Why Rogge's spartan show gives us hope for a 本物の Olympic 見通し

MY old pal Juan Antonio Samaranch used his 20-year 大統領／総裁などの地位 of the International Olympic 委員会 to make the British 王室のs look like paupers and the ローマ法王's 巡礼の旅s little more than 削減（する）-price 一括 取引，協定s.

His Excellency - the 肩書を与える mysteriously popped up from nowhere 夜通し - circled his 全世界の parish in a 炎 of panoply and 議定書.

旗s and bunting ぱたぱたするd from the lampposts as his リムジン, 側面に位置するd by motorcycle outriders, sped him through （疑いを）晴らすd streets to the most luxurious 控訴 in the best hotel in town, where an array of expensive gifts を待つd him.

These were from admirers. In other words sycophants hoping for preferment in the Olympic movement of villains 耐えるing 誘導s that might induce His Excellency to remember them when their home city entered the bidding for a 未来 Games.

In some ways I やめる admire the old boy for the sheer monstrous audacity of it. He was impervious to 批評 or even politelyworded suggestion.

In his sumptuous Chateau de Vidy apartments in the IOC 要塞 in Switzerland, I once asked him if he hadn't sold the 競技者s, who 推定では are what the Olympics are all about, 負かす／撃墜する the river まっただ中に all this pageantry?

' We must all go 今後,' he replied. It was his perennial answer to any ぎこちない question.

Samaranch 苦しむd only two 逆転するs in his Olympic 統治する. He 保持するd a 目だつ public relations company to ロビー on his に代わって to 勝利，勝つ the Nobel Peace Prize. He never got it. And, having changed the 支配するs 強いるing IOC members to retire at 70, finally 受託するd that at 82, he had to go.

His 後継者 is the ベルギー Jacques Rogge. Now here is a sensation. The first thing Rogge did at his first オリンピック, which opened earlier this morning in Salt Lake City, was to 避ける all the 高級な hotels and 調書をとる／予約する a 寄宿舎 in the 競技者s' village. Spartan, cheerful, surrounded by the 青年 of the world. A gesture, maybe - he will 明確に have t o have a downtown bureau to 行為／行う 公式の／役人 商売／仕事 - but one which gives hope that the Louis XIV style of 最近の Olympic 行政 has gone forever.

America is 存在 爆破d from all ４半期/4分の1s for 行う／開催する／段階ing a plebeian Games. IOC members have not been allotted the best hotel. That has been 始める，決める aside for 最高の，を越す American TV (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs and big-money sponsors who are guarded day and night by a tight 安全 非常線，警戒線.

明らかに, anyone can walk into the IOC 前提s unfrisked.

Unaccustomed as they are to such an affront, the IOC 委任する／代表s are not at all happy about Salt Lake City's 欠如（する） of obeisance.

井戸／弁護士席, they should have thought about that years ago when several of their members - certainly more than the six who were expelled for 受託するing 賄賂s - 投票（する）d for the Mormon 資本／首都 to get the Games.

After Atlanta in 1996, they knew that America hasn't the remotest 概念 of Olympic ideals.

America is about St Patrick's Day parades, 明言する／公表する fairs, World Series baseball, the 最高の Bowl. It has 絶対 no idea what Baron de Coubertin was trying to do when he 就任するd the modern Olympics in 1896. They don't care and that was why the Atlanta Games were such a 災害.

But that is 存在 不公平な to America. After the political ボイコット（する）s of the Montreal Olympics in 1976 and the Moscow Olympics in 1980, no city in the world 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 行う／開催する／段階 the Games in 1984. Los Angeles stepped in. It was the only city to do so. It saw a 抱擁する 商業の 適切な時期 and pulled it off.

It made money and so did the IOC.

Thereafter, the IOC was awash with cash, with His Spanish Excellency riding high on a 高潮，津波 of 利益（をあげる）. I 本気で believe that if some Los Angeles entrepreneur had not 介入するd at that juncture the オリンピック would no longer 存在する.

Gloriously, they do.

There must be hope for this movement now that it has a leader who does not 目的（とする） his 新採用するing at 栄冠を与えるd 長，率いるs of 明言する／公表する, redundant 肩書を与えるs, generals of corrupt 政権s and sheikhs wi th amazing 肩書を与えるs that look good in handbooks but have dodgy backgrounds.

Britain now has three members on the International Olympic 委員会.

There is Craig Reedie, from Scotland, who is a 完全に good bloke but doesn't say much. There is the Princess 王室の who is a 完全に good woman and brilliantly exposed the 贈収賄 that was going on inside the IOC but hasn't said a 重要な word since.

And now there is Matthew Pinsent, a 完全に good Olympic rower, who has just joined the 委員会 under the new 政権.

The first thing Pinsent said in his new office as IOC member was that Britain was 完全に off its 長，率いる if it now 適用するs for the オリンピック of 2012.

We don't have a main stadium, we don't have the 組織／基盤／下部構造, but what we do have is a disseminated collection of sports 当局 who hate one another like 毒（薬）. I have been 令状ing this for years.

Matthew Pinsent said it where it 事柄s.

I delight in Pinsent's elevation to the IOC under a 大統領，／社長 who seems 決定するd to get his feet 支援する on the ground after two １０年間s of self aggrandisement.

i.wooldridge@dailymail.co.uk

Billy had Wright idea on stardom

DAILY I read about the footballers and 経営者／支配人s who are しっかり掴むing for ever more.The golden goose will 爆発する soon and I guess there is no 推論する／理由 for not 偉業／利用するing an imbecilic market while you and some of your 近づく 親族s can.

For 事実上 no 推論する／理由 I 解任する the late Billy Wright, 権利 half - later centre half - for England, who played 105 games for his country, 90 of them as captain.

He was a one-club man who, in 451 games for Wolverhampton Wanderers, was never once sent off. With Wolves he won the FA Cup in 1949 and League 選手権 three times between 1954-59. With his club, he never earned more than 続けざまに猛撃するs 20 per week.

He married Joy Beverley, a singing 星／主役にする of the Beverley Sisters, and neither he nor she had the slightest big-noter about them.They were beautiful pe ople.

In fact, I do have a 推論する／理由 for 令状ing about 法案, whose brilliant career has never been adequately 文書d. My friend, Norman Giller, is producing a 調書をとる／予約する called Billy Wright, A Hero For All Seasons.

Many of us already have been delighted to 与える／捧げる. If you have a particular story to tell, 接触する Norman on the website: www.billywright.co.uk

THE funeral of John Bromley, the former sportswriter, 長，率いる of ITV Sport, ex-chairman-of the Lord's Taverners and the Saints and Sinners Club of London, is to be held 個人として.

His family have requested no flowers. 寄付s may be sent to the Lord's Taverners or the 肝臓 研究 信用, c/o 10 Buckingham Place, London SW1E 6HX.

詳細（に述べる）s of a 記念の service will be 発表するd すぐに.