A spokesman says the meeting was brief and unplanned. Ryan was in the Middle East because he is the president of Northwestern's Board of Directors.
The rigid rules banning contact between Olympic bid cities and IOC members were put in place after a bribery scandal involving Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2002 winter games.
Online publication puts Rio in lead
Also, an online publication that tracks the bidding for the 2016 Olympics gave a slight edge to Rio de Janeiro. Gamesbids.com gives the Brazilian city a very slight lead over Chicago and Tokyo.
The site says many Olympic voters are anxious to bring the games to South America, a continent that has never hosted the Olympics.
