IOC President Backs Athens

International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch welcomed Los Angeles’ bid for the 2012 Summer Games on Monday, then declared the 2004 Olympics will be held as scheduled in Athens.

“In this moment, I am sure the Games will be in Athens,” Samaranch said in an exclusive interview with The Times. “If the Games are not in Athens, there will not be Games.”

Los Angeles’ 2012 bid features a package of venues that already is so complete--only one venue, a shooting range, needs to be built at organizing committee expense--that it easily could be ready by 2004. Athens’ halting progress has been marked by chronic turnover in leadership positions and by delays in scores of major public works and construction projects.

“The [Greek] government and the prime minister, Mr. [Costas] Simitis, now they are very much concerned,” Samaranch said. “They are putting [forth] all their efforts for the success of the Games.”

Clearly aiming to assure doubters that the Games will be in Athens, Samaranch did not address Los Angeles’ evident readiness. When asked about the Los Angeles bid, he noted that many in the IOC look back favorably at the two Olympics in Los Angeles, in 1932 and 1984.

The 1984 Games, he pointed out, were the first Summer Olympics of his presidency, were “a great financial success” and ushered in a “new era” for the IOC.

“Since then,” he said, “all the organizations of the Games, winter and summer, they got some money. Sometimes a lot of money.”

Los Angeles is expected to be one of eight U.S. contenders for the 2012 Games. The others: Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, New York, San Francisco-San Jose, Tampa and Washington-Baltimore. Asked if he had a preference, Samaranch said, “No.”

Samaranch made his comments on the eve of the first meeting of the IOC’s ruling Executive Board since the close of the successful Sydney Games--a meeting at which the IOC is sure to closely review the preparations in Athens.

Also sure to capture the attention of Olympic leaders are other key issues. Among them: The five-way campaign for the 2008 Summer Games; the race to succeed Samaranch, due to retire in July after what will be 21 years atop the IOC; and a dispute over a seat reserved in the IOC for a member representing the United States Olympic Committee.

Each of the five finalist cities in the running for the 2008 Games--Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka, Japan--will make a presentation Wednesday to the Executive Board.

Beijing has long been considered the front-runner. The outcome of the 2008 race probably will play a considerable role in the selection of the 2012 site. The IOC will pick a 2008 site next summer; the 2012 site will be chosen in 2005.

Also on the agenda this week is a presentation from Salt Lake Olympic Committee President Mitt Romney--though he will deliver his remarks by teleconference, not in person. The Salt Lake Games are due to begin Feb. 8, 2002.

The leading contenders for president are widely believed to be Belgium’s Jacques Rogge and Canada’s Dick Pound. Rogge is a member of the Executive Board and in charge of monitoring preparations in Athens. Pound has long been the IOC’s point man in marketing and many financial matters. He had been the IOC’s ranking vice president through the Sydney Games but had to leave the post under the IOC’s rotating system.

Samaranch, however, invited Pound to this week’s meeting and said he intends to see to it that Pound--as with “all the very important heavyweights of the IOC” whose time on the board is formally over--is invited to all Executive Board meetings in the coming months.

Among others who have been mentioned as presidential contenders is the current ranking vice president, Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles. Samaranch took special note Monday of the possibility of her candidacy:

“Why not? She is [among] the first women to be on the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee. Now she is first vice president.

“Most important,” he said after a moment, searching for the right words in English, not his first language, “is what she is doing for women in sport--not only defending the athletes, also defending that women must have important positions in the leadership of sport.”

When those comments were relayed to her, DeFrantz said, “I’m very pleased that he sees me as a leader and recognizes the contributions I’ve made to the Olympic movement in a variety of areas.”

She, Rogge and Pound have not formally declared an intention to run for IOC president--nor has anyone else--and DeFrantz said, “I have much work to be accomplished as first vice president.”

An emerging issue is who should hold the seat on the IOC that goes to the USOC representative. That seat was created as part of a wide-ranging IOC reform plan enacted last December in response to the Salt Lake City corruption scandal--which exploded two years ago today.

When the IOC met at the Sydney Games, Colorado businessman Bill Hybl was elected to the USOC seat. At the time, he was USOC chair. Last week, his term expired and Arizona real estate executive Sandra Baldwin was named chair. The USOC’s board of directors named Hybl “president emeritus” and confirmed its intent that he keep the IOC seat.

DeFrantz said then that she believed the post should go to Baldwin and reiterated it Monday, saying, “It’s my reading of the [IOC] charter that the position should be held by the [chair] of the USOC. Period.”

Baldwin, Hybl and other USOC officials paid a courtesy call to Samaranch on Monday morning.

Baldwin said later, “I’ve got enough to keep me very, very busy in the Western Hemisphere.”

Samaranch observed, “If the USOC considers that Mr. Hybl is qualified to represent them, then we accept that.”