Julian Drew
AT the 97th session of the International Olympic Committee in Birmingham in 1991 where the venue for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games was decided, a dinner was hosted by the president of the British Olympic Association, Princess Anne, on the lawns of Warwick Castle. To her left sat the president of the Association of National Olympic Committees (Anoc) Mario Vazquez Ra-a.
The Princess Royal showed her disdain for the Mexican media mogul by refusing to speak to him throughout the evening, according to the 1992 expose of sporting power games, The Lords of the Rings. A few days later Ra-a was nominated as an IOC member.
Only 13 of the 83 IOC members voted for him. Ten voted against his nomination while 60 abstained. He was hardly the most popular person to have joined the ranks of the world’s most exclusive club but today, five years down the line, he is one of the IOC’s most powerful members whom many people think will be a front runner for the position of president once the current incumbent, Juan Antonio Samaranch, decides to step down.
The reason for Ra-a’s unpopularity is his wealth and the way he has used his money, according to his detractors, to gain influence in the powerful world of sports administration. Last weekend Ra-a was in South Africa to attend an Anoc executive council meeting at Sun City and his money and influence were clearly apparent.
Ra-a, who often “spends 1 000 flying hours a year travelling to countries to unify them behind Anoc”, uses his own Gulfstream jet, which is nearly as big as a Boeing 737, on his travels. To visit Sun City he first flew to Geneva from Mexico City to pick up Samaranch before flying to Johannesburg.
Awaiting them at Sun City were the two most expensive suites at the Palace of the Lost City which cost around R16 000 a night. Ra-a paid for both of them as well as for the accommodation of his considerable en-tourage.
“My trip to South Africa was more expensive to me than if I had paid for the air tickets of all the delegates and the organisation of the council meeting, but I don’t mind. As long as I am able to spend my money like this I will continue to do so,” he said.
Ra-a hands out a little envelope containing his collection of business cards. Four of them, indicating his presidency of Anoc, the PanAmerican Sports Organisation and the Mexican Olympic Committee, together with his membership of the IOC, he says “are only good for spending money”.
It is the last, naming him as the president and director general of Organizacion Editorial Mexicana, which he says is the important one. This company is the biggest newspaper publisher in Mexico which he says “has 52 newspapers covering 26 of Mexico’s 32 states and controls 32% of the regional market in Mexico”. Along with his several radio and TV stations he is the Ted Turner or Rupert Murdoch of Latin America.
When Anoc was formed in 1979 the national Olympic committees of the world were a weak and divided group. Ra-a became its first and only president and set about building the association into what is today — one of the three pillars of the Olympic movement, along with the IOC and the international federations of the Olympic sports.
From the outset Anoc was a poor organisation with no funds and Ra-a spent his own money flying delegates to meetings and funding their expenses. It has been estimated he spent around $2-million a year on Anoc when it was first started, but he does not disclose how much he spends now.
“I don’t go around telling everybody how much I spend on sport but it is a large amount,” he says. “I am committed to sport because my personality developed due to the sports that I practised. I learnt how to control my emotions through sport and it taught me how to do better in my business. As a sports leader I feel that I am committed to those who have somehow shown their affectionate respect for me. There are many people who trust me,” says Ra-a.
Besides his portfolio of positions contained on his business cards, Rana is also vice- president of Olympic Solidarity which is instrumental in dispensing Anoc’s share of the huge profits from the Olympic Games, plus contributions from the IOC, to the Olympic committees of the world’s poorer countries.
But while his detractors may say he has bought his way to power, the reverse side of the coin is that, since he does not need to gain financially from his involvement in sport, he is either doing it for his ego or for the good of sport. Since every one has an ego maybe there is a fair degree of altruism behind his actions. “Some people live from sport but I feel proud when I can say that I live for sport,” says Rana, bringing to mind some of our local sports administrators who put in very little but take much out.
Though he may not be universally popular one thing Rana does not lack is style and a firm understanding of the media. He exudes a boyish charm and although much of it is lost in the rapid fire translation of his well groomed, personal translator, he also has a keen sense of humour. When he enters a press conference the following day he pats each journalist on the back as he makes his way to the front, even though he has never met most of them before. Without the services of his own efficient interpreter the translator at the press conference complains he is talking too fast and somebody else takes over. On the subject of “wild card” entries to the Olympics for countries who cannot qualify at least six athletes through normal channels, he warns against allowing Olympic tourists. He has worked hard for what he has got and so should Olympic athletes one senses is the reasoning behind his stance. But above all one gets the feeling that Rana is just a boy at heart who has yet to tire of spending money. Sport is the beneficiary and just maybe he might get to be the next president of the IOC through his benevolence. That wouldn’t do his ego any harm either you might be tempted to add.