Senior Russian Olympic official Vitaly Smirnov has confirmed he is among the 13 IOC members cited in the investigation into the Salt Lake City bribery scandal. But he denies any wrongdoing.
Smirnov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee and a former IOC vice president and executive board member, has replied to a letter from the IOC demanding an explanation for his conduct during Salt Lake's bid for the Winter Games.
Alexander Ratner, a spokesman for Smirnov and the Russian committee, said Smirnov gave explanations regarding two specific cases cited by IOC investigators looking into allegations that IOC members sought or received favors from Salt Lake boosters.
Both incidents related to a trip Smirnov made to Salt Lake in late 1990 or early 1991, Ratner said. At that time, the U.S. city was bidding for the 1998 Winter Games, which were eventually awarded to Nagano, Japan. In 1995, Salt Lake was awarded the 2002 Games.
In the first case, Smirnov asked officials in Salt Lake City to help with medical treatment of Alexander Ragulin, a veteran Soviet ice hockey player, Ratner said.
Smirnov, who then headed the Soviet National Olympic Committee, made the plea after seeing a hospital in Salt Lake City pioneering some new medical technologies, Ratner said.
Ratner said the Soviet Union, then teetering on the verge of collapse, had neither the funds nor medical facilities to help Ragulin, who faced the possible amputation of both his legs.
Smirnov wrote letters to officials in Salt Lake City and the U.S. Olympic Committee, asking to help Ragulin and proposing to host American athletes in return. Americans agreed to accept Ragulin, and the treatment was successful.
Ratner said the medical bill was paid by the Salt Lake bid committee. He wouldn't say how much it cost.
"Nearly eight years after, [Ragulin] is fine, walking on his own legs and even stepping on ice occasionally," Ratner said in a telephone interview. "Vitaly Smirnov feels proud he could help a prominent athlete, three-time Olympic champion. He considers that as a display of Olympic solidarity."
In the second case, Smirnov said he was presented a Browning hunting rifle while on the same trip to Salt Lake City. He said he couldn't accept it, but hosts packed the rifle in his luggage without his knowledge.
While making a stopover in Atlanta on his way to Moscow, Smirnov was asked about the gun by customs and was completely bewildered, Ratner said.
Smirnov left the weapon behind, but two years later the gun was delivered to Moscow by Salt Lake City people. Smirnov turned it over to a sports facility in Krasnodar, southern Russia.
IOC officials seem to be satisfied with Smirnov's response, Ratner said. He added that Smirnov would travel to Lausanne, Switzerland, to attend a session of the IOC panel on Saturday and personally answer any questions.
Smirnov, an IOC member since 1971, was one of the most powerful and influential figures in the Olympic movement in the 1980s and early '90s and a close adviser of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Smirnov was a first vice president of the organizing committee for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
He was vice president of the Soviet Olympic Committee from 1969-1991, and has been president of the Russian Olympic Committee since 1992.
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