Pressure mounts on IOC as heavyweights gear up for bids

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair may be best remembered for standing shoulder to shoulder with George W Bush over the Gulf War but in the sporting world it will be how he produced a dramatic late flurry of lobbying to gain London the 2012 Olympic Games.

His "table side" manner in Singapore, where the vote was held in 2005, contrasted sharply to that of then French President Chirac whose more formal behaviour later drew strong criticism from members of the devastated Paris bid. Blair's timely intervention was followed by a bravura performance by the then Russian President Vladimir Putin in Guatemala when it came time for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to vote on who would host the 2014 Winter Games.

Putin, who was lobbying for Black Sea resort Sochi, went up against Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, for Salzburg, and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on behalf of Pyeongchang. The result – victory for the hardnosed Putin.

Thus the stage is set for the battle to host the 2016 Summer Games and already the heavyweights are planning their campaigns for the vote in Copenhagen on October 2.

Chicago will be banking on the presence of President Barack Obama, Rio de Janeiro, on the equally charismatic President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Madrid, on King Juan Carlos and in theory Tokyo on Crown Prince Naruhito and the Crown Princess.

However, for some in the IOC the whole thing is getting out of hand and they see the process being unduly influenced by the lobbying of the heads of state in the dying days.

"Put it this way – what are you going to say when you are invited up to have a cup of coffee with the most powerful man in the world [President Obama] and he asks you for your vote," said an IOC insider.

"Well for most IOC members it is a moment of great power for them to be having him asking for your vote. It is hardly going to happen to them again in their lives. But it is pressure all the same." IOC President Jacques Rogge said there had been an active debate among the members about allowing heads of state to attend and in the end they had reached a compromise. "Our position is clear. If a head of state wants to be there he is welcome but they must restrict themselves to what the Ethics Commission rules are," said Rogge.

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