CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
Interview with Professor Emerita
Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
University of Toronto
In a recent controversy, it was found that
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
members had been bribed, in order to vote
for Salt Lake City for the 2002 Games.
Controls have apparently not been effective
since that time, as allegations have risen
concerning the bidding process for the 2020
Tokyo Olympics. Why do issues with bidding
continue to be such a problem?
The bribery and corruption that have been
documented in the German publication Der
Speigel, as early as 1990, was finally addressed
in December 1998 when an IOC whistleblower
claimed that bids since 1989 have involved
bribery. A series of investigations, both internal
and external to the IOC, produced clear
evidence of wrongdoing, and the IOC developed
recommendations for reform, in a process
carefully managed by their public relations firm.
Given the “magic” surrounding all things Olympic,
it was not difficult for the IOC to present an
image of a thoroughly reformed organization:
the culpable members had been expelled or
“disciplined”, and the new expanded membership
included athlete representatives and international
federation presidents. However, non-white
members were more likely to be expelled than
their white counterparts, who had been guilty of
similar misdoings.
Other reforms concerned bid city visits, which
would no longer involve all IOC members and
their entourages; only members of the selection
committee could enjoy these international
trips. Outside of these restrictions, there is little
evidence of systemic change within the IOC.
In fact, there are at least two examples in the
public domain of bid city representatives, who
boasted about the behind-the-scenes “deals”
they negotiated. Former UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair explained in his memoir that, before the
2007 vote for the 2012 Olympics, he approached
Italian Prime Minister Mario Berlusconi, who in
effect promised him the Italian IOC members’
votes, on the basis of their mutual friendship.
Similarly, John Furlong, head of Vancouver’s bid
committee, claimed in his memoir that in 2003
he offered the Russians technical assistance
with their next Winter Olympics bid, in exchange
for Russian IOC members’ votes on this round.
Vancouver went on to win the 2010 games
and Sochi’s bid for 2014 was successful. The
IOC dismissed claims that Furlong’s “deal” with
Moscow’s mayor contravened any rules.
The Sochi Olympics had numerous
corruption reports—alleged and rumored—
with various contractors. How extensive do
you believe the problems were?
The corrupt dealings between the Sochi
organizing committee, and various contractors
associated with Putin and Russian oligarchs,
have been thoroughly documented. Furthermore,
organizations such as Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International, have exposed the
human costs of these illegal practices. Russian
opposition politician and whistleblower Boris
Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, was
co-author of an early report. 1
There has been much discussion and
debate about the economic impacts for host
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