TOO FAR FOR THE GOLD?

January 25, 1999
		Salt Lake City's winning bid for the 2002 Olympics has prompted an investigation of bribery by the International Olympic Committee and a decision to expel six members. Betty Anne Bowser reports.

Dec. 29, 1998: Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games comes under investigation. Feb. 23, 1998: As the Nagano Olympics ended this past weekend, U.S. performances are reviewed. Feb. 17, 1998: The first ever Olympic gold medal in women's hockey goes to the U.S. are reviewed. Feb. 9, 1998: Former Olympic athletes reflect on the meaning of the games. Feb. 9, 1998: A background report on the Nagano games. July 30, 1996: How hard should you train to become an athelete at the Olympic games? July 22, 1996: The history of the Olympics. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Sports   U.S. Olympic Committee Sydney 2000 Summer Game	BETTY ANN BOWSER: In Lausanne, Switzerland, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee announced how it hopes to contain the biggest scandal in the history of the Olympic games. Juan Antonio Samaranch is president of the I.O.C., which controls who gets the games and how they are run. JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH: Good evening. I have to express my deepest apology to the athletes, the people of Salt Lake City and Utah, the global Olympic family, and the millions of citizens worldwide who love and respect the games and also hold in esteem the high standards the games represent. My apology is for the actions of those I.O.C. members who violated the bidding process for the 2002 winter games.
	What went on?
	BETTY ANN BOWSER: For more than a month, the I.O.C. has investigated what went on during Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 winter games. The I.O.C. said its members took thousands of dollars in gifts, cash, and scholarship money for their relatives from the Salt Lake City bid committee. Six of those members were recommended for expulsion; three more will be further investigated; and three others under investigation have already resigned. To prevent further abuses, the I.O.C. said it will forbid lavish expense-paid trips to competing bid cities; will establish an independent outside ethics committee to patrol activities of its members; and it will appoint a temporary bidding committee for the 2006 winter games that would be made up mostly of people not associated with the I.O.C.'s executive board. The full I.O.C. organization will vote on these recommendations in March. The investigation was headed by executive board member Richard Pound of Canada. RICHARD POUND: The decisions taken today represent the beginning, not an end to this process. I can assure you that the I.O.C. will use this pivotal episode as an opportunity for renewal and reform on an ongoing basis. In our opinion, none of the situations the commission has examined to date regarding the individuals proposed for expulsion was the result of accidental or inadvertent conduct. In each case, it was conscious and knowing. In each case, the actions were a serious and irreparable breach of the I.O.C. oath of membership and caused damage to the I.O.C. BETTY ANN BOWSER: But Pound made it clear, while those recommended for expulsion broke I.O.C. rules, he does not think they broke the any laws. RICHARD POUND: Nothing we saw from either side of any of the actions amounted to a quid pro quo, you know, the purchase or sale of a vote and the circumstances, so that it's unfortunate and it certainly is well beyond what we would expect of our members, but it certainly is short of criminal. JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH: The International Olympic Committee has decided to award the organization of the 19th Olympic winter games in 2002 to the city of Salt Lake City. (Cheers and applause) BETTY ANN BOWSER: Just three years after Salt Lake won the bid for the 2002 winter games, competing against cities in Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland, allegations of impropriety surfaced; but since news of the scandal broke, there have been anecdotal reports of similar activities in other bid cities, from Nagano, Japan, where the 1998 winter games were held, to Sydney, Australia, where the 2000 summer games are planned. But President Samaranch said today, "We think nothing wrong was going on in Sydney." Still, other cities will still be investigated. GROUP: We want the games! We want the games!
	Something so precious . . .
	BETTY ANN BOWSER: Billy Paine, the man responsible for bringing the Olympic games to Atlanta in 1996, said the probe will find no wrongdoing in the way his city conducted its business. BILLY PAINE: What I can talk about in firsthand knowledge is whether or not in the process of winning the Olympic games we in Atlanta bribed people, gave scholarships, gave inappropriate luxurious gifts, and the answer to all of those is no. BETTY ANN BOWSER: But Howard Peterson says when he was in a position to influence votes as a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, he was offered bribes by cities other than Atlanta, and he said he complained to Olympic officials. HOWARD PETERSON: Almost no one would listen. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Why? HOWARD PETERSON: I think at first no one really believed this kind of thing could be occurring. Just the Olympics -- that that's something so precious, and it is so precious when it relates to youth and athletes. But what's been going on around the Olympics has been pretty bad for at least 15 years. But I don't think people wanted to -- either they didn't want to deal with it because it just, it was too, too pure of an activity, "so this couldn't happen," or they themselves were on the gravy train. BETTY ANN BOWSER: At yesterday's press conference, Samaranch was asked about stories like Peterson's. REPORTER: Are you now prepared to aggressively investigate "rumors"? JUAN SAMARANCH: The commission presided by Mr. Pound is ready to write to the national Olympic committees of these countries, who are the bidding cities that organize the games, to ask if they can provide to the I.O.C. some facts, but we have to act always with facts. Without facts, it is not possible.
	Salt Lake City is still reeling.
	BETTY ANN BOWSER: In spite of the cleanup at the international level, Salt Lake City still is reeling from the impact of all this. And just hours after the I.O.C. announcement, the Salt Lake organizing committee held its own news conference. Chairman Robert Garff said local officials who paid those I.O.C. members nearly $1 million should also be held accountable. ROBERT GARFF: Now, it's important to emphasize that we take responsibility for the actions of certain members of the former bid committee. Some of those actions were below the standards expected by this community. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Currently there are four investigations underway: The United States Olympic Committee, the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, the Utah attorney general's office, and the U.S. Justice Department is looking into potential criminal wrongdoing. There are also a lot of unanswered questions about scholarship money given to children of I.O.C. Members. Those questions were addressed to former Salt Lake Olympic Committee President Frank Joklik, who was forced to resign in the wake of the allegations. REPORTER: Frank, you have said you knew nothing about those payments, and yet you and the other committee members were meeting with the students who got a fair share of the money, students who were the sons and daughters of I.O.C. members. How can you say now you knew nothing about it if you were, you know, taking them around to features - PRESS REPRESENTATIVE: I think that's a question we're going to have to refer to Shelley's opening statement out of respect for the investigation that's going on, that we cannot answer some of these allegations. I will go back here next. BETTY ANN BOWSER: The I.O.C. has made it clear it will not move the games from Salt Lake City, but officials say until all the investigations are complete, it's hard to move on. Shelley Thomas is vice president for communications. SHELLEY THOMAS: We feel very much like it's not over. We're still in the middle of a very lengthy and somewhat painful process as we await the outcome of several other investigations in order to get resolution. We're far from finished. I don't know the scope and the size of the problem really until those investigations are completed. It impacts the organization today of 165 people, none of whom really were involved in the bid, with a couple of exceptions.
	Any person would wonder.
	BETTY ANN BOWSER: Privately, Salt Lake officials say they are worried about getting the millions of dollars they'll need from corporate sponsors to make the games financially successful, and at least one member of the Salt Lake City Council, Deeda Seed, says there may be a push to cancel the contract the city signed with the I.O.C. if the games look they'll be a money loser. DEEDA SEED: We authorized our mayor to sign the contract with the I.O.C., and we have the authority to withdraw that support if we believe it is in the best interests of the citizens of Salt Lake City to do that. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Is there any possibility that that could happen? DEEDA SEED: That is a possibility. Clearly, in light of recent events, it may be difficult for our organizing committee to raise the funds to host these games. We are still $250 million short of what is needed, and I think any reasonable person would wonder if a corporate sponsor would want to sign on, given what has happened. BETTY ANN BOWSER: It's not clear whether the city council will actually vote on the issue, and Governor Mike Leavitt, an outspoken critic of Salt Lake officials who paid money to I.O.C. officials, says the games will not be canceled. GOVERNOR MIKE LEAVITT: We will work through it all, and we'll do it relatively quickly because we are going to put the games on in the year 2002. The people of our state made a decision to host the Olympic games by a referendum vote that took place in 1989. Since that time, poll after poll have indicated, even after this very distasteful scandal broke forth, that they supported the games. In reality, the only way we will redeem our reputation in this matter will be for us to put on the games that clearly denote the quality of our community and the quality of the bid we put forward. When that has occurred, I think the world will view this in the context of history but will remember us most for the quality of our community. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Salt Lake's organizing committee has already invested $34 million in construction of Olympic venues. Millions more may be coming from the federal government for building new roads and establishing security for the games. But like all Olympics, corporate sponsorship is a key to financial success in the games, and right now officials don't know what impact the scandal will have on that.