EDITORIAL : OLYMPIC-SIZE TROUBLES; THE IOC MOVED FAST TO PUNISH SOME OF THOSE IN ON THE SALT LAKE CITY SCANDAL, BUT IT NEEDS TO OPEN ITS DOORS TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY.

THE problem with the Olympic movement was that it once aspired to be a purely amateur event but went professional.

Now it is an organization run by amateurs who believe they should be as rich as the athletes.

Amateurism disappeared when it became clear that Communist nations were sending full-time athletes to the quadrennial event to compete against the part-time amateurs who represented Western nations, including the United States.

The American hockey victory in the 1980 Winter Olympics would not have been so special if the team had been stocked with National Hockey League players, as last year's disappointing men's hockey team was. The 1998 squad only behaved like amateurs off the ice, trashing their dorm rooms.

But isn't that a fitting analogy for the state of the Olympic movement today?

The scrappy, quickly assembled unit that beat the Soviet Union - which was such a force on the ice that it routinely defeated Canada's best pro players in the 1970s - en route to the gold medal symbolized the soon-to-be-achieved growth of the International Olympic Committee under President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Eighteen years later, that gold turned to green.

Money has made the amateur event professional. Everyone seems to be cashing in - the athletes, the advertisers, the host cities, the top IOC officials.

But what of the IOC officials who represent small nations like Ecuador, the Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Mali, Kenya, Libya and Swaziland? Most are not powerhouses in Olympic events, outside of long-distance running, and none likely will ever be a contender to host the Games.

The IOC officials from those nations serve as representatives of the Olympic movement and its spirit. Maybe that wasn't enough.

Each has either resigned, been suspended or recommended for expulsion in connection with the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, in which IOC members were given cash, college admittance for children or lavish gifts to support the Utah city's bid to host the 2002 Winter Games.

This may just be the beginning of the scandal for an institution that has been fighting to regain its credibility since Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for performance-enhancing steroids at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Samaranch and the IOC acted swiftly in responding to the Salt Lake City scandal. They expelled the corrupt and set new rules to determine future sites.

But they did nothing to open the organization to public scrutiny. It's still a private club that has the ability to make cities and counties spend millions of dollars on roads, rail, hotels, arenas and other athletic venues.

Its members are accountable to no one but themselves. Even Samaranch diminishes his role by saying he is not the boss, but it's hard to believe that anyone who was in the inner circle of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco would diffuse his power.

Samaranch is no amateur. If he wants to regain credibility for the IOC, he must find a way to restore credibility to the Olympic Games or step down. And fast.