The latest allegations that Salt Lake City got the nod for the 2002 winter Olympics after bribery and sex-for-votes brings the whole structure of the International Olympic Committee into question.
An Australian member of the IOC, Phil Coles, has called for the matters to be cleared up very rapidly, so that the Sydney Olympics are not tainted. But it is not enough to get a few heads to roll over Salt Lake City and carry on as if nothing had happened. The trouble is that the Salt Lake City allegations are not the only ones. The Olympics has a long history of corruption.
Coles has asserted that the head of the IOC Juan Antonio Samaranch should not be one of the heads to roll just because some of his underlings engaged in bribery. He said prime ministers do not resign because one or two ministers are found wanting. But there is a fundamental difference between prime ministers and the head of the IOC. Prime ministers are ultimately accountable to an electorate. The trouble with the IOC is that its processes are not very democratic. Some IOC members are members for life; others are members to the age of 80. The IOC has huge power over location, selection and franchising of the games. The combination of power and unaccountability has been deadly.
The IOC has been far too tardy on doping and corruption issues. The whole Olympic ideal is under threat. A rapid dealing with the Salt Lake City allegations is not the answer. The answer is wholesale reform of the Olympic structure, starting with Mr Samaranch.