(ATR) The most senior member of the IOC, Joao Havelange is reported to have submitted his resignation, avoiding a possibly damning ethics reportthat could mean expulsion.
Stephen Wilson of AP reports that Havelange, 95, submitted his resignation to the IOC last week.
This week the IOC Ethics Commission is due to deliver the findings of an inquiry into whether the former FIFA President received kickbacks from ISL, the former marketing agency for FIFA.
The IOC will not confirm the report.
"We've had no official word yet. As I understand it is all speculation based on various 'sources'," IOC communications chief Mark Adams tells Around the Rings.
"For the time being we will stick to the formal process," he said about the pending Ethics Commission report, to be presented to the IOC Executive Board Thursday.
The commission is also due to report on related inquiries involving IOC members Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Lamine Diack of Senegal, also the IAAF President.
Reprimands and suspension of IOC membership could be ahead as punishment should the commission find guilt.
But if Havelange has resigned, the commission report on the IOC doyen will probably be closed.
A BBC TV Panorama report last year uncovered evidence that Havelange may have received $1 million in kickbacks from ISL while FIFA leader.
He would be the first IOC member to resign since Un Yong Kim stepped down in 2005 ahead of an expulsion vote.
Havelange was elected to the IOC in 1963 and served 24 years as FIFAPresident.
His departure would make Russian IOC member Vitaly Smirnov, serving since 1971, the most senior member of the IOC. And he would be the last IOC member entitled to serve a life term, elected before a rules change in 1976.
Should Havelange indeed be leaving the IOC, the possibility would increase for the IOC to nominate a new member from Brazil, perhaps in 2012. Brazil’s other IOC member, Carlos Nuzman, head of Rio 2016 and the Brazilian Olympic Committee, must retire in 2012 as he is covered by the age 70 retirement rule for IOC members elected since 2000.
Written by Ed Hula.
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