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Show 1 m m w w Saturday, January 22, 2000 IOC's Samaranch volunteers to participate in SIC probe LONDON (AP) IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch says he will return to the United States in two weeks to answer questions from federal authorities investigating the Salt Lake City bid scandal. "1 think my duty as president of the International Olympic Committee is to go there," Samaranch told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. it is my duty to clarify all the questions. ques-tions. All the questions can be answered very easily at this moment. Our position is very clear. We have nothing to hide." The IOC announced last month that Samaranch had agreed to submit sub-mit to a "voluntary interview' with Justice Department and FBI investigators investi-gators probing the more than $1 million mil-lion in improper payments, gifts and other inducements offered to IOC members during Salt Lake's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games. Under an agreement with the Justice Department. Samaranch did not have to face questioning during his tnp to Washington last month when he testified at a Congressional hearing on Olympic scandals and the IOC's reform efforts. Both sides agreed that Samaranch would be interviewed at a mutually convenient conven-ient later date. Speaking by telephone from IOC headquarters in Lausanne. Switzerland. Samaranch said the exact date of the meeting had not been "1(Xj percent fixed" but it would be in around two weeks time. IOC director general Francois Carrard. who has been the middleman middle-man in discussions with U.S. officials, offi-cials, said both sides agreed not to disclose the place and date of the session. Samaranch has not been served with a subpoena, and the IOC says New IOC ads stress core Olympic values; "not a response" to scandal , NEW YORK (AP) A new global glob-al advertising campaign by the International Olympic Committee will stress the core values that the games represent: respect for one another, fair play and the joy of competition. com-petition. The campaign, which recounts the stories of, past Olympic heioes.i arf-.kc of 4bcA vai4 uai nun nas emonntea um inu ior much of the past year. The ads will run in 200 countries in the months leading up to the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Sydney Olympics. The campaign has been in development devel-opment for two years and "was not ' designed as a response to the events of last year." said Michael Payne, the IOC's director of marketing. The IOC has come under scrutiny scruti-ny since it was reveaWd that Salt Lake bid officials gave scholarships, lavish gifts, land deals, free trips and other perks to its members and their families as the city tried to land the 2002 Winter Games. The scandal resulted in the expulsion or resignation resigna-tion of 10 IOC members, and led to the adopt it mi of a series of reforms that included a ban on member visits vis-its to cities bidding for future OIVTTIpKS. The IOCS media partners have agreed to run the ads at no charge as part of their lights deals. Under that arrangement, IOC officials say the campaign may get up to $150 million worth of exposure. Payne and Richard Pound, chairman chair-man of the IOC marketing commission, commis-sion, discussed the campaign A 1 1 I C 1 laasii i instcllcd ivithln CO Days O.A.C. includes: Standard tnstaaation 80 ioo.oco btu Prtgramma&( TTtermostat Financing wrtn ouestar Homewortcs HEATING A AIR CONDITIONING I Swving Utah Sine 1952 C33-G730 he is not a target of the investigation. "What the IOC has done from day one of these events is decided on a policy of full cooperation with all governmental authorities, particularly particu-larly in the United States." Canard said. "We have been totally complying comply-ing with this policy." Some IOC members have advised Samaranch not to travel to the United States to speak with investigators because of the possibility possibil-ity he could be subpoenaed to testify testi-fy before a grand jury. These members mem-bers say Samaranch should insist on holding the meeting in Europe. But Samaranch said he has nothing noth-ing to fear. "I am ready to go anytime." any-time." he said. Samaranch said he would explain to investigators how the IOC took action when it learned of the Salt Lake vote-buying scheme. Ten IOC members resigned or were expelled. "We heard some rumors of non-observance non-observance of the Olympic charter by some membeis," he said. "When we got some names, we set up an inquiry commission. In three months, we cleaned the house. There are no secrets." Samaranch would be the eighth IOC member questioned by investigators investi-gators in the case. Carrard said last month that six members had been interviewed. A seventh has been questioned since then, he said Wednesday. Among the IOC members who have spoken to investigators are Canadians Dick Pound and Carol Anne Letheren. Jean Claude-Killy of France. Marc Hodler of Switzerland and Niels Holst-Soerensen Holst-Soerensen of Denmark. The Justice Department FBI investigation, which has been under w ay for more than a year, has led to Tuesday with reporters in advance of its formal presentation Wednesday at a Sport Summit conference con-ference in New York. At the same time, the IOC execute exec-ute es expressed confidence that most of the 11 international Olvmpic sponsors will renew their four-year global Marketing vlaats. l FcrrtVfOrfe - , - Kur-v ear rwaaoriuHyi zadrKv - Coca-Cola. Time Warner, Visa International and the computer systems sys-tems integrator SEMA. Pound said he had "handshake agreements" with four to five others and was in talks with the others. He declined to identify them. The IOC is asking in excess of $50 million for exclusive global sponsorship rights for the Salt Lake City Games and the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. That is up from about $40 million for the four-year period ending after the Sydney Games. Pound said surveys for the IOC showed public interest in viewing the Olympic Games on television "actually increased" the past year despite the scandal. More than half of those asked told the surveyors their opinion of the games w as higher high-er than it had ever been. Payne said the survey results "reinforced the direction we were going" in devekiping the ads. Pound said no changes in advert rang were made as a result of the corruption investigation. The campaign, using archival tapes and photos of Olympians, ini The Park criminal charges against two minor figures so far. Utah businessman David Simmons pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to a federal misdemeanor tax charge. He said he helped create a sham job for John Kim. son of powerful South Korean IOC executive board member Kim Un-Yong. John Kim was indicted in September on federal charges that he bed to investigators and entered the United States with a fraudulently fraudulent-ly obtained green card. The chief target of the investigation investiga-tion is believed to be Tom Welch, who led the Salt Lake bid effort and is also the former head of the organizing organ-izing committee. Samaranch testified before a House panel on Dec. 15. telling skeptical lawmakers that the IOC had cleaned itself up and resolved the crisis by approving a package of 50 reforms at a special general assembly in Lausanne three days earlier. Asked Wednesday about the hearing. Samaranch said: "I cant say it was a success. I went there. I answered questions. For me, the timing was excellent after the approval of the reforms, maybe the most important changes in the history of the IOC I have been told they (lawmakers) appreciated appre-ciated my voluntary presence. They will follow (the implementation of the reforms) with a kH of attention." Samaranch said the three American IOC members Anita DeFrantz, Jim Easton and newlv elected athletes member Bob Qvrtlik would report to Congress every two or three months on the progress of the reforms. Samaranch restated his intention to remain as IOC president until his term expires in July 2001. tially includes six TV' ads. eight radio spots and numerous print ads. The ads have been produced in English, French and Spanish with plans to translate them into other languages. The English-language TV ads are narrated by actor Robin Williams. fn one. riv-als'are1 shown m com-jpWitortf com-jpWitortf afterward-"You afehry faltrsaryf Nitnoi my enemy, the narrator says. "For without you. I am a lesser man." British runner Derek Redmond's achievement in a 1 992 Olympic race in which he tore a hamstring but limped across the finish line with help from his father is recalled in both a radio and TV ad. A radio ad recalls how German long jumper Luz Long put a tow el at the foot of the foul line to help Jesse Owens avoid disqualification in a kwg jump preliminary. Owens went on to win. and Long embraced him in front of Adolf Hitlers box at the 1936 Games in Berlin, the ad recalls. The IOC takes a swipe at the advertising line "You dont win the silver, you fcse the gold" that sneaker sneak-er marketer Nike used in 199b. One ad shows Bulgarian weight lifter Yoto Yotov s jubilation after a performance that earned him the silver sil-ver medal in 1992. The other shows the Nigerian wtxnens relay team hugging in jubilation after winning the bronze medal in the 400 meter race in 1992. "Just a reminder, at the Olympic Games you dont have to come in first to win," the relay team ad says. i .jT 2756 West Rasrousscn RosJ nrMf "fj: Record 0 tii-ritai - 4 I -'ft U i f"" ' ' ' X U 'j v 1 V 'A I . 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