The art of lobbying is being perfected this week in the
modernist marble interior of the Hilton hotel in Athens. The
city's magnificent Olympic stadium may be the focus of the world's
attention when the games of the 28th Olympiad open tomorrow night,
but the Hilton will be the real heart of the games.
The hotel provides not only a temporary home for the 123 members
of the International Olympic Committee, the body that administers
the self-styled "greatest show on earth", but is also the venue
for the deal-making and politicking that drives the Olympic
movement.
Crucially for London, Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow, the
lobby of the hotel is also the battlefield where by stealth and
sleight of hand the right to stage the 2012 summer games could be
won or lost.
For the past week the elegantly dressed, permanently tanned and
predominantly middle-aged mix of businessmen, potentates, minor
royalty and entrepreneurs who make up the IOC's membership have
been visible in and around the Hilton. The hotel is the IOC's
luxury barracks and its administrative heart - the capital of the
state-within-a-state that the Olympic movement has established in
Athens.
Staging the games requires the host country to comply with a
number of extraordinary regulations, chief among them the
suspension of normal immigration controls. For the duration of the
games an Olympic accreditation document grants its holder the same
privileges as a visa, effectively gifting the IOC sovereignty over
one of the state's most important functions.
Nowhere is this temporary power more apparent than in the scores
of army, police and security personnel that surround the Hilton,
minutely checking the accreditation of anyone intending to pass
between the fountains that flank the hotel's revolving door and
into the air-conditioned heart of the games.
The hotel was block-booked nearly six years ago when Athens was
awarded the Olympics, and it is clear why, being both a short
limousine ride from the stadium and superbly appointed. The suites
occupied by IOC members are the height of luxury and the view from
the rooftop Galaxy bar is the best in Athens, taking in the
Acropolis, the harbour at Piraeus and the islands beyond.
It is inside, however, that the real business is done. For the
cities bidding to host the 2012 games the opportunity to access
the entire IOC membership is one they cannot afford to miss. As
London's bid is fast discovering, it is a world in which
perception can mean more than reality, and every advantage must be
made to count.
Yesterday the leaderships of the London, Paris and New York bids
were working the hotel's prestigious guests with a determination
worthy of any of the medal hopes honing their preparations in the
athletes' village. After the bribery scandal that followed the
awarding of the 2002 winter Olympics to Salt Lake City, candidates
are bound by strict regulations limiting the scale and nature of
contacts with the IOC members who decide the venues.
Bid members are prevented from even buying an IOC member a drink,
and officially cities are not allowed to "actively campaign" until
after November 15, when their candidature files have been handed
to the IOC.
This has not stopped the five candidates for 2012 under- taking an
intensive if discreet lobbying process. Dan Doctoroff, the CEO of
the New York bid, said: "It's a great opportunity for us to get at
the members of the IOC and many more members of the Olympic
family. It is the only chance between now and the vote in
Singapore when it will happen. Our contacts are informal, open and
it's a great opportunity to establish relationships."
For London's bid, damaged by changes of leadership and a Panorama
exposé unfairly linked to the bid team, their efforts this week
could be crucial to their chances of success. Lord Coe, the bid
chairman, will be based at the Hilton - he spent yesterday, along
with the chief executive, Keith Mills, working hard to find favour
with IOC members dismayed at Panorama allegations of widespread
corruption within the Olympic movement.
Lord Coe, who also addressed a session of the IOC's commission
last night, said he was encouraged by the response since arriving
on Tuesday. "I've had very positive feedback so far," he said.
"I've spoken to a great many members of the IOC today and only a
few have mentioned Panorama, and we have made it clear that we are
here and available to talk to them about the allegations if they
want us."
