South Africa Moves Closer to Goal

Say this much for FIFA’s World Cup 2006 debacle: As bid scandals go, it certainly outdid the International Olympic Committee in terms of sheer entertainment.

Hoaxes perpetrated by magazines, mysterious voting abstentions, rumors of physical threats, back-room machinations designed to disgrace the federation president, even a bit of old-fashioned horse trading. It’s no way to go about choosing the location for the world’s biggest soccer tournament, but it sure would make one heck of a spy novel.

Whether or not Germany outpaced South Africa fairly for the Cup--FIFA cleared the winners of any alleged wrongdoing Saturday--the question has to be asked:

Why can’t South Africa win the big one?

In some ways, South Africa’s come-from-ahead World Cup defeat resembled Cape Town’s failed bid to stage the 2004 Summer Olympics. When IOC members convened in Lausanne, Switzerland, for that election in 1997, many expected front-runners Rome and Athens to split enough votes to allow Cape Town, a sentimental favorite, to slip through the back door.

That bid had many of the same advantages as South Africa’s World Cup proposal: No Olympic Games had ever been held on the African continent, Nelson Mandela campaigned eloquently on behalf of the bid, the desire to make history--rather than tossing yet another big event Europe’s way--weighed heavily in the minds and on the consciences of many voters.

It was quite an emotional pull, but in the end, voters, as they are apt to do behind closed doors, turned coldly pragmatic.

Cape Town outlasted Buenos Aires and Stockholm, but on the next ballot, the city’s infrastructure was suddenly deemed inadequate, the crime rate suddenly became a significant issue and many bold-speaking voters suddenly developed cold feet. Cape Town went out in the third round--and then, hoping for a return favor down the line, African IOC members swung enough votes to Athens to enable the Greeks to overtake their centuries-old rivals from Rome.

The same thing happened with the World Cup, even after South Africa cut a deal with Brazil, promising future favors in exchange for Brazilian support now. South Africa lost again and now must regroup again, possibly aiming for the 2010 World Cup, possibly entering the fray for the 2012 Olympics.

David Simon, president of the Los Angeles 2012 bid committee, said he expects South Africa to be part of the competitive field for those Summer Games.

“Very possibly. Sure,” Simon said. “They declined to bid for the 2008 Olympics partly because they were going for [the 2006 World Cup]. It seems to me that their next decision is: Are they going to go for the 2010 World Cup or the 2012 Olympics? Or both?”

Simon, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said he had never visited South Africa but “given what I know about the country, having all the infrastructure you need for an Olympics would be difficult for them. But, I can imagine that providing a handful of soccer stadiums would be something they could do.

“I was expecting South Africa to win [the World Cup bidding], based on what I had heard. . . . I also thought it would make sense for FIFA, in terms of world politics, and they would be doing something that hadn’t been done.

“And from a South African standpoint, South Africa did that rugby world championship a couple of years ago, which seemed to be a big-deal event for them, and that was an event they pulled off successfully. They bid for the Olympics, and that appeared to be more than they could chew. So this would have been something in between, which would have represented a real step up for Africa. So, I was surprised.”

Noting the eventual vote was 12-11--with one controversial abstention--Simon said “it’s obvious this really could have gone either way--and almost did. I can’t say I have any theories, but it just shows that Africa’s time for hosting one of these is very, very close.”

RUNYAN OUT OF THE RUNNING?

The great human interest story Marla Runyan represents for the Sydney Games and NBC--a legally blind middle-distance runner competing in the Summer Olympics--is in jeopardy, because of a hip injury Runyan suffered last month.

A contender to qualify as one of the United States’ three female 1,500-meter runners, Runyan hurt her hip June 8 while jumping out of the way of a bike-riding child as she was completing a training run on a trail near her home in Eugene, Ore. The injury forced Runyan to withdraw from the Prefontaine Classic and last week’s GMC Envoy Open in Palo Alto and could keep her out of the Olympic Trials, which begin Friday in Sacramento.

“It’s pretty devastating,” Runyan said last week. “It’s improving, and I’ve started jogging. But it’s kind of a hit-or-miss, day-to-day thing, and I won’t know any more until next week.”

Compounding matters for Runyan is the trials’ event schedule. Qualifying for the women’s 1,500 begins Friday, giving her only five more days to recuperate. If her hip isn’t ready by then, she could opt instead for 5,000, which begins the following Monday, or the 800, which begins Thursday, July 20. Runyan has qualifying marks in both events.

AUSSIES IN GLASS HOUSES

The Australian Olympic Committee scrapped its investigation into allegations of systematic doping among the nation’s elite athletes when the man making the chargers, former Australian discus thrower Werner Reiterer, refused to give names to investigators.

That did not, however, stop IOC executive board member Jacques Rogge from tweaking the Aussies--notorious whistle-blowers on the doping-in-sports issue--with the old saw about getting one’s house in order before firing accusations elsewhere.

“I believe there has been too much finger-pointing . . . especially by [Australian] swimming coaches who are claiming that their athletes are absolutely innocent and the rest of the world were guilty,” Rogge told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“There has been a climate of accusing other teams. I think that is not very wise.”

Reiterer, a 1994 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, created shock waves throughout Australia when he claimed in his new autobiography that he had used steroids for five years before his recent retirement and that Australian swimmers and other Olympic athletes were using human growth hormone, which in undetectable in drug tests.

Reiterer also accused Australian sports officials of covering up drug use by alerting athletes in advance of doping tests.

The AOC ordered an investigation into the charges, only to call it off Thursday after Reiterer failed to provide details to support his allegations.

“This inquiry was only into Werner’s allegations,” said AOC president John Coates, adding that the probe would reopen if and when Reiterer agreed to provide the necessary information.

“It was absolutely dependent on him cooperating. If anybody else has allegations, then we will do the same thing. We will set up an investigative procedure.”

ATO CONTROL

With Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson readying for their 200-meter showdown at the U.S. Olympic trials, Ato Boldon produced some numbers worthy of their consideration last Wednesday at the Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne.

Boldon, who trains with Greene but will compete for Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympics, managed an impressive double-- winning the 100-meter sprint in 9.95 seconds and the 200 in 19.97.

Boldon’s 100-meter time was the second fastest in the world this year--behind Greene’s 9.91--and his 200 time was third fastest behind Johnson’s marks of 19.71 and 19.91.

Boldon blew away reigning Olympic 100-meter champion Donovan Bailey of Canada, who finished fifth at 10.12 after running 9.98 the previous week.

“I don’t know what went wrong,” said Bailey, coming back from a serious 1998 Achilles’ tendon injury. “What I’ve got to do now is get consistent. I wasn’t running my race today. I never ran any part of that race. None. Zero.”

In the same meet, France’s Marie Jose Perec, competing in her first race in nearly a year, finished second in the women’s 200 meters with a time of 22.71 seconds. Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas won the race in 22.43.

“After everything I’ve been through, it was superb,” said Perec, who had been sidelined because of a blood virus. The 1996 Olympic women’s 200- and 400-meter champion added that “You always have a sense of disappointment when you finish second, but I feel good. I expected to achieve this level, so there’s no surprise.”