Mario Pescante

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FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2011, file photo, Italian IOC member Mario Pescante attends the opening of the executive board's meeting at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Pescante criticized the United States on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, for including openly gay athletes in its official delegation for next month's Sochi Olympics. "It's absurd that a country like that sends four lesbians to Russia just to demonstrate that in their country gay rights have (been established)," Pescante said at an Italian Olympic Committee meeting in Milan, in comments widely reported by Italian media. (AP Photo/Keystone, Dominic Favre, File)