IOC Move Could Spark Nepotism Questions

In a move that smacks of nepotism and is bound to raise questions about whether the International Olympic Committee’s professed commitment to change in the wake of the Salt Lake City corruption scandal is heartfelt, the IOC on Thursday nominated Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. for membership.

His father, Juan Antonio Samaranch, 80, has been president of the IOC since 1980. The father submitted the son’s name for consideration. In all, seven names were approved Thursday for nomination by the IOC’s ruling Executive Board. None is American.

“He knows world sport and I think he can be a good member,” the elder Samaranch said of his 41-year-old son in an interview, dismissing the notion of nepotism.

Senior IOC officials and longtime members also insisted that the nomination was made on merit. The younger Samaranch, a businessman who lives in Madrid, is vice president of the international modern pentathlon federation and has played a key role in ensuring that sport’s survival on the Olympic program.

“He’s not being self-appointed by daddy,” IOC Director General Francois Carrard said, noting that the younger Samaranch--like the six others--must receive a majority vote at the Moscow session, which begins July 13.

IOC member Alex Gilady of Israel said, “I think he’s a wonderful man, and in five years’ time you will acknowledge his contributions.”

Marc Hodler of Switzerland, 82, and an IOC member since 1963, said of the younger Samaranch: “I know the boy. He’s a good boy. He’s very good looking and might be the way to attract more ladies into the IOC.”

If elected, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. will be eligible to remain on the IOC until he turns 70.

The seven candidates nominated were culled from a list of 76 submitted by the IOC’s nominations commission--a new panel created in the wake of the Salt Lake City scandal, which erupted in late 1998.

“There is no scandal now,” said Pal Schmitt of Hungary, one of several vying to succeed the elder Samaranch as president. “It is over [for] two years. When will you finish with the ‘scandal’ word?”

The action Thursday, however, is all but certain to give credence to critics who have maintained that the reforms are cosmetic and that, at heart, the IOC remains a club--and, at that, a gentlemen’s club--where membership has its privileges.

Another of Thursday’s nominees, Raja Randhir Singh, the secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of India, is the son of Raja Kumar Bhalendra Singh, an IOC member from 1947 until he died in 1992.

Carrard, taking issue with any suggestion of nepotism, said that the younger Singh and Samaranch’s candidacies--like the others--were vetted by the nominations commission and reviewed by the executive board. The process is “transparent,” he said.

“In the older club days, this sort of election was done by, ‘My dear friends, I think it’s time for me to resign and have my son or daughter take my place.’ Acclaim! Acclaim!”

Carrard also said pointedly that there are some “interesting examples” of father-son succession in the “biggest democracy in the world,” a reference in part to the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States, George Bush and George W. Bush.

Contrasting last year’s U.S. presidential election with the pending IOC election in Moscow, Carrard said with a smile, “I hope our voting procedures will be better.”

Only one of the seven nominated Thursday is a woman, Els Van Breda Vriesman of Holland, president of the international field hockey federation. The IOC has 123 members, 13 women.

The IOC went without any women from 1894 until 1981. Only three have ever been elected to the executive board; Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles and Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden serve now.

As president, Samaranch has long made a point of promoting women for IOC membership.

But the fact remains that the newly created nomination commission last year put forward 48 candidates, all male, for membership; 14 of the 48 were made IOC members in Sydney. It could not immediately be learned how many of the 76 considered now for membership are women.

Assuming, however, that Van Breda Vriesman and the six others are confirmed in Moscow, the IOC--in its major additions to the membership rolls since the onset of the scandal--will have added 21 delegates, only one a woman.

The list reflects the United States’ considerable loss of influence in international sports circles, a loss that has been exacerbated by the Salt Lake City scandal.

The U.S. currently has four IOC members--DeFrantz, Jim Easton, Bob Ctvrtlik and Bill Hybl.

DeFrantz has since lobbied aggressively for IOC membership on behalf of USOC President Sandra Baldwin.

Her name came up Thursday before the executive board, but she was not made a candidate.

Though seven of the IOC’s 10 leading corporate sponsors are American, and even though NBC is the IOC’s No. 1 financial supporter, U.S. influence pales in comparison to several other nations.