Some Are Banking On His Olympic Vote

Rafael Luis Carrion is 13. He was christened in Barcelona just days before the start of the 1992 Summer Olympics. His godfather is Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former president of the International Olympic Committee who, almost 85, still wields considerable influence.

Rafael’s dad, Richard Carrion, has been an IOC member since 1990. Richard Carrion’s best friend within the IOC is Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., a member since 2001 and a key player in Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Summer Games.

Richard Carrion, meanwhile, is also a leading banker in Puerto Rico and the United States who travels to New York so often he has his own place in Manhattan. Just this spring, his firm, Banco Popular, signed a multimillion-dollar deal to sponsor the New York Mets, and Carrion’s eyes light up when he talks about the bank’s role in helping kids in New York get to Shea Stadium to take in what for many is a first major league game. “The best feeling in the world,” he said Saturday.

So who does Carrion vote for Wednesday for 2012? Madrid? New York? Or Paris, London or Moscow? “It is,” he said, sipping coffee, “an interesting choice.”

An enduring caricature of an IOC member is that of the snooty royal. The vast majority of members, however, are -- like Carrion -- cosmopolitan businessmen and women with intertwined personal and professional interests around the world for whom a vote like Wednesday’s can be a delicate affair.

The IOC votes by secret ballot and Carrion declined to give even a hint about which of the five cities he favors. But his case underscores the currents that can drive a member’s vote even as it illuminates the welter of choices each of the roughly 100 voters can face.

Paris is considered the front-runner in Wednesday’s vote. But Madrid, London and New York remain legitimate contenders. Moscow is considered a longshot.

Said Carrion: “The selection of the host city is the most important thing we do as members. Everybody has this internal calculus they go through of what is best for the Olympic movement. Everybody goes through their own machinations.

“In this case, we just have an excellent field.”

In Carrion’s case, the choice is intriguing because he has emerged over the last few years as one of the IOC’s brightest stars, a man fluent in Spanish and English, in business and politics, someone who might one day be in line to become IOC president.

The current president, Jacques Rogge of Belgium, is midway through an eight-year term. Rogge can run for a second term of four years in 2009, which would carry his presidency to 2013, when Carrion will be 61.

Carrion oversaw the 2003 negotiations that led to the IOC’s $2-billion contract with NBC for the U.S. broadcasting rights to the 2010 and 2012 Games, a deal that earned him notice within the IOC. He had been a member since 1990; in 2002, Rogge made him the IOC’s finance chairman. He also serves now on the IOC’s policy-making executive board.

Upon the announcement of the NBC deal, the membership “suddenly realized this is a real heavyweight,” Michael Payne, the IOC’s former marketing and television director, said Saturday. “People just did not acknowledge until then the extent and breadth of this guy’s corporate and political skills because he had been so quiet. Understated -- that would be the word.”

Born and reared in Puerto Rico into a banking family, Carrion went to college at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school, then earned a master’s degree at MIT.

Banco Popular was established in 1893 in San Juan. Carrion has served as chairman of the bank and its parent firm, Popular Inc., since 1993.

Popular Inc. boasts more than $40 billion in assets. Fortune magazine named it one of 2005’s “100 best companies to work for.”

There are, Carrion said, 46 Banco Popular branches in New York and New Jersey. “I get to New York at least twice a month,” he said, calling it “a place that is very near and dear to my heart.”

“New York has more Puerto Ricans than San Juan,” Carrion said with a smile. “Obviously, there is a lot of attachment.”

The bank’s deal with the Mets runs for five years. The bank gets, among other things, scoreboard signs and branding on all ATMs at Shea Stadium.

If New York wins the 2012 Games, the opening ceremony will be in Queens -- at a stadium to be built for the Mets next to Shea.

Dan Doctoroff, the New York 2012 bid leader, is a corporate finance expert who serves as the city’s deputy mayor for economic development. He called Carrion “a true visionary in the banking business.” Carrion said of Doctoroff, “He is a good guy.”

At the same time, Carrion said he has a “strong affinity” for the elder Samaranch. And the younger Samaranch -- Juanito to his friends -- is “probably the [IOC member] I am closest to.”

Juanito, speaking of his “very good friend” Richard, said that if Carrion wishes one day to aim for the IOC presidency, “If that were his project, well, he is going to excel in anything he tries in his life.”

He also said of Carrion, “On the one hand, Richard is a businessman and a banker, assets which are good for the movement; you need those skills thoroughly and sufficiently represented.

“On the other hand, without being American, he understands the United States like very few people. We should never forget the importance of the United States to the Olympic movement, not just money-wise but its contributions to the development of sport.”

A push here, a pull there. Referring to the five cities in the 2012 race, Carrion said, “These are all world capitals. They each have a story to tell.”

He was quiet for a moment, then said, “It may come down to such mundane things as Paris has tried x times,” unsuccessfully bidding twice in recent years, losing once to Barcelona. “Or for New York it would be a wonderful thing after 9/11 to bring the world back to New York.

“Or,” he said, stressing that he was speaking in general terms, not about his own friends and family, “it may come down to personal relationships.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Decision time

The vote for the host country of the 2012 Olympics at a glance:

*--* * What: Selection of the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. * Where: Singapore. * When: Wednesday. * The candidates: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. * Who decides: The International Olympic Committee. * The vote: IOC members vote by secret ballot until one city receives a majority; the city receiving the fewest votes is eliminated after each round. * How many: The IOC has 116 members. The president, Jacques Rogge, doesn’t vote. Members from a country with a bid city are ineligible to vote as long as their candidate is still in the race. That means 100 members are eligible to vote in the first round, and more in subsequent rounds. * Presentations: Each city will make a 45-minute presentation to the IOC on the day of the vote, with an additional 15 minutes set aside for questions and answers. * The order: The presentations begin at 9 a.m. Singapore time (6 p.m. PDT Tuesday). Paris goes first, followed by New York, Moscow, London and Madrid. * The announcement: The ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m. Singapore time (4:30 a.m. PDT), with Rogge scheduled to open a sealed envelope and announce the winner nine minutes later.

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Source: Associated Press