Jean-Claude Ganga

Jean-Claude Ganga was an IOC Member from 1986-99, after serving for many years in sports administration in his native Congo. His career started out as a trade union official from 1954-64 but he then became a professional ambassador, serving China (1982-85), after which he became Minister for Tourism and Sports and Leisure in Congo. He was a founding member of the Congolese Olympic Committee in 1960 and became its President in 1989, the same year in which he was named President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. Ganga also served as secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa from 1966-79, and was secretary-general of the first African Games from 1964-66. In 1990 he also became vice-chairman of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

On the IOC Ganga served on a number of commissions – Olympic Solidarity Commission (1968-81), Sport for All Commission (1988-89), Apartheid and Olympism Commission (1989-92), New Sources of Financing Commission (1989-97), Marketing Commission (1998-99), Olympic Movement Commission (1991-99), and the Centennial Olympic Congresss Commission (1994-96). However, his IOC membership did not end well.

During the 1999 Olympic Bribery Scandal, Ganga was prominently mentioned. In fact the Board of Ethics report from the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee noted, “Many witnesses before the Board of Ethics described Mr. [Jean-Claude] Ganga as the IOC member who most took advantage of the Bid Committee’s and the community’s generosity.” The report noted that Ganga visited Salt Lake City on six occasions. During those visits he was treated for hepatitis, his mother-in-law underwent total knee replacement surgery, and his wife had cosmetic surgery, all on the dole of the Salt Lake City bid committee. It was estimated that travel expenses for Mr. Ganga and his family alone exceeded $115,000. Because of these transgressions, Ganga was expelled from the IOC in 1999 by a vote of the membership after several reports into the bribery scandal had been made public.