The Inside Story - IOC Won't Recover Museum Theft; ANOC Succession Tussle

The IOC is not expecting to recover the estimated $1.8 million believed stolen from the Olympic Museum gift shop in a decade-long embezzlement scheme, Around the Rings is told.

"It will be difficult to recover any money," says IOC Finance Commission chair Richard Carrion after a meeting of the commission Monday in Lausanne.

"It was the first item on the agenda. I think the members were satisfied that the institutional mechanisms in place responded quickly and decisively and dealt with this situation," said Carrion.

"We will take advantage of this opportunity to review and strengthen internal controls where necessary," he adds.

The embezzlement was revealed last week in a report by Alan Abrahamson of 3 Wire Sports, subsequently confirmed by the IOC.

Still unofficially confirmed is the amount of the theft and the way it was carried out. False invoices and fraudulent credit card charges are said to be the modus operandi. The former manager of the shop is facing criminal charges and so could other ex-workers from the shop near the entrance of the museum.

While three IOC staff in the department of finance and administration have been dismissed for their failure to catch the scheme earlier, the IOC says none are culpable.

Also not said to be involved is Thierry Sprunger, director of the department, whose resignation for personal reasons was announced last week as news of the embezzlement broke. Sprunger, an IOC staffer since 1994, will leave the IOC this week.

Carrion, a member of the IOC EB, will report further to his colleagues Wednesday when the board opens a two-day meeting.

ANOC Council Faces Possible Power Struggle

The 30-member Executive Council of the Association of National Olympic Committees could be the setting Tuesday for a rare battle overthe futureof the organization.

Members of the council from Europe, Asia and the Americas are believed to be eager to force President Mario Vazquez Rana into taking steps to ensure he will have a successor when he leaves the IOC Executive Board in 2012. Vazquez Rana must retire from the IOC next year when he turns 80. He then will losehis eligibilityto serve on the EB, despite his ANOC presidency running to 2014.

Vazquez Rana says the question of who will succeed him as an EB member will be discussed at the council meeting and that the ANOC general assembly will confirm the nominee this April in Moscow.

European Olympic Committees President Patrick Hickey, who has been agitating for change at ANOC, says he is withholding comment until after the meeting at IOC headquarters. Hickey says ANOC could be doing more for the 204 NOCs it represents.

"I have spoken to many NOC leaders who say that we are losing ground against the international federations," Hickey told delegates two weeks ago at the EOC general assembly in Sochi.

"To insure a better future for all our members, I think we now have to make our voices heard on this," said Hickey.

Counters the ANOC President:

"We keep a very close and permanent relationship with all NOCs members of ANOC and until now, no complaint, dissatisfaction or critic[sic] on either the Organization’s work or its President have been received.

"We have been very receptive to the suggestions or proposals submitted by the NOCs, the IOC and other members of the Olympic Movement, allowing us to improve our work and attain relevant results. When we founded ANOC in 1979, NOCs had very little influence on the decisions of the Olympic Movement. Today they are recognized and respected," says Vazquez Rana in an email to ATR.

Vazquez Rana is also the target of an anonymously penned letter that purports to represent the views of unnamed NOCs in the Americas. With the salutation "Dear Mario", the Nov. 28 letter recalls that Vazquez Rana pushed out his predecessor at ANOC in 1979 using the argument that age was an issue.

While Hickey and other ANOC Council members contacted by ATR say Vazquez Rana should serve the remaining three years in his term, the letter-writers tell the ANOC President "the time for you to leave is now".

One senior member of the council says the anonymity of the letter should immediately discredit its contents. Another observer says the letter might have more credibility if it had been written in Spanish.

The ANOC President did not comment.

While fireworks had been predicted for the Tuesday ANOC Council, one member says he thinks issues will be resolved peacefully by the end of the day. The council has a joint meeting with the IOC EB Wednesday morning.

Written and reported by Ed Hula III in Lausanne and Ed Hula in Atlanta.