Ukraine on Wednesday suspended the general secretary of its National Olympics Committee to limit a growing scandal over claims he had sought to sell tickets for the London Games on the black market. The suspension of Volodymyr Geraschchenko was swiftly announced by the president of the Ukrainian National Olympics Committee, Sergei Bubka, the former pole vault legend who has now forged a successful career in sports politics.
Bubka said that he had no option but to suspend Geraschchenko after the BBC revealed that he had been exposed in a sting operation trying to sell some 100 tickets for the Olympic Games. "I immediately suspended Volodymyr Geraschchenko," the 48-year-old Bubka told reporters in Quebec where he was attending a conference.
"We are going to set up an independent commission to investigate Geraschchenko. We must be fair and come to a correct decision," said Bubka, who was now urgently flying back to Kiev to handle the crisis. The scandal has blown up at an extremely uncomfortable moment for Ukraine, as it prepares to co-host the Euro 2012 football championship next month amid Western disapproval at its treatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
"I am committed to maintaining the highest standards and ethics within the Olympic Movement," Bubka added in a statement issued by the Ukrainian Olympics Committee. Bubka said he had spoken to the London Games supremo and running legend Sebastian Coe and vowed to "ensure that we fully co-operate with any subsequent investigation that takes place in London." He said there had "never" been a situation where Ukraine had surplus tickets and all its allocation was being distributed through official channels.