Kim breaks silence over IOC election

Kim breaks silence over IOC election

PARIS (AFP): South Korea's influential International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Kim Un-yong has confirmed to IOC members that he will join the election battle to succeed outgoing president Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The 70-year-old Kim, a powerful behind-the-scenes powerbroker within the IOC, is expected to publicly declare his election bid in early April, but he has already written to IOC members announcing his bid.

In a letter to members, a copy of which has been seen by AFP, Kim writes: "I ask for your support to serve you and to work closely with you as your next president."

Kim's decision to try and win the most powerful job in sport comes only days before Belgium's IOC executive committee member Jacques Rogge is to announce his candidature.

Rogge, who is being touted as favorite for the July 16 election in Moscow, will launch his campaign at a press conference in Brussels on Monday.

America's Anita DeFrantz, the most senior woman in the IOC, and Hungarian diplomat Pal Schmitt confirmed their decision to go for the IOC's top spot earlier in the year but observers are forecasting the battle will be a five-way struggle.

IOC marketing guru Dick Pound is expected to join the fray before the April 10 deadline for candidates.

According to press reports the Canadian has built up a substantial campaign war chest but friends of the former Olympic swimmer say he will not make a final decision until after Rogge and Kim publicly declare.

Rogge and Pound have been widely tipped within the IOC as the front runners but Kim's arrival will ensure the election will be the most hotly contested presidential battle in Olympic history.

Kim received a severe warning in the wake of the internal IOC inquiry into the Salt Lake City scandal that saw six members expelled and four others forced to resign.

Ironically the probe in the scandal that nearly brought the IOC to its knees was headed by Pound.

Kim's son John Kim was indicted by US authorities in connection with the bribery scandal but Kim has always denied any wrongdoing.

Despite the severe warning delivered on him, Kim's power within the IOC has not been weakened according to senior IOC members.

Suggestions that Kim might face trouble from US Justice officials investigating the scandal have proved unfounded. Kim has been to the United States several times over the past 12 months and was a member of the South Korean delegation to George W. Bush's inauguration in Washington in January.

Both 58-year-old Rogge, president of the European Olympic Committees, and Kim, president of the president of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), also have powerful power-bases to call on.

The 58-year-old Pound has no obvious member-base to rely on but is the only one of the five candidates to have tasted the power of being IOC president.

When Samaranch, who has been in charge for 21 years, had to leave the Sydney Games for his wife's funeral Pound, as the then senior vice president stood in for him.