The Lords of the Rings

On the eve of the London 2012 Olympics . . . this must-read investigation of the secret world of the International Olympic Committee reveals how it became a refuge for crooks, spooks and fascists fleeing from discredited regimes.Translated into 13 languages The Lords of the Rings became a global media sensation. Sports Illustrated ranks it as one of the Top One Hundred Sports Books of all Time.The IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch was outraged that his secret 37-year-history of jackbooting, right-arm saluting fascist activities in Franco’s Spain had been uncovered. He had the authors’ phones hacked and then persuaded a Swiss court to impose suspended jail sentences on them.That ‘F-word’ is forbidden in Olympic circles. Officials, sponsors and sports reporters shrink from admitting the contradictions of an organisation that claims to represent the aspirations of young people - but continues to honour its former leader whose life was dedicated to delivering sport for a repugnant dictatorship and then privatised to serve the needs of the global brands.

The result of years of investigations by award-winning corruption specialists, ‘Lords’ reveals how positive drugs tests were concealed so that the Olympic Games could be sold as ‘clean’ to sponsors, rebranded as ‘partners,’ while heavily doped male and female athletes were changing sex!

The book reveals the beginnings of what became the gigantic ISL marketing contracts scandal and the $100 million worth of bribes and kickbacks paid to sports officials. Honest IOC members were persuaded to disclose how one close ally of Samaranch was ‘elected’ to the IOC by 13 votes to 10 – with 60 abstentions!

This classic of iconoclastic journalism, first published in 1992, foreshadowed the Salt Lake City cash-and-sex for votes scandal that convulsed the Olympic world.

An essential read for sports fans and has been longtime listed as mandatory reading for sports and journalism students.