The New Lords of the Rings

The Olympic Investigation Project continues to uncover a range of unsettling revelations. Much of the content in this second IOC exposé book is based on confidential documents that were obtained from Lausanne, with a visiting professor covertly making copies when no one was watching.

The investigation has revealed that the IOC secretly spent money that should have been allocated to sports development, instead using it to hire New York spin doctors in a bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize for their leader, Juan Antonio Samaranch. When the Winter Games were held in Lillehammer, Norwegians were dismayed to learn of Samaranch's fascist past. Comedian Big Otto Jespersen even appeared on TV, urging Norway to stop bullying the "old arm-waver," though he was not serious.

The Peace Prize campaign was eventually abandoned quietly. In another archive, in Sweden, letters were found that complained about the activities of a member referred to as "Mr. Wandering Hands," exposing how the IOC covered up this individual's sexual harassment of hostesses from bidding cities. Documents from the East German Secret Police archive in Berlin also revealed that bribes were paid to secure gold medals.

Investigations for this book uncovered how all the positive drug tests from the Moscow Olympics were destroyed, allowing Samaranch to boast that it was a "drug-free Games." The cover-up did not end there, as at least nine positive tests were suppressed at the 1994 Los Angeles Olympics. Samaranch then had the audacity to claim that doping was in decline.

As the book delves towards the Salt Lake City scandal involving cash-for-sex-and-votes, Samaranch insisted, "I trust all the IOC members, I trust them 100 per cent and they are doing a very good job for sport and for the Olympic movement." This assertion is undermined by the numerous other disclosures that the IOC and the sports media have attempted to conceal.

This entirely new book, like The Lords of the Rings, is essential reading for students of sports and journalism. It may also be of interest to the occasional sports reporter who seeks to uncover the truth behind the façade of the Olympic movement.

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