Same old story as IOC put 利益（をあげる） before sport
Ian Wooldridge
Last updated at 00:00 02 April 1997
OUR friendly postman staggered to our door wincing under the 重荷（を負わせる） of a 選び出す／独身 小包. It was immaculately wrapped, 重さを計るd the 同等（の） of at least half a dozen house bricks and bore a 郵便の franking 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 that could have refloated the ロシアの economy.
I have always said the International Olympic 委員会 does nothing by halves and here was living proof of it. Inside, beautifully boxed were two quarto-sized 容積／容量s, each of 352 pages. The first was する権利を与えるd 報告（する）／憶測 of the IOC Evaluation （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 for the Games of the XXVII オリンピック紀（４年間） in 2004.
The second was する権利を与えるd 和合 de la （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 d'Evaluation du CIO 注ぐ Les Jeux de La XXVIIe オリンピック紀（４年間） en 2004.
正確に／まさに. The second 容積／容量 is 同一の to the first except for the lingo.
現実に I could have easily got by on the English 見解／翻訳／版 alone thus saving enough money to send another Ethiopian high jumper to the Games. But that is not the IOC's way.
French is the 公式の／役人 外交辞令 of the Olympic movement and its obsession with 議定書 主張するs that I received both. I should be 感謝する.
The second 容積／容量 will make an excellent doorstop or become invaluable should we ever 雇う a curvaceous 19-year-old au pair who's fascinated by the comparative noon 湿度 統計（学） for St Petersburg and Istanbul.
As it happens both of these cities are out of the running for the Games of 2004, leaving only Athens, Buenos 空気／公表するs, Cape Town, Rome and Stockholm in 論争. My money is on Rome, the short-半端物s favourite to 勝利，勝つ the September 投票（する）. But 支払う／賃金 no 注意する to that. I was disastrously wrong in 支援 Athens ahead of Atlanta for the Games of 1996. But, then, so was the IOC.
For all its bilingual evaluation 熟考する／考慮するs, it 後継するd in choosing the shoddiest 発生地 for the most appalling Olympics in living memory. Of more 即座の 関心 is what is happening 負かす／撃墜する in Sydney, chosen to host the 2000 Olympics because it is the most beautiful 沿岸の city on earth and the eternal Australian `She'll be 権利, mate' philosophy of its sports-crazy inhabitants.
The more one hears of the discord it has 刺激するd, however, the more one is 納得させるd that London would be crazy ever to 適用する for the Games again. From Sydney only last month I 報告（する）／憶測d the 崩壊（する） of a public 基金ing 計画／陰謀 to 財政／金融 the main Olympic stadium, which left it 続けざまに猛撃するs 100million in the red, and the 辞職s of two 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs inside 10 months.
Since then a third 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある has gone. Dr Mel Hemmerling, the man who 首尾よく steered Grand Prix モーター racing 支援する to Australia, 公式に 辞職するd to concentrate on other 利益／興味s. A likely story after mere weeks in office, still いっそう少なく likely when his staff were forbidden to give him a 別れの（言葉，会） party and impossible to believe when he was 報道によれば 申し込む／申し出d 続けざまに猛撃するs 125,000 to keep his 罠（にかける） shut.
一方／合間 Australian companies who sponsored Sydney's 企て，努力，提案 for the games are sore that they are now 存在 押し進めるd out of the limelight by 抱擁する 多国籍の 複合的な／複合企業体s like Coca-Cola and IBM. What is it about this Olympic movement, 設立するd a century ago 簡単に to bring the 青年 of the world together once in four years to compete in sport?
It is not about 青年 any more and it is hardly about sport. It is about big 商売／仕事 looking for a bigger buck, two-bit 政治家，政治屋s manipulating for public prominence, 冷笑的な 競技者s running on 麻薬s, a self-任命するd aristocracy in Lausanne 主張するing on an opulent lifestyle and an International Olympic 大統領 Juan Antonio Samaranch, 老年の 76 and 10 months, who won't やめる until they've awarded him the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Anyway thanks for the 調書をとる／予約するs, pal. さもなければ I would never have known that Athens has only 772,072 inhabitants.
A GENTLEMAN in The Daily Telegraph yesterday said that his pet hate in life was anyone who 審判（をする）d to a cricket pitch as `the wicket'.
There are, of course, a number of other pet hates from which one could choose 含むing 集団殺戮 in Africa, paedophilia in むちの跡s, gangland 殺人 in Essex, 強姦 anywhere or a film as hilariously pretentious as The English 患者.
However, I am 井戸／弁護士席 aware that this phobia is 普及した having been in 長引かせるd but 極端に polite correspondence with a valued Daily Mail reader who berated me for using the latter 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語. After 協議するing five 目だつ dictionaries I replied that all of them 確認するd that `wicket' is a perfectly valid description of the 22 yards of earth between two 始める，決めるs of stumps.
His riposte by return of 地位，任命する ignored the philologists and 明言する／公表するd: `E W Swanton, a far better writer than you will ever be, has never used the word `wicket' in that 状況 in his life.'
I 屈服する to Jim Swanton, now 90 and a friend a 助言者 throughout my life.
But I do 解任する him one evening 説: `I think Len Hutton was the best I ever saw on a sticky wicket.'
