Organizers of the 2016 Rio Olympics denied on Friday that vote buying helped to secure the games after a French newspaper reported that a Brazilian businessman made payments to the son of an International Olympic Committee member before the vote.
Le Monde said a company linked to Brazilian businessman Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho paid $1.5 million to Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack who was then International Association of Athletics Federations president, three days before the 2009 decision on the host city for the 2016 Games.
Rio lost the first vote to Madrid but bounced back to win the nomination on a third ballot, by 66 votes to 32.
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