2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal
The 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal was a scandal involving allegations of bribery to obtain the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before 1995, the city had attempted several times to secure the games, but failed each time. Then that year Salt Lake City was announced as the host city, but in 1998 the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were accused of taking bribes from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC).
Early bid attempts
Almost from the moment the Winter Olympics were created in the 1920s, Salt Lake City had tried to win the honor of hosting the games. Dry powdery snow and several ski resorts in the vicinity make it an ideal location for winter sports activities. Salt Lake failed on several occasions to obtain the games:
- 1932 Winter Olympic Games. In 1929, only five years after the first games in Chamonix, France, Salt Lake City attempted for the first time to bid for the Winter Olympics. The Utah Ski Club tried to procure the 1932 games for Salt Lake, but they went to Lake Placid, New York instead. Due to early Olympic rules (which have since changed) Salt Lake could not bid for the 1936 games in Germany, since the summer game host had rights to the winter games.
- 1972 Winter Olympic Games. Salt Lake City's second attempt was more organized. State and city officials got the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to endorse the city, but they again lost, this time to Sapporo, Japan.
- 1976 Winter Olympic Games. The USOC picked Denver, Colorado over Salt Lake City to represent the United States in bidding. Denver won the bid, but taxpayers voted to not fund the games. Salt Lake put itself forward as a candidate, but in the fallout, the games were awarded to Innsbruck, Austria, who had recently hosted in 1964.
- 1992 Winter Olympic Games. Salt Lake City did not try to bid again until 1985 for the 1992 games, but the USOC went with Anchorage, Alaska. After Anchorage lost both in 1992 and 1994, Salt Lake was back in the running for 1998.
The winning bid
Ogden-born lawyer Tom Welch and car salesman Dave Johnson were in charge of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and took an aggressive approach to winning the Olympics. They flew out to Europe to meet with the International Olympic Committee members. They also convinced taxpayers to foot the bill for a $59 million Olympic-ready winter sports complex, even without the guarantee of the games.
Even after all of this, the 1998 games went to Nagano, Japan in a 46-to-42 vote. Many felt the reason was because the US had recently been awarded the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Others, including Welch, believed it was because Nagano had wined and dined the officials better.
Welch and Johnson decided to try harder the next round. Prior to the IOC vote for 1998, they had given out Stetson hats to delegates. For 2002 they decided to give out more than hats.
Millions were spent on perks including all-expense-paid ski trips, thirteen scholarships, Super Bowl trips, and plastic surgery. IOC members were given deals on real estate, and their family members were given jobs. More controversially, cash bribes may have been employed. When the scandal broke, the cryptic "geld document" allegedly recorded personal preferences of IOC members. Beside some members' names, the document contained the word "geld," (German for "money") arguably indicating such members' receptiveness to cash bribes.
The plan worked, for in 1995 the IOC announced Salt Lake City the winner. 50,000 people gathered outside the Salt Lake City and County Building to hear the formal announcement.
Scandal
Scandal broke on December 10, 1998 when Swiss IOC member Marc Holder, head of the coordination committee overseeing the organization of the 2002 games, announced that several members of the IOC had taken bribes. Soon four independent investigations were underway: by the IOC, the USOC, the SLOC, and the United States Department of Justice.
Before any of the investigations could even get under way both Welch and Johnson resigned their posts as the head of the SLOC. Many others soon followed. The Department of Justice filed charges against the two, but Johnson and Welch were eventually acquitted of criminal charges in December 2003.
As a result of the investigation ten members of the IOC were expelled and another ten were sanctioned. This was the first expulsion or sanction for corruption in the more than a century the IOC had existed. Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, it was felt that the acceptance of the gifts was morally dubious. Stricter rules were adopted for future bids and ceilings were put into place as to how much IOC members could accept from bid cities. Additionally new term and age limits were put into place for IOC membership, and fifteen former Olympic athletes were added to the committee.
Although Salt Lake was not the first city to use creative bid tactics, it was the first to use them to such an extent, as well as the first to get caught. There were also allegations that, to a lesser extent, Atlanta, Nagano and Sydney had used similar tactics.
Aftermath
Meanwhile, Massachusetts resident Mitt Romney was brought in to head the SLOC. Romney aided in further cleaning out of the committee and helped to begin re-enthusing sponsors and fixing the budget, which at the time was $379 million short.
Romney helped the Olympics back on their feet. The games were so successful that they were one of the few in recent history to turn a profit, thanks in part to heavy marketing and a built-in American audience.
References
- Benson, Lee, (2001). Lee Benson's Inside Guide to the Games 2002 Salt Lake City, Provo, Utah: CP Grafix, Deseret Publishing Company. ISBN 0-9709066-0-9
- Benson, Lee; Easton-Black, Susan, (2000). Salt Lake 2002: an Official Book of the Olympic Winter Games, Shadow Mountain Press. ISBN 1-57345-795-7
- Jennings, Andrew, (2000). The Great Olympic Swindle: When the World Wanted Its Games Back, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-86677-3