Canadian International Olympic Committee (IOC) members told the Globe and Mail that there was no deal between Canada and China to secure Canada’s vote for Shanghai to host Expo 2010 in exchange for China supporting Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Canadian IOC member Dick Pound told the Globe and Mail that neither arrangement falls under the jurisdiction of the IOC’s ethics commission.
The IOC ethics commission has the power to investigate if a complaint is lodged by one of the bid cities that there has been a breach of ethics, but according to the Globe and Mail Vancouver’s local bid committee wasn’t involved, nor was the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Salzburg and Pyeongchang have not commented on the issue.
Canadian IOC member Charmaine Crooks, who previously served on the ethics commission said, “in the normal course of government business, these things happen every day. Countries co-operate on each other’s projects and goals.
“A lot of factors go into decisions based on friendships countries have with each other”.
She added that “at the end of the day we don’t know what happens after a deal is made because it’s a secret ballot and an anonymous decision”.
Pound said the assurances from the Chinese embassy don’t guarantee how Chinese IOC members will vote. “I don’t know how a cultural thing like an Expo can end up being binding on an IOC member”, he said.
IOC member Paul Henderson said “it’s a secret ballot and they’ll vote anyway they want”.
There are two Chinese IOC members out of 125 members eligible to vote for the 2010 host city.
