Nuzman Misses First Olympics in 20 Years

(ATR) The Brazilian Olympic Committee will participate in their first Olympics in two decades without its former president.

Former COB president Carlos Nuzman will not lead the Brazilian athlete delegation at the Olympics for the first time in 20 years while he awaits the results of the investigation he faces for charges of corruption in Brazil.

During his tenure as president of the COB, Nuzman led the delegations of his country in five Winter Olympic Games from Nagano 1998 (Brazil made its Winter Games debut in Albertville 1992) and also presided the Brazilian delegation in six Summer Games starting with Atlanta 1996.

His long history of Olympic trips, including those made simply as an IOC member, have come to a halt as he faces accusations of buying votes from other IOC members to stage the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Detained last October for those charges, Nuzman resigned from the presidency of the COB to concentrate, as he said to the local media, "to the full exercise of my right of defense."

His arrest was the result of the so-called "Operation Unfair Play" that is investigating the vote buying campaign apparently organized by former IAAF president Lamine Diack. Diack also denies those charges.

According to the same probe, Nuzman worked with the Brazilian entrepreneur Arthur César Soares de Menezes who is mentioned as being responsible for paying about two million dollars in bribes weeks before Rio’s host city election at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The IOC has since removed Nuzman from all positions in that body where he served as an honorary member. The vote-buying investigation led to his absence from the IOC Session in Lima, Peru last September.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Nuzman received the equivalent of about 7,000 dollars per month from the COB despite its own salary regulations that prevent the president from receiving compensation.

The COB has admitted that Nuzman was paid from January to October 2017. He did not receive salary in previous years by his "own decision".

The newspaper reports that the COB has justified this salary payment "in accordance with the provisions of article 22 of Decree 7,984 of April 8, 2013."

The former president has denied receiving those wages while claiming that the salary of all employees was published on the website of the organization.

But according to the newspaper, even Nuzman's replacement Paulo Wanderley has received similar compensation in 2017.

Folha indicates that it has tried unsuccessfully to obtain statements on this matter from the former COB president and his lawyer Sergio Mazzillo.

The only Brazilian member of the IOC today is Bernard Rajzman, who just a few months ago gave up his post at the COB in the midst of job cuts promoted by Nuzman's successor Wanderley.

Brazil is sending 10 athletes to South Korea to compete in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

Written by Miguel Hernandez, translated and edited by Javier Monne.

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