As ever with the Olympics, ethical questions are never far beneath the surface; sport, and "gentlemanly" behaviour, long ago capitulated to the dominant force of money.
It is reported that the IOC ethics commission has summoned leaders of the five cities, bidding for the 2012 Olympics, to see if any of them broke bidding rules by offering incentives.
It seems that both New York and London promised subsidies, free marketing and other benefits to international sports federations and national Olympic committees.
The IOC are trying to determine if these proposals go beyond what the cities listed in their official bid documents in November. Needles to say, both New York and London bid officials claim that their proposals were included.
The rules have been tightened since the Salt Lake City bid scandal, which led to the removal of 10 IOC members for accepting bribes.
London is offering a package of more than $20M in assistance to athletes and Olympic committees, including $50K "credits" to each national Olympic body toward the cost of using pre-games training facilities in Britain.
London is also budgeting an extra $10M to cover flexible, round-trip economy air fares for all the athletes and their team officials.
New York promises to market each of the 28 Olympic sports for free in the period leading up to the games. Federations would get free office space, with computers, phones and staff.
As said, it's all about money; sport no longer enters into the equation.
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