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IOC chief Rogge wins praise, too — as a new action hero
By Brad Rock
Deseret News sports columnist
Jean-Claude Van Damme, forget it. Steven Seagal, find another line of work.
Arnold, Sly, Bruce and the rest of you tough guys, go play with your toys.
There's a new action hero in town.
His name: Jacques Rogge. His title: IOC president.
The Olympic movement took a leap forward Friday, when Canada's previously wronged figure skating pair was awarded a second gold medal. That was a good thing, but not unprecedented. The more important news was that the IOC finally has a president who will act decisively, honestly and, at least to some degree, openly.
After decades of secrecy under former president/dictator Juan Antonio Samaranch, the governing body has dealt with an issue in a "transparent" manner. It has corrected an obvious mistake.
The IOC has always moved forward in terms of selecting host cities and adding sports. It has aggressively policed the use of performance-enhancing substances. But dealing quickly and candidly with other issues, and sharing that information with the public, was another matter.
Now it appears Olympic officials intend to fix that problem, too. Rogge is admitting that warts happen and appears intent on addressing them openly. Olympic officials are even allowing that public opinion counts.
This doesn't mean you'll ever be able to get tickets to the opening ceremonies at a fair price, but let's take it one issue at a time.
Friday, they even showed they can act in less time than it takes for a stalagmite to form.
The figure skating scandal of 2002, or "Skategate," is far from the first Olympic uproar. But it is definitely ugly. It involves allegations of collusion among judges that awarded the Russian pair a gold medal Monday. That occurred despite a superior performance by the Canadian duo of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
While the Canadians were skating a virtually perfect routine, the Russians were struggling. This posed no apparent problem to the French judge, who reportedly voted for the Russians anyway.
Skating judges suddenly became as popular as a mouse in a punchbowl.
Only slightly less popular was International Skating Union chief Ottavio Cinquanta, who held a Wednesday press conference, explaining that his organization was looking into things. But he insisted the ISU wouldn't act before its regularly scheduled board meeting, which wasn't until Monday. His only admission was that there was an accusation and a denial, and that he was assessing the situation.
Enter Rogge, who pressured the ISU to act quicker. That prompted a Thursday night meeting of ISU board members. Friday morning the decision was announced.
The fact that Cinquanta and the ISU reviewed the case so quickly — or even at all — can only be credited to Rogge. Traditionally, the IOC and its partner organizations have moved at the speed of mercury. Decisions have been delayed or shelved. Business was conducted behind closed doors and the results kept secret.
Left to his own devices, Cinquanta would have stalled. His "assessment" could well have resulted in a secret reprimand or even a show of support. Wednesday, he insisted he would act according to ISU rules. On Friday he said awarding gold to the Canadians was "not according to ISU rules" but added that this was "an extraordinary situation."
The situation being that Rogge told him to get out of his chair and fix the problem.
Rogge was also surprisingly candid when he specified that nine IOC executive committee members voted on the issue of adding a gold medal, and that seven voted yes, with one no vote and one abstention.
This is the fourth time two gold medals have been awarded. The most recent was in 1992, when a judge mistyped a score into the computer on synchronized swimming. But that decision wasn't reached until the next year.
Other times, justice hasn't prevailed. In 1988, American boxer Roy Jones clearly out-boxed his Korean opponent, who was awarded the gold medal. A judge admitted being compromised. The case was never corrected.
But asked about that case specifically, Rogge said, "We dealt with a problem here today. Maybe tomorrow we will deal with other problems."
Hey, it's what tough guys do.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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