Yuan claimed in a new book published last month,  "Winds and Clouds of the World of Sports", that China had agreed to support Jacques Rogge's bid to succeed Juan Antonio Samaranch as President of the IOC in exchange for support from European members for Beijing's bid.

 

But He instead lobbied on behalf of South Korea's Kim Un-yong to become the new President and placed in jeopardy Europe's support for Beijing, alleged Yuan, although he does not speficially refer to He by name.

 

Yuan wrote: "In order for the Beijing Olympic bid to succeed, we actively worked on China's friends, hoping that they would give their votes to Rogge.

 

"But this important Chinese IOC member was counterproductive and asked our friends to vote for Kim Un-yong.

 

"He clearly knew that this was not beneficial to Beijing."

 

Both decisions were taken at the same IOC Session in Moscow in 2001 with Beijing being controversially awarded the Olympics and then Rogge beating Kim to become the new President.

 

Supporters of He, who was elected to the IOC in 1981 and has previously served as vice-president, have now hit back at Yuan.

 

The Chinese Association for the Promotion of Olympic Culture, a group He has links with, have complained about Yuan's book.

 

They wrote: "[The book] contain many inaccuracies concerning 'a certain important Chinese IOC member' that defames our association head He Zhenliang.

"This is a question of harming our nation's honour and leaking state secrets."

 

The Association is also said that it is planning to file a civil lawsuit against Yuan's publisher, Beijing Fonghong Media Co., to prevent publication of any copies beyond the 200,000 in print in China.

 

The 80-year-old He, the Honorary President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, has also attacked Yuan's claims.

 

He said: "It is ridiculous for the writer of this book to say I voted for such and such a person and that I did not vote for Rogge."

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

 

 

Related stories

October 2009: Rogge did secret deal with Chinese Government to become IOC President claims Sports Minister