New IOC Commission Will Look at Atlanta Bid Process

The IOC intends to investigate possible improprieties by its members during Atlanta’s successful bid for the 1996 Summer Games.

The IOC’s new ethics commission, set up after the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, said Monday it would study the report on the Atlanta bid submitted to Congress by Griffin Bell, former U.S. attorney general.

The report detailed lavish gifts, travel, college scholarships, job assistance and other perks offered to IOC members and their families by the Atlanta bid team.

A copy of the report was sent last week to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch after he asked the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide details on any abuses related to the bid.

Six IOC members were expelled and four resigned in connection with the vote-buying scandal stemming from Salt Lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games. IOC members and their relatives received $1.2-million worth of cash payments, college scholarships and other inducements.

IOC spokesman Franklin Servan-Schreiber said the chairman of the eight-man ethics panel, IOC Vice President Keba Mbaye, a former vice president of the World Court at The Hague, would examine the Atlanta report.

If Mbaye finds “anything meaningful,” he will submit the information to the full commission for review, Servan-Schreiber said.

“This shows the IOC is serious about reforms and the ethical practice of its members,” he said.

The spokesman said the IOC received a letter from Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) last Friday requesting Samaranch to testify at an Oct. 14 House hearing on the Atlanta bid excesses.

The House commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigation has threatened to subpoena Samaranch if he declines to appear voluntarily.

Samaranch declined to testify at a Senate hearing in April prompted by the Salt Lake scandal.

Meanwhile, the IOC’s ethics panel dropped its inquiry into the conduct of Finnish member Peter Tallberg related to Sydney’s winning bid for the 2000 Olympics.

Tallberg, who denied wrongdoing, had been under scrutiny for allegedly asking a Sydney bid official for help in getting his son a temporary job in Australia.

Pro Basketball

The Detroit Pistons signed free-agent guard Pooh Richardson, who spent the past five seasons with the Clippers.

The Clippers bought out the remainder of Richardson’s contract earlier this month.

Richardson has career averages of 11.1 points and 6.5 assists. He was hampered by an ankle injury last season.

The Philadelphia 76ers re-signed reserve guard Doug Overton, who also played with the Orlando Magic and New Jersey Nets last season.

Tennis

Fifth-seeded Marc Rosset of Switzerland defeated Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), in the opening round of the $400,000 Toulouse Open in France.

American Jeff Tarango defeated Germany’s Hendrik Dreekman, 6-2, 6-3. Ramon Delgado of Paraguay was the other first-round winner, defeating Argentina’s Martin Rodriguez, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Albert Costa of Spain overcame 93-degree heat and beat Marcelo Fillipini of Uruguay, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, in the first round of the $325,000 Gelsor Open at Bucharest, Romania. Gaston Gaudio of Argentina was leading, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 3-1, when countryman Mariano Zabaleta, withdrew because of an injury.

Motor Sports

NASCAR officials fined Randy Goss, crew chief for Greg Biffle’s Roush Racing entry, $48,860 for a violation in last week’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas.

The penalty, the difference between first and 36th-place money in the Orleans 250 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was the result of an unapproved intake manifold found by officials in a post-race inspection of the Ford truck in which series-leader Biffle won his ninth race of the season.

NASCAR said the team will retain the race victory but will also be fined 120 championship points, leaving Biffle with a 10-point margin over Jack Sprague.

Miscellany

NBA referee Ronald Nunn was fined $3,000 at Bridgeport, Conn., for his part in a scam involving the misuse of airline tickets received from the league.

Nunn pleaded guilty in July to one count of filing a false income tax return. He admitted that during 1993 he earned more income than he declared on his return by cashing in first-class airline tickets for coach tickets and pocketing the difference.

Nunn was one of 11 league officials convicted after an investigation by the IRS.

Nunn also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and serve one year of probation.

Tonya Harding, under a lifetime ban from Olympic competition for hindering investigation in an attack on Nancy Kerrigan, will try to jump-start a career in professional figure skating next month.

Harding, 28, will return to competition in ESPN’s Professional Skating Championships on Oct. 18, her first competition since her ban. The event in Huntington, W.Va., is for professional skaters who are ineligible for Olympic competition.

In the last main event of the last boxing card at the Great Western Forum, junior middleweight Tito Mendoza (16-3, with 13 knockouts) won a majority decision over Julio Cesar De La Cruz (12-2, 9 KOs) Monday night.

The semi-main event was a fight for the vacant California light-heavyweight championship. But that title remains vacant after Jonathan Young (6-3-2, 4 KOs) and Antwon Leach (8-0-3, seven KOs) fought to a majority draw. The final Forum show drew a crowd of 891.