The Great Olympic Swindle: Main allegations

IOC president Juan Samaranch is an unreconstructed fascist, who was part of the Franco regime in Spain as recently as the 1970s. The book publishes photographs of Samaranch marching in Falange uniform through Barcelona in 1956. Another picture from 1974 shows him mourning fallen comrades at a ceremony in Barcelona.

The IOC has been infiltrated by mobsters such as Gafur Rakhimov, who is on FBI files as one of the heads of Russian organised crime. Rakhimov is an elected member of the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) and head of its business commission.

PRIOR to the Atlanta Games, homeless people were cleared from the streets and poor housing was destroyed in an effort to provide a "sanitised corridor" and keep Atlanta's image clean. Public money was also used to bribe IOC officials and do private land deals to the benefit of a few.

SUCH is the level of corruption in amateur boxing that an Olympic medal can be bought. Jennings charges IABA president Anwar Chowdhry of controlling the organisation for his own ends and of depriving boxers of medals if opponents can come up with enough money to bribe referees. USA's Roy Jones and Cuba's Felix Savon were both victims of this.

DESPITE high-minded gestures, the IOC care little about environment or social disruption, so long as their Games advance. At the Nagano Winter Games, a nature reserve was torn apart in order to extend a ski slope.

DOPING has been - and still is - covered up on a huge scale within the IOC. Positive drug tests have not been disclosed in order to save IOC face and keep corporate sponsors happy.

The organisation is riddled with conflicts of interest. For example, without inviting competing bids, the IOC granted the NBC network a contract to cover five consecutive Olympics. At the time an NBC executive had an IOC seat and, shortly after securing the deal, NBC made a $1 million donation to the Olympic museum in Lausanne.

ANDREW JENNINGS - Has been at the forefront in exposing corruption within the IOC. The Lords Of The Rings and The New Lords Of The Rings preceded The Great Olympic Swindle (Simon and Schuster, stg£16.99). A contributor to newspapers, radio and television, Jennings worked for many years for the BBC and then Grenada TV's World In Action. He is also noted for his investigations into police corruption and organised crime in Britain.