Australia see no reason for Sydney bid inquiry

Sydney's Olympic officials were last night fighting to head off any inquiry into how the city won the 2000 Games bid, and the role played by offers of about US $70,000 to two African national Olympic committees.

It was also reported that Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, who made the inducements, faxed a letter explaining his promises to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Australia's senior IOC member, Kevan Gosper, claimed there were no grounds for an inquiry into the Sydney bid, nor any reason to strip it of the Games.

He said: "With the facts I have, I have no reason to believe that was bribery."

The Australian government yesterday insisted the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games would go ahead, even as a corruption allegation connected with the city's bid re-emerged.

The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption said that after receiving new information it would re-examine the appointment of Nick Voinov, son-in-law of a Romanian IOC member, to a job with the state's railways - after the alleged intervention of the then transport and Olympics minister, Bruce Baird.

Baird had denied claims of the creation of an engineering job in 1993 to suit Voinov, and the commission had previously decided not to instigate a formal inquiry.

The move comes after Coates disclosed on Friday that he pledged an extra $70,000 to two African nations to help ensure the success of Sydney's host city bid in 1993. He defended his actions by claiming: "We could always have said no and chosen the traditional path and given the delegates Ken Done (a popular Sydney artist) scarves, but we would never have won."

The two delegates, Francis Were Nyangweso from Uganda and Kenyan IOC member Charles Nderoitu Mukora, were also offered free accommodation at the Dorchester Hotel in London, at Australia's expense.

The bid team had already promised more than US$1.6 million to host athletes from 11 African countries at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Amid growing national shock at the revelations, acting prime minister Tim Fischer has blamed IOC president Samaranch for the host city bidding process, and chided him for not fixing it sooner. "It is full steam ahead for the 2000 Sydney Olympics," he said. "I absolutely believe they will be held in Sydney."

"The saga over Olympic site selection has developed under the overview of Samaranch, and clearly there will be procedural changes in the new millennium."

The current New South Wales Olympics minister, Michael Knight, said suggestions that Sydney should be stripped of the Games because of bribery allegations were "absolutely crackpot".

Gosper said Coates did nothing wrong, but was simply working up to the wire to secure support for Sydney. "I am not saying you win at any cost," he said. "But . . . sometimes a result comes in the last minute in the same way as it comes in the last metre of a race."