Samaranch set to answer questions from Congress

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch is to appear Wednesday at a hearing of the House commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, and is willing to answer "all kinds" of questions from Congress.

Lawmakers said they want to question Samaranch about $12,000 in expenses Atlanta bid committee members paid for his wife and a friend during a trip to Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., in 1990.Samaranch said Sunday that his wife's visit was approved by former Vice President Dan Quayle.

The IOC president said his wife, Maria Teresa, accepted the invitation to visit because he was unable to attend.

"My wife was invited by the organizing committee," he said. "She didn't ask to go there.

"During her stay in Atlanta, she received a very nice letter from the vice president of the United States, Mr. Quayle, thanking her for being in Atlanta and visiting the organizing committee."

Atlanta officials have indicated they violated IOC gift rules in lobbying for the 1996 Games, but denied that gifts and favors showered on IOC members were designed to buy their votes or corrupt the process that led to Atlanta's selection.

"I am ready to answer all kinds of questions," Samaranch said when asked how he would respond to Congressional questioning about his wife's activities.

Samaranch added that, while in Washington, he would meet Tuesday with White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey. McCaffrey was a critic of Samaranch and the IOC project for a world anti-doping agency, but recently endorsed the plan after meeting with IOC vice president Dick Pound.