Tu Thanh Ha and James Christie

Montreal and Toronto � Montreal's troubled bid to play host to the 2005 world aquatic championships took a tragic turn yesterday when the embattled head of the organizing committee killed himself.

Yvon DesRochers, a long-time federal Liberal, had been heavily criticized after the world ruling body on aquatic sports took the games away from Montreal last month because of financial problems.

His suicide came a few days after Montreal Mayor G�rald Tremblay suggested that a condition for the Paris-based International Swimming Federation returning the event to the city would be the dismissal of Mr. DesRochers.

Also, Mr. DesRochers faced the prospect of being called by opposition MPs before the House of Commons public accounts committee to explain how his organizers had spent $16-million in federal subsidies.

Montreal police said yesterday that it was investigating the 9:20 a.m. suicide of a man found in a parked silver-coloured Mercedes near the site of the Molson brewery.

The police would not confirm the name of the dead man, but two sources separately confirmed Mr. DesRochers' death. He apparently shot himself.

"I don't know how much pressure he was under. He put a lot of himself into this. He worked hard and he was a very proud person," said Linda Cuthbert, president of the Aquatic Federation of Canada and a former world-class diver.

"It's very weird. I'd never have thought this. He was a strong person."

In recent days, local media commentators and employees speaking under the cloak of anonymity had fiercely criticized Mr. DesRochers as an ineffectual, authoritarian executive.

Mr. DesRochers had been under attack since late last year, when it became evident that sponsors were not buying into the world aquatic championships and that advance ticket sales for the July event were minimal.

He withdrew from making public statements and stopped taking media calls.

On Jan. 19, the International Swimming Federation, known by its French acronym, FINA, pulled the 160-country event out of Montreal because organizers came up short in raising the required $12-million in corporate sponsorships.

Mr. Tremblay continued to fight for the return of the aquatic championships, spending three days in Europe last week telling swim authorities he could guarantee the $12-million.

The mayor didn't get any hard results from his meetings, only the promise of another chance to argue Montreal's position before FINA members.

Yesterday, there were reports Montreal had been put on the agenda along with three cities bidding to take over the world championships � Athens, Berlin and Moscow � when FINA meets Feb. 15.

"I read that as a sign the door's not closed. They'll look at the three serious bids plus Montreal," Ms. Cuthbert said.

After his last-ditch lobbying, Mr. Tremblay later told reporters that FINA had said there had to be "adjustments" to the organizing committee before the event stood a chance of returning to Montreal, a comment widely seen as a demand by the world federation to remove Mr. DesRochers.

The loss of the championships was considered a black mark against Canada internationally. Richard Pound, the influential International Olympic Committee member who was co-president of the Montreal aquatic organizing committee, said "it looks pretty bad for anyone trying to bring a major event to Canada now."

Internationaux du sport de Montreal, an agency supported by three levels of government that promoted the city's bid for the championships, kept a very low profile during the mess.

Montreal Canadiens legend Serge Savard was president of the group. There were calls for a public inquiry into how the organizers had operated. The federal and provincial governments already had committed about $16-million each and the city of Montreal $9-million.

In addition to working as an aide to Francis Fox when he was federal communications minister, Mr. DesRochers was executive director of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa from 1988 to 1994.

"At times like this it's really important for all of us to remember that family and loved ones are more important than sport.

"We feel terrible for his family and for the sporting community," Swimming Canada president Dan Thompson said.

"This is a sad day for sports in Canada," said Bloc Qu�b�cois MP and sports critic Marc Lemay. "It was a shock. Our thoughts are with his family."

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