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American Morning

Interview With Mike Dodd

Aired August 05, 2002 - 07:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The arrest of a reputed Russian mobster for fixing the Olympic Ice Skating competition may only represent the tip of the iceberg for investigators. Now, there is talk that the feds could cut a deal with Alimzan Tokhtakhounov to find out just how deep -- yes, I did get that name out, in fact, it's all morning. Don't ask me to do it again, though. We want to know how deep the corruption runs in the Olympic.
Joining us from Washington is Mike Dodd, a sportswriter for "USA Today," who covered these Olympic Games.

Mike, good morning.

MIKE DODD, "USA TODAY": Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Who knew you'd need a criminal justice degree just to cover figure skating, huh?

DODD: Well, that's the way sports is these days in a lot of things.

KAGAN: That is true. Now, explain to me, and I have read this story over and over again, I still don't get what an alleged Russian mobster, why he would even care who wins these figure skating competitions.

DODD: Well, the influence of the Russian organized crime in sports has been something that's been sort of rumored and speculated about for several years. And you know, getting a French visa, trying to get a French visa by fixing an ice dance competition is a can-do (ph), using a bazooka to kill a mosquito. He probably just was doing this to amuse himself.

But it raises much larger questions as to the influence of Russian organized crime in sports and in Olympic sports. We have seen stories of suspicions of NHL players being -- from Russia being extorted by the mob, and this is another side of it that's very scary.

KAGAN: And so, that explains why the feds might want to get this guy here, and use him more for information rather than making an example of him.

DODD: Yes. And you know, one of the -- one of the interesting things in the complaint is that Didier Gailhaguet, the French Skating Federation chief, admitted having a discussion with this person about funding -- his funding, the Russian funding for the Olympic skating program in France. Now, if they are agreeing to fund a French hockey team, what are they doing for their own country? That raises a lot of questions, and I think that's one area that the federal authorities want to look into.

KAGAN: So if you're the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, you might think, hey, this is a good thing, we're going to get the help of the U.S. government to really get to the bottom of this. Or maybe it really isn't such a good thing, because you know what, this is better if it just goes away and people forget about it. You don't want to shine the light on corruption at the Olympics.

DODD: Absolutely. The International Skating Union "investigation," and you need quotes about that word, was really just an exercise in containment, in crisis containment. They had a lot of people telling them they had heard of a Russian connection, and they had absolutely no interest in going down that path.

KAGAN: Well, and here's the weird thing, Mike, that the IOC didn't even go talk to the Russian Skating Federation when this whole thing broke.

DODD: Yes.

KAGAN: How can you not talk to the Russians when it's about the Russians?

DODD: Because they didn't want to know the answers. This was all about putting this to bed. You're exactly right. It's about putting this to bed and hoping everybody forgets about it and moving on. And this has to be a wake-up call for all (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It has to be a wake-up call for the public that there needs to be some accountability with these federations. There is none right now.

KAGAN: Quickly...

DODD: And...

KAGAN: I'm sorry. Quickly tell me what this means to skating. First of all, could these medals be switched around yet again in the pairs and then in the ice dancing? And does figure skating go away from the Olympics because it's just so corrupt?

DODD: On the first question, anything is possible. They set the precedent with a double gold in the Olympics. No, 2, skating is not going anywhere. NBC paid $600 million plus for the TV rights to the Turino games, and they're not going to show curling there. They want some ice skating.

KAGAN: Yes. You know, the outfits aren't nearly as cute in curling. Do you think you'll be covering in 2006?

DODD: I hope so.

KAGAN: You hope so.

DODD: Yes.

KAGAN: You wouldn't want to miss...

DODD: What's left of it, huh?

KAGAN: ... anything. Exactly.

DODD: Right.

KAGAN: We'll put you out there on the ice before it's all done.

DODD: Very good.

KAGAN: Mike Dodd, thank you so much for giving us some insight on an increasingly bizarre story -- good to see you.

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