Marc Hodler, 87, Disclosed Olympic Corruption
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Marc Hodler, the Swiss IOC member who blew the whistle on corruption in the Salt Lake City Olympics bidding process, died yesterday in Bern, Switzerland. He was 87.
In 1998, Hodler, a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1963, set off the biggest ethics crisis in the history of the International Olympic Committee by detailing what he called systematic buying and selling of votes in the host city selection process for the 2002 Winter Games.
The crisis led to an unprecedented purge of IOC members, with six delegates expelled and four resigning for receiving improper gifts or benefits. The IOC also enacted a series of reforms, including a ban on visits by members to bidding cities.
Hodler’s crusade disclosed that officials had been bribed by having college tuition paid for their children. Hodler subsequently alleged that vote buying took place at the Olympics in Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, and Salt Lake City.
The IOC set up an internal investigation that led to the ouster of 10 members and severe warnings for others. Hodler’s principal allegations that agents buy and sell votes for big sums of money were never confirmed, however.
The scandal led to the resignations of Salt Lake’s top two Olympic officials, Frank Joklik and Dave Johnson. Mitt Romney, a former venture capitalist and current Massachusetts governor, took over as the new organizing chief.
The scandal spread to Sydney, Nagano, Atlanta, and other cities, where bidding excesses were exposed.
A year later, the IOC approved a 50-point reform package.
Hodler’s allegations also led to a backlash against Switzerland. The Swiss town of Sion was the favorite in the bidding for the 2006 Winter Olympics but an anti-Hodler vote gave the games instead to Turin, Italy.
Hodler keyed the development of Alpine skiing and the Winter Olympics. He was the first city dweller to make Switzerland’s national Alpine ski team, which had previously been dominated by skiers from mountainous areas.
Hodler joined the team as a teenager, but had a serious accident while training for the 1938 world championships that effectively ended his career.
Instead, he turned to coaching, leading the Swiss team from 1939 to 1948.
He also was a three-time winner of the Swiss national championship for bridge which he lobbied in vain to try to make an Olympic sport.