec. 20 tender deadline. . . . Right-hander Joey Hamilton, acquired last week from the San Diego Padres, agreed to a $17-million, three-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. . . . The increase in baseball salaries slowed to 4.7% in 1998, and the Baltimore Orioles displaced the New York Yankees from the top spot for the first time since 1993. The average salary this year was $1,398,831, according to final figures released by the Major League Baseball Players Assn., up from $1,336,609 last year. . . . The Detroit Tigers announced that their new downtown stadium--scheduled to open in time for the 2000 season--will be named for Comerica, a Detroit-based banking company, as part of a 30-year deal. Comerica’s cost: $1 million a year, increasing for inflation each year. The total cost will be $66 million.

Miscellany

Zinedine Zidane, the Juventus midfielder who scored two goals in France’s 3-0 World Cup soccer final victory over Brazil, was named Europe’s football player of the year.

Mills Lane, a 31-year boxing referee who gained international attention in 1997 after disqualifying Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear, says he is ending his career because he wants to devote more time to being a national television boxing analyst.

Hermann Maier led a record Austrian sweep of the top nine places in a World Cup super-G in front of 20,000 at Innsbruck, Austria. It was the most dominant performance by one country in 31 years of World Cup history. . . . A women’s World Cup super-G at Megeve, France, was postponed because of fog.

The International Tennis Federation has published a code of ethics to avoid any violent and unethical conduct between coaches and players. The code, written in conjunction with the ATP and WTA tours, will allow players and coaches to report any unacceptable behavior to the member association, which will have the power to take disciplinary action.

ESPN has named Gary Miller the permanent host of its daily “Up Close” interview show. Miller will assume his new role Jan. 11. He replaces Chris Myers, who left last month to become an anchor on Fox Sports News. Miller has been at ESPN since 1990.

Moni Maker was honored as the harness horse of the year. The 5-year-old trotting mare beat Hambletonian winner Muscles Yankee by 125 votes to 90.

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Randy Harvey is on vacation.