Urdangarin and his comeuppance

Titles, royalty and corruption

Urdangarin, who we now see in such a bad light, could well have become the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) president. When Jose Maria Echevarria's term ended, he was the perfect candidate to succeed him. The federations wanted him and the world that traditionally surrounds the IOC loves titles, and royalty even more so. He was a double Olympic medalist and the King's son-in-law. And he had been vice-president to Echevarria. He had it all. But he lost control of it all with his arrogance in meetings with the federation presidents. He wanted to involve the COE with the same people he was doing some dodgy dealing with. The sports world said no.

A right royal mess

As a result of this, the responsibility for Alejandro Blanco, was to say to everyone that this is a marker, a line in the sand before and after of the COE. Regarding Urdangarin, his adventures are now known: he went on an adventure to make his fortune, with his soul-mate by his side. Dragged by greed and a sense of impunity that so many others have, in his case using his positon to take advantage of belonging to the Royal House, and fashioned the crime that has brought him to this point. The worst thing is that along the way he has caused damage to others. To the Crown, for a start. And a lot of people have been affected along the way.

Getting his comeuppance

Fortunately, Mercedes Coghen, former chair of the Madrid 2016 committee, has been exonerated. For those of us who know the details of the case, this is good news. But she had to suffer with her exposure through the trial as one of the accused. This has happened with several others who fulfilled the instructions a superior, who ordered, but didn't sign, and was therefore able to whistle and look the other way. But without his complicity, or his moral cowardice, this racket would not have been possible. They did not want to do what decency demanded: to resist the temptation and send him down. The federations did.