IOC monitoring Samsung Olympic lobbying claims: Bach
‘Esports with violent content contrary to Olympic values’
NEW DELHI, April 19, (Agencies): The Olympics ethics watchdog will “monitor” developments after South Korean media said Samsung carried out illicit lobbying for Pyeongchang to be awarded this year’s Winter Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said Thursday.
Samsung, a top Olympics sponsor, has denied the claims made by the SBS television network that the company offered incentives to get votes from International Olympic Committee members.
Bach told a press conference during a visit to New Delhi that the allegations “have been clearly denied by Samsung, this is all that we know so far.
“But I am sure that our our ethics commission will monitor the situation,” he added.
SBS TV said it had obtained copies of 137 emails including messages between Samsung executives and Papa Massata Diack — the son of the scandal-tainted former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack.
The mails included one listing 27 IOC members with voting rights in the decision for the 2018 Games, which was contested by Pyeongchang, Munich in Germany and Annecy in France.
The report said Papa Diack had promised to convince each of the named members to vote for Pyeongchang.
In one 2010 mail Diack requested $12 million in funds — including a three-year, $9.5 million sponsorship
OLYMPICS
for the IAAF’s Diamond League athletics meetings. He also asked for a “success fee”.
The emails were confiscated by South Korean prosecutors last year during a graft investigation into former president Park Geun-hye, SBS said.
As a top level Olympics sponsor, Samsung is not allowed to lobby for Games venue candidates. It strongly denied the allegations last week.
“Samsung has never engaged in any illegal lobbying activities to have Pyeongchang win the bidding”, the South Korean tech giant said in a statement.
Esports with violent or discriminatory content cannot be considered
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach (right), talks with Narinder Dhruv Batra, President of the Indian Olympic Association, during a
press conference in New Delhi on April 19. (AFP)
for the Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said on Thursday.
Esports, the competitive side of electronic gaming, boasts an estimated 250 million players worldwide in a growing market worth about a billion dollars a year.
The IOC in November recognised esports as a sports activity and it will be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games.
Bach acknowledged the popularity of esports among young people but was wary of gaming’s often-violent narrative.
“They show physical activity which can be compared to physical activity in some traditional sports,” the German told reporters in New Delhi.
“In order to be recognised by the IOC and by the Olympic movement, it is not enough just to show physical activity there. The physical activity must also be in compliance with the values of the Olympic movement.
“We have to draw a very clear red line in this respect and that red line would be e-games which are killer games or where you have promotion of violence or any kind of discrimination as a content ... they can never be recognised as part of the Olympic movement.
“They would be contrary to our values and our principles.”
Bach is in India to meet the new set of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials and sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
Grappling with an ageing traditional audience and the waning appeal of several Olympic sports, the IOC is desperate to woo young people.
The introduction of sport climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Games is seen as another step in that direction and Bach said it was necessary to embrace new disciplines to stay relevant.
“Olympic Games have always been open to new sports without forgetting our roots. Tradition alone is no value. If you just stick to tradition and don’t open up to sports practised by the younger generations, then you can lose your relevance very quickly.
“This us why we have to remain open to this and this is why we are happy that in Tokyo we’ll see some of these sports on the Olympic programme.”
“This is why we have added them, so that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be younger, they will be more urban that means you’ll see more sports organised in the centres of the city where people are.
“Sports will not retract to the stadia but will go to the people. There you will see more women participating than ever before in the Olympic Games.”
Meanwhile, five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings has announced plans for her new beach volleyball circuit that will bring a sports and music festival to eight cities.