Touchy
Sir: I must respond to your leader article in the issue of 25 September.
I will ignore the rather offensive tone of the article and the many factual errors it . contains, but I would like to deal with the sentiments expressed in the second para- graph where the author claims that 'Over the past 20 years, the Olympics have degen- erated . . . to a carnival of commercialism, corruption and drug-taking.' 20 years ago the Olympic Games were held in Munich and were subject to international terrorism in a way that changed the face of interna- tional sport forever. From that date the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee have succeeded in avoiding any similar incident and have overcome successive boycotts to bring very large numbers of National Olympic Com- mittees to the Games in Seoul and in Barcelona. There has been no degeneration of the Olympic movement.
Every major sports festival or individual world championships now attracts substan- tial commercial interest. As the Olympic Games is the biggest and most well-known of these sports festivals, it is no surprise that commercial interests are enthusiastic `He was on Blue Peter.' to become involved. The whole object of the IOC has been to control the input of television and sponsorship in such a way that the benefits stay within sport and with- in the Olympic movement. This they have done to a very successful degree and to such an extent that the British Olympic Association, which is the National Olympic Committee in Britain, is now a net investor in sport in our country.
It is easy to make statements alleging `corruption' at the Olympic Games but there is no evidence in the article in sup- port. As far as drug-taking is concerned, the IOC have a remit as far as the Olympic Games themselves. They have however, been a leading influence in the fight against drugs by encouraging the various Interna- tional Sports Federations to adopt uniform penalties and to become involved in ran- dom, out of competition, testing. This is becoming the norm rather than the excep- tion.
There is no connection between any assumed degeneration of the Olympic Games and a bidding process which is now adequately regulated. Substantial benefits accrue to cities and to sport from the bid- ding process — just ask British cyclists about the new Velodrome in Manchester.
As any organisation becomes larger and more successful, it becomes ever easier to criticise, like the IOC. Criticism, however, should be informed and reasonable; your article was sadly lacking in both.
Craig Reedie
British Olympic Association, 1 Wandsworth Plain, London SW18
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