Italian Football Scandal Hits Olympics, Too

(ATR) The scandal over the fixing of football matches in Italy could lead to trouble for Italy's senior IOC member, while the newly elected government raises issues for the Italian National Olympic committee, as well as a bid for the 2016 Olympics.

When Franco Carraro resigned earlier this month as the head of the Italian Football Federation, he disavowed any connection with the unfolding scandal over the way referees for matches were chosen. Monday, a leading figure in the scandal told one newspaper that "Carraro knew everything" about the match-fixing.

So far, Carraro has escaped any problems with the IOC over the football debacle. He was named to the IOC in 1982. But if he should face criminal charges or admits wrongdoing, an IOC Ethics Commission inquiry could be triggered.

Carraro spent a term as Mayor of Rome. He has held a number of posts involving football in Italy that go back to the 1980s. He was president of the European Olympic Committees from 1980 to 1987. Currently, Carraro is chairman of the IOC Program Commission.

Sports Minister a First

The soccer scandal comes at the exact time a new government under center-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi is formed. And for the first time in the history of Italy, a sports minister is named.

She's Giovanna Melandri, a 44-year-old from Rome who was born in New York City. At the time of Sydney Olympics, she was Minister of Culture, a portfolio that included sport. At that time she waged battles with CONI to bring about changes to the rules of the committee.

But in a statement congratulating Melandri, CONI President Gianni Petrucci says he has "beautiful memories" of working with her at Sydney, noting her visit to the Olympic Village wearing the team uniform.

One observer notes that Petrucci may be in a "dangerous" position while the relationship with the new ministry is established. The Italian source says the tenure of CONI secretary general Raffaele Pagnozzi may be more tenuous. Pagnozzi?s name has surfaced in the football scandal over information provided in a phone call about a doping test.

2016 Bid Implications

Even with the distractions of the soccer scandal, CONI appears to be on track towards a decision on choosing between Rome and Milan as a nominee for the 2016 Olympics, perhaps in June or July.

The next step in the process comes with the May 28-29 municipal elections, which will decide a closely contested race in Milan and should lead to a landslide for incumbent Walter Veltroni in Rome.

With elections out of the way, the commission set up by CONI to review the two bids will be able to draft its comparison of the cities. With Rome as Romano Prodi's hometown, the Italian capital is being tipped to be the nominee.

But whether Italy goes through with a bid, even after selecting a candidate, is still a question, one source close to CONI tells Around the Rings.

With the 2012 Olympics in London, conventional wisdom holds that a bid from another continent besides Europe will win the race for 2016. Madrid is the only other European city seriously considering a 2016 bid.

Exactly who would campaign for an Italian 2016 bid from among the five IOC members who call Italy home is another factor that could go into whether to bid.

Franco Carraro is not one to campaign for bids and could be on hold with the IOC if the scandal drags him down. Ottavio Cinquanta and Francesco Ricci Bitti are federation chiefs and not necessarily acolytes of an Italian bid. Manuela Di Centa will come to the end of her term on the IOC in 2008.

That leaves Mario Pescante as the candidate to become the leading voice for an Italian 2016 bid among IOC members. If Rome is the candidate, Pescante will be in an especially delicate position with his party -- Forza Italia ? now the opposition.

The irony will be lost on few in Italy that Pescante, now a leading figure in the opposition, may become an advocate for what has become a major project of Rome's left-wing leadership, which regards Forza Italia and its leader, ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, as political enemies.

"Pescante will be put to the test between his role with the government and his role as an IOC member. He needs to be careful," says a source familiar with the machinations of politics and sport in Italy.

In 1997 Pescante was forced to resign as president of the CONI over a scandal involving doping tests for football tests at CONI's drug lab, although he apparently had nothing to do with the controversy and was never charged.